The coverline on the front of this November issue of Nursery World is ‘A better world’, and that is what we are all hoping for as Covid-19 takes a firmer grip again - for things to improve now and for a re-evaluation of how we live our lives in the future.
The Scottish Goverment has won praise for its handling of the pandemic, but on a smaller scale, its support for and promotion of outdoor play and learning opportunities for young children is very timely.
This is hugely important for the mental health of children and practitioners, particularly in the pandemic, and the Scottish Government has been promoting outdoor nurseries with three films looking at the benefits for children, practitioners and parents.
At the same time, Scotland’s Outdoor Play and Learning Coalition Position Statement, a commitment to making play and learning outdoors an everyday activity for all children in Scotland, has reached more than 100 signatories with the recent addition of COSLA, the National Association of Scottish Councils. The government and NHS Scotland are already signed up to this initiative to make playing and learning outdoors a fundamental part of growing up in Scotland.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if England could make a similar commitment in the interests of chldren’s well-being, Looking forward, we must take the opportunity to rethink how we want our world to be as we face challenges on climate change and biodiversity loss. You will find lots of inspiration in Dr Diane Boyd’s article on her Early Childhood Education for Sustainability Framework (pages 32-35). This is about far more than ‘going green’, she argues, and involves environmental, social and economic issues with children’s rights at its heart. A related poster highlights the framework as well as UNESCO’s sustainable development goals. Our world certainly needs love and care right now.
