A Season of Reflection and Gratitude: How Everyday Actions Create Lasting Impact
As the year closes, it's natural to look back and assess what was achieved. But in sustainability work, "achievement" isn't always measured in visible outcomes. There's no test score, no standardised benchmark, no clear finish line.
Instead, progress shows up in shifts: the questions educators start asking, the thinking children make visible, the practices that become second nature rather than add-ons.
Reflection helps us recognise these shifts and carry them forward with intention.
What Progress Actually Looks Like
Sustainability progress in early childhood settings doesn't always look like what we expect. It's not necessarily about installing new systems or running dedicated programs. Often, it's quieter than that.
Progress might be:
An educator who used to plan activities around themes now noticing and responding to children's emerging interests in the environment
A team that once saw sustainability as gardening now recognising it in children's social negotiations and care routines
A service that previously focused on reducing waste now considering equity, fairness, and connection as equally important aspects of sustainability
These shifts aren't always documented. They don't show up in planning templates or assessment records. But they change how educators see their work and how children experience learning.
Patterns Worth Celebrating from 2025
This year, we documented five key patterns emerging across Australian early childhood services through assessments, surveys, and conversations with educators. These patterns revealed both challenges and opportunities in embedding sustainability practice.
As we reflect with gratitude on the year, three transformative shifts stand out as particularly worth celebrating:
1. Sustainability is holistic, not just environmental
The EYLF 2.0 Sustainability Principle asks children to develop respect for environments and appreciation for interdependence. This extends across all domains of sustainability: environmental, social, economic, cultural, and leadership and governance.
Services that embraced this holistic understanding found sustainability present in far more aspects of their practice than they initially recognised. Environmental care remained important, but it sat alongside equally vital considerations:
Social sustainability emerged in how children negotiated fairness, shared resources, and included others in decision-making. Turn-taking became a discussion about equitable access. Collaborative problem-solving modelled collective responsibility. Conflict resolution became an opportunity to explore care and justice.
Economic sustainability showed up in conversations about resource use, waste, and valuing what we have. Children questioned why things get thrown away, whether materials could serve new purposes, and how decisions about purchasing affect what's possible. It is also connected to understanding local economies and circular systems. Services found opportunities to build financial literacy through imaginative play—setting up shops or cafes, selling their banana water to buy seeds for the garden, or fundraising for local community causes. These experiences helped children see economic systems as connected to care and community, not separate from sustainability thinking.
Cultural sustainability connected children to place, to Traditional Owners, and to the diverse cultural practices within their community. Services recognised that respecting and learning from different ways of knowing enriched sustainability practice rather than sitting separate from it.
Leadership and governance helps sustainability stick. This became visible when educators examined their own decision-making structures, involved children meaningfully in choices about their environment, and considered how power and participation shaped their service culture.
Recognising sustainability as holistic, not just "green", allowed educators to see their existing practices as already contributing to sustainability learning. It also meant sustainability could be embedded across the program without feeling like one more thing to fit in.
2. Children are co-researchers, not recipients of information
When educators shifted from teaching about sustainability to investigating with children, the quality of learning deepened. Children's questions and observations became starting points for inquiry, rather than prompts for predetermined answers.
This required letting go of control. Instead of planning a lesson about composting, an educator might notice children's curiosity about worms and follow that interest wherever it leads. The outcome might not be what was expected, but the thinking is richer because it belongs to the children.
Treating children as co-researchers aligns with the EYLF 2.0 emphasis on children's agency and active participation in learning. It also makes sustainability feel more authentic—less about compliance, more about genuine curiosity.
3. Place-connected learning makes sustainability real
Sustainability grounded in place becomes meaningful in ways that abstract concepts never can. When children care for the garden outside their room, notice the birds that visit each day, or investigate the water flow after rain, they're building a relationship with their environment.
This connection matters. It shifts sustainability from something distant and overwhelming (climate change, endangered species, ocean pollution) to something immediate and actionable (this garden, these birds, this water).
Services that strengthened their connection to place found that sustainability thinking emerged naturally in children's play, questions, and decisions.
Reflection as Professional Practice
Reflection isn't just a year-end activity. It's an ongoing practice that helps educators notice their own growth, identify areas for development, and make informed decisions about what to carry forward.
Effective reflection in sustainability practice involves:
Noticing patterns: What types of sustainability thinking are children regularly demonstrating? What prompts deeper engagement, and what falls flat?
Questioning assumptions: Why do we approach sustainability this way? What beliefs or habits shape our current practice, and are they still serving us?
Documenting shifts: What changed this year in how you see sustainability, plan for it, or respond to children's thinking? Even small changes are worth noting.
Seeking feedback: What do colleagues, families, or children notice about your sustainability practice? Sometimes growth is more visible to others than to ourselves.
Planning with intention: Based on what you've learned, what will you do differently next year? What practices deserve more attention, and what might be let go?
Gratitude in Practice
Gratitude is more than feeling thankful. In early childhood practice, it's a lens that helps us recognise care, notice effort, and acknowledge the contributions of others—including children.
Services that embed gratitude as a regular practice often find it shifts the tone of their program. Instead of focusing on what's lacking or what needs fixing, educators notice what's working and what's already contributing to sustainability.
Gratitude practices might include:
Regular team discussions where educators share something they noticed or appreciated that week
Documentation that highlights care contributions such as children helping one another, looking after materials, or noticing when someone needs support
Rituals that acknowledge collective effort, such as ending the year with reflections on what the community achieved together
Gratitude doesn't ignore challenges. It balances them by ensuring that growth, effort, and care are also recognised.
Looking Forward to 2026
Reflection naturally leads to planning. Not rigid, prescriptive plans, but intentions that guide the year ahead.
As you consider 2026, ask:
What aspects of your sustainability practice felt most meaningful this year?
Where did you notice gaps or missed opportunities?
What would deepen children's engagement with sustainability thinking?
How might you involve families more intentionally in sustainability conversations?
What support does your team need to continue growing in this area?
These questions don't need immediate answers. Let them sit with you over the holiday break. Share them with your team when you return. Use them to guide early planning conversations and decisions about focus areas for the year.
Carrying Forward What Matters
Every year in early childhood education is full—too full, often. It's easy to feel as though you're always running to catch up, always balancing competing priorities.
Sustainability doesn't need to add to that burden. When it's embedded in what you already do—how you respond to children, organise your environment, plan your program, and reflect on practice—it becomes part of the rhythm of your work, not an additional task.
The shifts you've made this year, however small, have created impact. They've shaped how children think about care, responsibility, and connection. They've influenced how families see sustainability. They've changed how your team approaches planning and reflection.
That's progress worth acknowledging.
Reflective questions:
What change are you most proud of this year?
What area would you like to strengthen in 2026?
How will you ensure that the learning from 2025 informs your practice moving forward?
Take Action: The 2025 Sustainability Snapshot summarises key insights and practical guidance from this year. Use it to support team reflection and planning conversations as you head into the new year.
