Eco-literacy and the content-pedagogy relationship in early childhood education

Using eco-literacy, this theoretical paper examines the highly contentious relationship between content and pedagogy in early childhood education. Early childhood education has a historical commitment to play-based pedagogy which emphasises pedagogy over content knowledge. This is problematic because research suggests that children do not automatically acquire content through play-based learning. Furthermore, whilst socio-cultural theory has recently challenged traditional practices, its potential to inform the content-pedagogy relationship has not been realised. This paper in interfacing eco-literacy and early years pedagogy creates a unique marriage between two research fields in order to develop a theoretical framework for interfacing content and pedagogy in early childhood education.