This study by Prof Mignon van Vreden, published in March in Perspectives in Education, addresses the need to integrate education for sustainable development (ESD) into music teacher education using the Green Songs Project, an undergraduate service-learning project in a music education module.
Findings show that creating and teaching culturally relevant green songs empowered pre-service music teachers to connect global sustainability goals to local early childhood settings. The project demonstrates music’s potential as a transformative medium to support sustainability by fostering environmental awareness, social cohesion, and cultural appreciation in an early childhood setting.
Embedding ESD in music education can cultivate and equip educators with transferable, interdisciplinary skills to inspire sustainable thinking from the earliest years.
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Van Vreden, M. 2026. Green Songs as music education for sustainable development in an early childhood setting: Tuning into pre-service music teacher voices. Perspectives in Education, 44(1):195–215. https://doi.org/10.38140/pie.v44i1.8660
The kodály approach will fit in perfectly. We are busy collecting SA easy folk songs to use in a Kodaly setting. I am organizing the international course in Cape Town and at tte University of Pretoria. We have Lucinda Geoghegan from Scotland as Early Childhood specialist. Please let me know if you want to come to the course. There will be lecturers from UP and Stellenbosch as well as students attending.
That sounds exciting, Elrika!