The environments we create for the infants and toddlers in early childhood education (ECE) settings are critically important because they shape the daily lived experience of children and educators, and create the conditions for children’s interactions, wellbeing, engagement, learning and development. ECE environments are not neutral, nor are they natural. They are constructed in specific ways for specific purposes and are a representation of our philosophy that ‘speaks’ to children, educators and families about our image of the child, about the value we place on family, culture and community, and about our beliefs regarding teaching and learning. ECE environments are political because they influence the possibilities for interactions, relationships, empowerment and agency.

Chapter 14 evaluates the challenges of SDG 13: Climate Action, which emphasizes the urgent need to combat climate change and its impacts. Two global pollution problems are compared: chemical emissions deplete the ozone layer, which shields us from harmful ultraviolet radiation, and greenhouse gases trap heat, contributing to global climate change. International cooperation and action effectively addressed the emission of ozone-depleting substances. In contrast, current policies to reduce human greenhouse gas emissions are inadequate for limiting global warming to below 2°C, threatening a significant reduction in economic welfare and well-being, especially in developing regions. The social cost of carbon measures future damages associated with a ton of greenhouse gas emissions, discounted to present value, which can inform how much we should “pay” to reduce emissions today. The various policy options for combating climate change, including removing existing policy distortions and addressing prevailing market failures, are explained, and the costs and benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through technology- and nature-based solutions are discussed.

Understand why the cross-cultural perspective is important to understanding children’s development; consolidate what you learned in Chapters 1–5; revisit the ideas you came across in Chapters 1–5 in a cross-cultural context.

Chapter 1 explains how economics plays a crucial role in sustainable development, affecting the well-being of current and future generations. Economics explores how scarce resources are allocated and distributed and analyzes the trade-offs in decision-making. The stock of capital assets, or economic wealth, in an economy determines economic opportunities and individuals’ standard of living and prosperity. Economics recognizes that the economy is embedded in nature and that natural capital contributes to economic welfare in three ways: natural resources provide inputs to production, the environment assimilates waste and pollution, and ecosystems provide essential goods and services. A pessimistic view is that environmental scarcity will limit economic growth, leading to economic collapse. An optimistic perspective is that human creativity, innovation, and technological advancements can avert environmental scarcity, allowing economies to prosper. Economics can help guide society toward a more optimistic development path by creating incentives and safeguards for sustainable use of the environment.

In recent years remote and hybrid approaches to learning, teaching and assessment have risen in prominence. Starting with the strict lockdown measures enforced during the Covid-19 pandemic when schools, colleges and universities had to find alternative ways of providing learning, teaching and assessment quickly, there has been a dramatic expansion of online teaching. This chapter looks at how and when teachers can incorporate remote learning, teaching and assessment approaches in a modern languages class and the practical implications related to doing so.

Phonemic awareness is a subcategory of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness is the more specific ability to recognise and manipulate the speech sounds (phonemes) of spoken language as a developmental pathway to learning to read and write. It is the topic of this second chapter because it is developed alongside a method of teaching called phonics. Phonics is an explicit teaching method that involves learners understanding the relationship between the sounds of spoken language and the letters or letter patterns used to represent those sounds in written language. It involves learning the connections between individual phonemes and the written code of letters (graphemes).

In this chapter, we present an introduction to an important area of contemporary quantum physics: quantum information and quantum entanglement. After a brief introduction regarding why and how linear algebra is so useful in this area, we first consider the concepts of quantum bits and quantum gates in quantum information theory. We next explore some geometric features of quantum bits and quantum gates. Then we study the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. In particular, we shall clarify the notions of untangled and entangled quantum states and establish a necessary and sufficient condition to characterize or divide these two different categories of quantum states. Finally, we present Bell’s theorem which is of central importance for the mathematical foundation of quantum mechanics implicating that quantum mechanics is nonlocal.

Chapter 7 examines why it is necessary to differentiate learning and how to plan for and manage differentiation in the language class. A range of strategies is given with practical examples of how both content and skills can be differentiated in terms of reception and production of the foreign language. Areas studied include differentiation by length, presentation and density of text; design of task, graded tasks, parallel tasks, branching tasks; differentiation by outcome, differentiated expectations; organisation of class and appropriate use of teaching modes. The chapter examines how to respond to the needs of all learners, from helping pupils with specific learning difficulties (SLDs) to using appropriate strategies with more able learners, and examples are given. The wide variety of additional support needs (ASN) is discussed, with advice on how to respond to multiple needs within a mixed-ability class setting.

Vital to successful learning and teaching and a necessary pre-stage to lesson planning is constructing a long-term and a mid-term plan. In order to ensure successful progression in pupils’ language learning, careful thought is necessary in terms of deciding what pupils need to learn and in which order. Chapter 5 looks at the fundamentals of syllabus and unit planning, taking account of providing meaningful progression through the foreign language, related directly to appropriate pedagogy, and walks student teachers through the stages needed to create successful unit plans, and mid-term and long-term schemes of works for teaching modern languages.

Our goal in writing this book was to address a notable gap in the availability of essential resources dedicated to this critical content area. Despite its foundational importance, no existing text offers a focused, in-depth exploration of language and literacy knowledge tailored for pre-service and in-service teachers working in Foundation to Year 10. The 2008 Bradley Review highlighted a deficiency in teachers’ language and literacy awareness and proficiency, a concern that was addressed by the introduction of the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students (LANTITE) in 2016. Consequently, initial teacher education programs have initiated courses and support services in English language and literacy to bolster teachers’ personal knowledge and skills, enabling them to pass the LANTITE’s literacy component.

Chapter 12 evaluates the challenges of SDG 15: Life on Land, which aims to protect and restore terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and stop biodiversity loss. The proximate and underlying drivers of deforestation and biodiversity loss that have led to the drastic decline of plant and animal species, threatening “biological annihilation,” are explained. Ending nature’s underpricing can be achieved by eliminating harmful subsidies, charging for environmentally damaging products, and enforcing regulations that can help protect forests and biodiversity. Increased investments in the conservation and restoration of forest ecosystems can be achieved through market-based tools such as biodiversity offsets, ecosystem service payments, debt-for-nature swaps, green bonds, and sustainable supply chains. Rethinking the international framework for an agreement on global forest and biodiversity conservation and restoration strategies may involve fostering the involvement and investment of the private sector, which has substantial revenue to gain from forest ecosystems and biodiversity conservation.

Describe key elements of adolescent identity development; evaluate the genetic, social, and cultural influences on identity; understand creativity and cultural change as parts of adolescent development.