Teaching in the age of technological advances means guiding your students’ learning along the lines of the sustainable development policies and practices. Sustainable development principles are followed on all stages in the Finnish education system. A teacher should be familiar with the sustainable development goals and policies and plan and implement their work in order to foster the students’ understanding, knowledge, skills, and endorse students’ acquisition of values needed to promote sustainability.
What is sustainable development?
In 1987 the UN World Commission on Environment and Development published a report entitled Our Common Future. According to it, the sustainable development is such development that will satisfy the needs of the present and future generations. We need to make the development sustainable “to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (United Nations, 1987, p.16).
Finland’s National Commission on Sustainable Development adopted a national strategy on sustainable development in June 2006. Finland aims “to combine the sustainable use, maintenance and protection of natural resources, and to secure the wellbeing of its citizens and society so that Finland becomes a country that knows how to use its knowhow and strengths in a sustainable manner”( Kalliomäki, 2007, p.16).
What are the goals and principles in education?
The purpose of the UN and its member states, including Finland, is that the principles of sustainability are present in the national curricula. The goals of education for sustainability must be designed within the framework of local socio-cultural, economic and ecological circumstances taking into consideration global objectives (Rohweder, 2007).
In 2015, the UN published the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable and the Sustainable Development Goals that will serve as the framework for the sustainable development in 2016–2030. In section 4, United Nations (2015) outlines its educational goals. It writes,
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship;
4.4.1 Increase proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills;
4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations;
4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development;
4.7.1 Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment;
4.c By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation (pp. 4-5).
The goals presented above are some that are being addressed in vocational and higher education.
The Baltic 2030 Action plan was published in 2017 for Baltic Sea Region countries, including Finland, to guide the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the region. The plan puts focus on “scientific literacy and research, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education and innovation, which can support sustainable development from an economic, social, and cultural perspective” (Council of the Baltic Sea States, 2017, p. 5).
According to the Council of the Baltic Sea (2017) the goals can be met in dialogue and collaboration of educational, research and business institutions, where vocational and higher education institutions are among the leading actors.
ActSHEN Project and core Sustainable Development Principles in Higher education
In 2013 participants from the Nordic countries launched a project named ActSHEN (Action for Sustainability in Higher Education in the Nordic region) funded by NordPlus. The main objectives of the project were to promote sustainability in higher education and develop guidelines that strengthen student- driven pedagogy in sustainability issues in higher education.
The ActSHEN project defined the three core principles of sustainable development in higher education (2016). The principles are:
- Developing cross-disciplinary knowledge about and for sustainable development.
- Encouraging respect for and about various forms of sustainability knowledge.
- Nurturing a sense of shared responsibility to create shared value for our common future (para. 2).
As the result of the project the Helsinki framework was designed. The goal of the framework is to highlight how to promote sustainable development awareness and action in higher education. The ActSHEN (2016) framework outlines 3 dimensions:
- Vision and Values : sustainability education necessitates a holistic and systemic approach in order to bring about individual and organizational changes.
- Pedagogy: sustainability educational necessitates flexible and experimental pedagogical approaches.
- Governance and Support: sustainability education necessitates more inclusive and distributive leadership (para. 8).
The student active participation should be endorsed in all these three dimensions.
Conclusions.
Finland is one of the UN member countries who actively work to meet sustainable development goals by following principles and policies stipulated in official documents. Finnish educational institutions implement education for sustainable development. Promotion of sustainability is a multidimensional and collaborative action. When teachers and higher education specialists have clear understanding of what sustainability means and work together with their students, with colleagues, across departments, across institutions, across nations, they can systematically create and promote knowledge about sustainability in different fields, endorse respect toward sustainability and grow the value system and attitudes, which will nurture the sense of responsibility for our common future.
Examples of tasks implemented by me in my lessons to promote sustainable development values:
Slides 19-22 : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OPG8N5uDTNp00LnT9YftuiDhc0DgBB3O/view?usp=sharing
Lesson presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AL6lgZ4KYla3SJpFwtNbGDZDy96sSvUx/view?usp=sharing
References:
- ActSHEN project.(2016). Action for sustainability in higher education. https://blogs.helsinki.fi/action-for-sustainability/
- Council of the Baltic Sea States. (2017). Realizing the vision: The Baltic 2030 action plan [Brochure]. https://www.cbss.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Baltic-2030-Action-Plan-leaflet-eng.pdf
- Kalliomäki, A. (2007). Higher education for sustainable development- international and national guidelines. In T. Kaivola & L. Rohweder (Eds.), Towards sustainable development in higher education – reflections (p.14). Finnish Ministry of Education. https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/79511/opm06.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)
- Rohweder, L. (2007).What kind of sustainable development do we talk about? In T. Kaivola & L. Rohweder (Eds.), Towards sustainable development in higher education – reflections (p.25). Finnish Ministry of Education. https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/79511/opm06.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)
- United Nations. (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/5987our-common-future.pdf
- United Nations. (2015). Global indicator framework for the sustainable development goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/Global%20Indicator%20Framework%20after%202020%20review_Eng.pdf
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