Week 9 - Finnish Education for Sustainable Development


For the first time in the “Our Common Future” report, the World Commission on Environment and Development elaborated on the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Education for sustainable development is based on natural sciences and social sciences in the fields of economy, environment, and social development, and it is organized around a series of related issues such as democracy, gender equality, and human rights. As a representative of quality education in Northern Europe, Finland is actively working in the field of sustainable development education. The government drives schools, enterprises and non-governmental organizations to form a good cooperation network for sustainable development education.



Educational Philosophy - The Finnish scholars have developed a set of conceptual models - tree models for the country's sustainable development education. The trunk of the model symbolizes that the impact of the concept of sustainable development education is being generated. The branches and leaves are composed of three cores: “Education on the Environment”, “Education for the Environment”, “Education in the Environment”, and the corresponding educational content of the three is a natural science, morality, and aesthetic education. The three kinds of education are interconnected to form a more core idea, that is, to learn to care, to learn, to learn, and finally to return to the three core competencies of students: knowledge, skills, and emotions.

Discipline Reform – The Finnish Pre-Learning Program emphasizes the development of students' sustainability, including learning to be close to nature and observing natural phenomena. Then, in the core curriculum reform of compulsory education and high school education, the principle of integrating sustainable development values is also proposed. Students are encouraged to pay attention to the cultural landscape in daily life environment, learn to understand the components of the local natural environment and think about how to protect the environment. In addition, part of the Finnish textbooks was added to protect the traditional Finnish cultural landscape, such as old churches and traditional villages destroyed by urbanization. In vocational and technical education, students can choose to take competitive examinations to gain qualifications in the environmental field and enhance their professional competitiveness.

Education Network for the Environment – Many schools in Finland connect through this network to form an online platform to jointly develop environmental projects. It's like a global virtual school that conducts research on nature, society, culture, and sustainable environment every week. Each teaching content is designed by the number of instructors. Students can collect local environmental information through various activities every week and the learning & discussion results are posted on the website at the end of each topic. According to statistics, more than 90 countries and 300 schools are involved. The entire network is shared and is designed to encourage students and teachers around the world to contribute to sustainable development.

Finnish schools also focus on working with environmental experts, universities, and businesses to form an environmental network to improve school practices. The most common activity is the recycling of waste products. Experts from the agriculture and forestry sectors will help the school to carry out scientific recycling. In Finland, 96% of the schools recycle waste paper, 58% recycle glass bottles, 51% recycle metal products and In plastic products, 30% of schools make compost waste, and 38% of schools transport food waste to farms for reuse.


References:
Jeronen, E., Jeronen, J., Raustia, H. (2009). Environmental Education in Finland - A Case Study of Environmental Education in Nature Schools. International journal of environmental & science education. Vol. 3, No. 3.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252166752_Environmental_Education_in_Finland_-_A_Case_Study_of_Environmental_Education_in_Nature_Schools

Finland’s Ministry of Education. Anational Strategy and Guidelines 2006-2014 for Education for Sustainable
Development[EB/OL]. http://www.minedu.fi/julkaisut/koulutus/2006/tr07/tr07.Pdf,2006-05.

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