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Education for Sustainable Development in Finland

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Schooling for Sustainable Development in Europe

Part of the book series: Schooling for Sustainable Development ((SSDE,volume 6))

Abstract

Finland is an interesting case with regard to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) because of the high quality of Finnish Schools, their teachers and the high esteem of Finnish teacher education and educational research. The Finnish approach to ESD is very much action research led, inspired by the international ENSI network, with a strong impetus coming from the only ESD professorship in Finland at the University of Helsinki. The chapter shows how a couple of exemplary schools deal with implementing ESD in their daily practice and what role both a Regional Centre of Excellence in ESD and the Finnish National Board of Education play in supporting these endeavours. The importance of an eco-social approach to education, systems thinking and value based education is highlighted.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Teacher Education, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Mauri K. Åhlberg

  2. Sorrila School, Valkeakoski, Finland

    Mervi Aineslahti

  3. Mahnala Environmental School, Hämeenkyrö, Finland

    Annukka Alppi

  4. Finnish National Board of Education, Helsinki, Finland

    Lea Houtsonen

  5. City of Espoo, Espoo, Finland

    Anna Maaria Nuutinen

  6. Faculty of Welfare and Human Functioning, Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland

    Arto Salonen

Authors
  1. Mauri K. Åhlberg
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  2. Mervi Aineslahti
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  3. Annukka Alppi
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  4. Lea Houtsonen
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  5. Anna Maaria Nuutinen
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  6. Arto Salonen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mauri K. Åhlberg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. SILVIVA, Foundation for Experiential Environmental Education, Zurich, Switzerland

    Rolf Jucker

  2. Coordinating expert for Education for Sustainable Development, Ministry of Education and Training, Hessen, Germany

    Reiner Mathar

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Åhlberg, M.K., Aineslahti, M., Alppi, A., Houtsonen, L., Nuutinen, A.M., Salonen, A. (2015). Education for Sustainable Development in Finland. In: Jucker, R., Mathar, R. (eds) Schooling for Sustainable Development in Europe. Schooling for Sustainable Development, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09549-3_13

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