This study emerges from a collaborative project between universities in Finland and Namibia focused on co-designing teacher education. The authors, representing the environmental education and sustainability thematic group within this larger initiative, analyze their respective environmental education courses and approaches.
The Namibian approach integrates environmental education throughout the three-year teacher education program, with courses in each year building on foundational knowledge and connecting to specific United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Courses emphasize practical applications, with students creating teaching aids from recycled materials and implementing projects like tree planting. The curriculum is closely aligned with national educational policies, and professional development initiatives have helped teacher educators acquire competencies needed to teach environmental content.
The Finnish approach offers an optional five-credit course that provides an overview of environmental education approaches, theories, and frameworks. The course is theory-driven and explores diverse pedagogical frameworks including outdoor education, humane education, and ecojustice education. While available to students from all faculties, it lacks the systematic integration found in the Namibian program, reflecting what researchers describe as Finland's broader failure to institutionalize environmental education in teacher training despite strong emphasis on sustainability in the national curriculum.
The authors identify several key challenges and opportunities:
- Institutional constraints that affect how environmental education is implemented;
- The importance of place-responsive approaches that incorporate local knowledge;
- And the value of international, cross-cultural collaboration to develop more inclusive understandings of sustainability.
The paper concludes by questioning whether sustainability should really "start with teachers." The authors argue that while teachers play a vital role, they require adequate support, resources, and training from educational administrators and policymakers. They suggest that sustainability education should extend beyond classrooms to build diverse communities of practice across sectors and disciplines.
The Bottom Line
This 2024 comparative study examines environmental education implementation in pre-service teacher education programs in Finland and Namibia. The researchers, who collaborate in a Global Innovation in Teaching and Learning initiative, analyze how each country approaches environmental education through distinct methods: Namibia employs a comprehensive, practice-driven approach with required courses throughout the teacher education program, while Finland offers an optional, theory-driven course. The study finds that despite different approaches, both countries face challenges in preparing teachers to effectively implement environmental education. The authors question whether sustainability should truly "start with teachers" and argue that while teachers play a vital role, they require broader institutional support and resources to effectively integrate environmental education into their teaching.