Sustainability Education in Nordic Countries

Abstract Sustainability education in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland) relates to fields such as education for sustainable development, environmental education, and the bridging concept of environmental and sustainability education as used in both Nordic and European research communities. It also draws upon insights from, for example, climate change education, science education, and outdoor education but stresses that the key concept is sustainability and its role in the educational landscape across research, practice, and policy in the Nordic countries. Sustainability education in the Nordic countries covers a wide spectrum, as the countries share similarities in national and regional approaches to education, curriculum, and pedagogy but continue to be informed by different cultural and geographical reference points regarding how and why sustainability should be part of the full range of formal, nonformal, and informal educational approaches and activities. From early childhood to all branches of lower, secondary, vocational, and higher education and lifelong learning activities, it is possible to find emphases that link to sustainability agendas and their role in education in the Nordic countries. By the mid-2020s, sustainability education in the Nordic countries was marked by strong theoretical traditions such as action competence and pluralist teaching traditions and by the rapid development of the field. Interest in aspects of policy, practice, and research has been strengthening since the late 2010s across the Nordic countries, as sustainability is stressed as a crucial factor across all levels of education in policy and legislature. This has led to a revitalization of established approaches and inspiring development in, for example, Norway, Iceland, and Finland, as the need for more knowledge and applicable approaches leads to educational, didactic, and pedagogical experimentation and the development of new standards in sustainability education. The traditional link among issues inherited from environmental education and critical approaches that infuse Bildung (formation in and through education) in democracy and participation continues to be a guiding characteristic among the established and emerging approaches to sustainability education in the Nordic countries.