Practising sustainable practices enables growth into active citizens who have the capacity to work together towards a good future.
Sympathetic fox characters such as Outdoor Fox, Chef Fox and the Inventor Fox have been leading young learners to a sustainable future for several years in Helsinki's daycare centres, and now the foxes continue their work in the city's comprehensive schools.
Schools are supported in teaching a sustainable future by the Fox book, which progresses in the rhythm of the school year, and its tasks and stories lead students to study and reflect on phenomena related to sustainability as well as their own practices and choices.
"The foxes do not offer ready-made answers, but the children get to think about and try out different solutions by inventing, exploring and playing. At the same time, you think about how you can act sustainably in your everyday life," says Jasmine Gustafsson, one of the authors of the book and the creator of the fox characters, a teacher at Roihuvuori Primary School.
Schools can also take advantage of the City of Helsinki's own augmented reality mobile game, in which, for example, Sports Fox guides you on a trip to the local environment to find out if there is a forest or meadow near the school, or what about a recycling point – and of course, the sporty character is also interested in nearby sports facilities.
Hopefulness and making the future
"A sustainable future means that everything good will remain good in the future as well " – this is how Venla, Ellen, Peppi and Saana, first-graders at Paloheinä Primary School, summed up what a sustainable future is all about.
Jasmine Gustafsson says that the Fox book and the entire model of sustainable future education are based on the pedagogy of hope. It reminds us that each of us is a maker of the future.
"Education for a sustainable future has enormous potential to have a visible, real impact on the future. Experiences of working for a sustainable future enable us to grow into active citizens who have hope, courage and readiness to work together towards a better future," she continues.
"Strengthening hopefulness is particularly significant at a time when children and young people have to face numerous future threats in their everyday lives. That is why work on education for a sustainable future is of paramount importance," Gustafsson sums up.
More info on:
Pedagogical Specialist Sanna Tuokko, sanna.tuokko@hel.fi
City of Helsinki, Education Division
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