Education for sustainability: The position of Iceland

Abstract

The subject of this article is education for sustainable development in Iceland. The article is based on the authors’ master’s project written in the spring of 2020 (Bryndís Sóley Gunnarsdóttir & Sólveig María Árnadóttir, 2020). The authors are participants in a research project under the auspices of the Nordic Council of Ministers, led by Iceland. The aim of the study is to map the situation in the Nordic countries in connection with the implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 on education for sustainability. The key concepts of the goal are sustainability and sustainable development, human rights, gender equality, cultural diversity and global awareness.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to lead to a better life, living conditions and environment. The UN member states are committed to implementing them during their period of validity. There are a total of 17 goals and 169 sub-goals. As many other countries, Iceland has had to set clear goals in order to achieve them. Icelandic education policy stipulates the importance of sustainability, this being one of the basic elements of education that should be integrated into all school work.

This article seeks to answer two research questions: 1) What do laws and regulations in Iceland say about education for sustainability? 2) How do two compulsory schools in Iceland work towards sustainability? In order to answer these questions, data collection was divided into two parts. Firstly, a content analysis was conducted on the Icelandic law on compulsory schools, the Icelandic national curriculum and the educational policy of six municipalities. Secondly, focus group interviews were conducted in two compulsory schools. In each school, three groups were interviewed: 1) school administrators, 2) a focus group of teachers and 3) a focus group of fifteen to sixteen year old students.

The results indicate that there is lack of discussion relating to sustainability, human rights, gender equality, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity in the Icelandic law on compulsory schools. However, ambitious goals have been set in the Icelandic national curriculum. Even though the municipalities differ as to how much emphasis is placed on the concepts, both of the participating schools seem to be doing an ambitious job when it comes to this perspective. The results of the focus group interviews show many similarities between the schools when it comes to sustainability education. Both schools place strong emphasis on environmental education and students’ environmental awareness. It is interesting to note that in both schools, sustainability education seems to have become part of the daily school work. In some cases, teachers and students are not even aware that sustainability education takes place. In other words, sustainability thinking seems to have become an underlying part of daily schooling and students learn about the concepts both through learning by doing and also through organized projects in different subjects. This shows how far the schools have advanced in terms of sustainability education.

The conclusion is that there are various shortcomings in Iceland regarding the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 although many things have certainly been done well. Perhaps this is primarily due to the fact that the Icelandic law on compulsory schools lacks a discussion on the key concepts of this objective. It is, therefore, somewhat surprising that the participating schools seem to work with the concepts in a variety of ways, although they are often discussed in a random and even obscure manner. It is clear, therefore, that more emphasis needs to be placed on the UN Sustainable Development Goal in Icelandic educational policy