Pedagogy for Economic Competitiveness and Sustainable Development

Accelerating threats to a sustainable relationship between economic growth and the capacity of the global social-ecological system to support it require that the implications of competitiveness be reassessed. Today, the capacities that underlie economic competitiveness must also be brought to bear on policy and pedagogy to prepare the coming generation to face an unprecedented and dangerous global future. This article argues that the bureaucratic ‘industrial’, standards-driven model of schooling currently fails to release the talents of students either for the competitiveness or collaboration that will be crucial in facing the demands of the decades ahead. It argues for policies, schools and pedagogies that promote creativity and a human capacity for innovation, not the relentless pursuit of externally imposed measurable standards. The types of necessary learning experiences are explored and examples are provided of principles and practices that teachers and schools need to develop further. Education for economic competitiveness on one hand and education for sustainable development on the other both require similar open minds, creative skills and teaching methods to prepare students for the transformations and innovations ahead. In answering the question ‘what do competitiveness and sustainable development require from schools and teachers?’ we conclude that most elements of appropriate pedagogies are available but they need to be extended. Managing their extension on a large scale to transform complex education systems is a major challenge for policy-makers and educators at all levels.     

The Birth of Engineer Education in Finland

Formal engineering education has about 150 years of tradition in Finland, but engineering as a profession has more than 200 years of tradition. The first Finnish engineers were men of practice, trained by the apprenticeship system, and used the title The Factory Master. In the year 1849, formal education began, but Finnish industry did not begin to employ formally trained engineers until the beginning of this century. The first formally educated engineers were, themselves, not interested in working in industry. The success of formally trained engineers in Finnish industry was reflected later on in the increasing value attached to research and new technologies. This view of science as an important force for production was strengthened further when the Helsinki University of Technology established and expanded its own laboratories.