In Helsinki, first and second graders explore ways to build a sustainable future with fox characters they got to know in daycare centre. Practising sustainable habits empowers children to grow into active citizens with the skills to work together towards a positive future.
For a few years already, friendly fox characters such as Outdoor Fox, Chef Fox and Inventor Fox have introduced young learners in Helsinki daycare centres to sustainability, and now these foxes continue their work in the city’s comprehensive schools.
To support schools in teaching about a sustainable future, the Fox Book offers activities and stories throughout the school year that invite pupils to explore and reflect on sustainability and personal choices and actions.
− The foxes don’t provide ready-made answers; instead, children are encouraged to think for themselves and try different solutions through invention, exploration and play. Along the way, they learn how to make sustainable choices in their everyday lives, explains Jasmine Gustafsson, co-author of the book and co-creator of the characters, who is also a teacher at Roihuvuori Primary School.
Schools can also make use of the City of Helsinki’s augmented reality mobile game. The game includes activities such as Sports Fox guiding pupils to explore their school’s surroundings to see if they can find a forest or a meadow, or a local recycling collection point. Naturally, Sports Fox is also interested in nearby sports facilities.
− A sustainable future means preserving all that is good so that it remains good for the future. This is how first graders Venla, Ellen, Peppi and Saana from Paloheinä Primary School summed up the concept of a sustainable future.
Jasmine Gustafsson explains that the Fox Book and the entire model for sustainability education are based on the pedagogy of hope. It reminds us that every one of us contributes to the building of the future.
− Education for a sustainable future has enormous potential to bring about visible, real impacts. Experiences of acting for a sustainable future empower pupils to grow into active citizens with optimism, courage and the skills to work together towards a better tomorrow, she adds.
− Strengthening a sense of hope is particularly important in a time when children and young people are often confronted with numerous challenges and threats to the future. This is why education for a sustainability future is absolutely essential, Gustafsson concludes.
Every one of us contributes to the building of the future.
