Nordic Green Shift in Education
About the project and partners
We use the acronym Green-FING as it represents our identity and inclusivity
F - Faroes
I - Iceland
N - Norway
G - Greenland
The participating organization in this project have a well-established records of past cooperation, that has lasted for about a decade. Our main goal is to help educators to involve green growth, climate change and sustainable development in their teaching.
Green-Fing is a Nordplus sponsored programme.
Transnational parnter meeting in Sisimiut
The Green-Fing team met in Sisimiut, Greenland for the "Nordic Green Shift in Education" program on the 16th to 18th of October 2024.
The meeting had 12 attendees from educational institutions in these countries:
Fagskolen Rogaland, Norway (4 attendees)
Akureyri Comprehensive College Iceland (3 attendees)
Vinnuháskúlin Centre of Maritime Studies and Engineering, Faroe Islands (3 attendees)
KTI råstofskolen, Greenland (2 attendees)
Objectives of the meeting was to focus on finalizing the feasibility study, reviewing teaching materials related to green shift and innovation and keeping on developing support tools and dissemination strategies for the project.
We also had a tour of Sisimiut, including Greenland School of Mineral and Petroleum and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) department.
A workshop in Sisimiut
The next workshop for the Green-Fing team will be held in Sisimiut from October 16th to October 18th 2024. Partners will convene to continue their work on the Green Shift Teaching Handbook.
During the workshop, partners will focus on modules specific to their areas of expertise:
Faroe Islands: Design the green shift teaching framework for maritime studies.
Greenland: Design the green shift teaching framework for mining.
Iceland: Design the green shift teaching framework for energy production.
Norway: Design the green shift teaching framework for industrial production.
Additionally, partners will have the opportunity to meet with educators, administrators, and other stakeholders to evaluate the project’s concept and deliverables.
A Greenfing Webinar
A Webinar was held on the 20th of March 2024
The main goal of the webinar was to explore the transition to green energy across various sectors, examining historical energy usage, current climate challenges, and sector-specific sustainability shifts. With a focus on strategies in maritime, mining, energy, and industrial production sustainability goals and climate change were addressed.
What is the Green shift handbook?
“Thank you industrialization. Thank you steel mill. Thank you power station. And thank you chemical processing industry that gave us time to read books.” (Hans Rosling)
While in today’s environmental climate in which many are clamoring to show how “green” and “environmentally friendly” they are, there has been a growing pseudo-disdain for those working within VET. It’s true, within mining, maritime, energy and industrial production things get downright dirty, but who can set aside their washing machine, mobile phone, winter tyres, summer trip or selection of fish for tonight’s dinner? The fact of the matter is that we rely on these industries for our comforts. This project proposes to go close to the grassroots of the matter and investigate what educators within the VET sector need in order to meet the needs of today's changing environmental climate, and explore what tools are available to facilitate a shift towards more sustainable teaching methodologies. In other words, a fourth R is required for the creation of sustainable environments: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYLE AND RETHINK. The RETHINKING needs to take place within VET classrooms, workshops, training centres, field, wherever the practical activity takes place. Educators and other role players within VET are in urgent need of opportunities to RETHINK, REVIEW AND REVISE curriculums. This project proposes to do this in a very practical, and user-friendly format, the “GREEN SHIFT TEACHING HANDBOOK”, which proposes to offer modules with guidelines, practical examples and resources for those working in VET.
Project aim
The main goal of the project Nordic Green Shift in Education is to create an innovative quality network for educators primarily in the provision of training and education within green growth, climate change and sustainable development. We have agreed on the acronym Green-FING as a means of inclusivity (F- Faroes, I- Iceland, N- Norway & G- Greenland). In this manner, we continue to build upon our previous identity and network among these Nordic nations and beyond.
Our main goal is to produce a "Green Shift Teaching Handbook" which offers practical "green shift teaching" modules for teaching & learning pedagogies and methodologies, from multi- & inter-disciplinary approaches. The Handbook will include links to digital support tools, starter kits, case studies and modules with guidelines for practical applications in VET settings.
Background
The participating organizations in this project proposal have a well-established record of past cooperation. Motivated by previous initiatives, we have come to identify a common focus area that presents specific needs. As providers of VET, we have noticed that in regards to policies that promote green growth, climate change and sustainable development, oftentimes these changes are faster than most can keep up with. This can become frustrating, demanding and challenging for educators who are keen to apply the relevant knowhow, competences and skills to be able to implement and promote these in real practical everyday situations, but then realise there are gaps. Current curricula, text books and manuals have insufficient real handson examples and tools. We propose to identify those gaps at participant level (educators), organizational level (administrators) and regional level (Nordic), and create practical tools that can be used to guide, support and facilitate the creation of a “Green Shift Teaching Handbook”.