Sustainability and Climate Education in Finnish Schools
Finland does not teach sustainability as a single subject. It is written into the national curriculum as a cross-cutting thread that shows up in maths, science, art and daily school routines alike, starting from the earliest years.
- Finland's national core curriculum treats sustainability as a cross-cutting competence rather than an isolated subject.
- The approach is built around four elements: participation, systems thinking, sufficiency and responsibility.
- Regular forest school sessions, known as metsakoulu, are a routine part of outdoor learning from the early primary years.
- Municipalities and individual teachers have latitude to design their own sustainability projects within the national framework, from recycling systems to student-led energy monitoring.
Built into the curriculum, not bolted on
Rather than a dedicated sustainability class, Finland weaves the topic through environmental education, science, home economics and even maths, so that a lesson on measurement might double as a lesson on resource use.
This cross-cutting design mirrors how Finland treats other transversal competencies: the goal is that every teacher, not just a science specialist, ends up reinforcing the same underlying ideas.
What it looks like in a K-5 classroom
Metsakoulu, or forest school, sessions are a routine fixture for younger pupils, involving nature observation, species identification and basic ecosystem study, regardless of weather, an extension of the same outdoor emphasis found in Finnish recess practice.
Beyond the forest, common school-level projects include comprehensive recycling systems, water conservation efforts and, in some schools, student-led monitoring of energy use, giving children a concrete, measurable stake in sustainability rather than an abstract topic.
- Forest school (metsakoulu) sessions for nature observation and ecosystem study
- School-wide recycling and waste-sorting systems pupils help run
- Water and energy conservation projects, sometimes student-led
- Climate topics integrated into science, maths and social studies lessons
Why teacher autonomy matters here
Because municipalities build their own local curriculum on top of the national framework, sustainability projects vary meaningfully from one Finnish school to the next, shaped by local geography and teacher interest as much as by central mandate.
For schools outside Finland adapting these ideas, the lesson is less about copying a specific project list and more about the underlying design: pick a small number of sustainability threads and let them recur across subjects all year, rather than confining the topic to a single unit.
Frequently asked questions
Is sustainability a separate subject in Finnish schools?
No. It is built into the national curriculum as a cross-cutting competence that runs through multiple subjects rather than being taught as its own class.
What is metsakoulu?
Metsakoulu, or forest school, refers to regular sessions where pupils spend structured learning time outdoors in nearby forests or natural areas, used for nature study and, often, sustainability lessons.
Do schools outside Finland use this approach?
Schools that adopt Finnish pedagogy elsewhere, including several Oppi-affiliated schools, often adapt the cross-cutting sustainability approach to local geography rather than importing Finland's specific projects wholesale.
Related reading
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