Nordskills: Nordic school education for self-sufficiency

In times of weakening human-nature relations and insecurity Nordskills project fosters self-sufficiency practices of young people in the Nordic region to enhance their adaptation capacities to climate change and other crisis. The project develops and implements applied and long-term self-sufficiency education practices at schools in Finland and Sweden. The project focuses on learner-centred self-sufficiency environmental education through three focus areas.

First

Self-sufficiency education activities with school eco-clubs. Participants engage in multi-season farm-to-fork practices providing them with in-depth skills on the needs and potentials of self-sufficient agriculture, processing and consumption.

Second

Intensive hands-on education modules on self-sufficiency related to wild food use, regenerative do-it-yourself aquaculture, and repair/reuse of daily goods for various learner levels to broaden the adoption of self-sufficiency skills.

Third

Pedagogical assessment and work to refine self-sufficiency education methods and models tested in the project in a co-creative process with teachers, youths and educational experts.

Throughout the project participants actively engage in cross-border sharing of their experiences using digital means including a self-sufficiency story portal, the creation of Nordskills virtual learning realities and the development of a Nordic self-sufficiency pedagogic escape room game.

Nordskills project consortium is coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland and further includes the University of Umeå (SE), Aktion Österbotten (FI), MSL Cultural Association Joensuu (FI), and Umeå Municipality (SE). The project is funded by Interreg Aurora Programme.