Browsing by Author "Laine, Outi"

The purpose of this study was to examine images of the future of future teachers in relation to sustainable development. The future images of young people have been studied earlier. Future teachers’ images of the future have not been studied extensively, so this study aimed to fill that gap. The data for the study was collected at the University of Helsinki during a course about sustainable development. The data was collected in two implementations, the first batch in 2020 and the second in 2021. The attendants were given the task to write an essay entitled “My Summer Day in 2040”. This study was submitted with 31 essays, of which 26 were selected to be the data of this study. The analysis method used int this study was theory-driven content analysis. Based on the previous theory and the data, categories were formed for the images of the future and as well for the mitigation and adaption measures that future teachers imagined in their essays. The study formed three categories based on the images of the future that future teachers imagined. Categories were: Living in a Dystopia, Life as usual and Living after the Sustainability Transition. Living in dystopia category contained those future images that described world where climate change has taken over the world, and it couldn’t be stopped. Life as Usual was category where the future images followed the current ways of life. The images of the future were very similar to the present day with the exception of aging and career development. Living after the Sustainability Transition was the largest category in the study. It described the world after major changes that were made to prevent or to significantly slow down climate change. Individual mitigation and adaption measures were widely imagined in the essays. Based on these, seven categories were formed: self-sufficiency, societal decisions, recycling, diet, circular economy, traveling and community. Of these categories, by far the most individual measures were imagined through societal decisions. Major structural changes, new laws and regulations, and international cooperation were considered important for sustainable development. Individual changes were imagined through self-sufficiency, diet, recycling, travel and community. The study found that future teachers have a variety of images of the future in relation to sustainable development. The study also found that future teachers are aware of the challenges of sustainable development and that they are willing to address them.