Connections of transformative education with Bhutan’s pedagogical ideas for promoting sustainability education

Abstract The study aims to clarify how transformative education teaching and learning ideas have been incorporated into sustainable development-focused education in Bhutan. Sustainable development is included in various ways in the Educating for Gross National Happiness Training Manual (GNH TM) developed by the Ministry of Education of Bhutan in 2013. GNH-focused education aims at developing students’ respect and critical thinking for the well-being of human beings and the environment. The article provides an overview of 26 selected articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals from 1991–2021. Altogether, 12 sustainable development-focused transformative education articles were analyzed in detail using qualitative content analysis. The results of the study show that transformative education is reflected in many ways in the teaching goals, objectives, contents, and methods introduced in the GNH TM units. Consequently, transformative education and teaching have become part of teaching in Bhutan’s schools, with an emphasis on sustainable development and protection of the environment. However, for a sustainable future, active student-centered teaching and learning methods should be used in a more diverse way

How to live happy and good life?:secondary school students’ views about Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness policy

Abstract The Bhutanese Gross National Happiness (GNH) development policy highlights traditional Bhutanese values promoting environmentally friendly, collective, societal happiness. In this case study, we describe the Bhutanese secondary school students’ views about happiness and good life and view the values behind the GNH-policy-based teaching. The writings of 178 students, responding the questions addressing these topics, were analyzed using the thematic content analyses method based on GNH pillars and domains. The most important reason bringing happiness and good life, according to the students is good governance, and the second important reason is sustainable and equitable socio-economic development. Many of the students wrote that happiness and good life mean problem-free life. The values such as compassion, calmness and gratitude, occurred in many writings. Many students wrote about happiness, peace, equality and the importance of family relations. Least references on happiness and good life were related to the conservation of environment. Reason for the students not mentioning environment may be Bhutanese traditions to respect nature and environment in everyday life. The students’ views were well connected with the GNH policy focused education and teaching. They reflect well the history of Bhutan, values connected Buddhist principles and the recent democratic development going on in Bhutan. The knowledge of cultures outside Bhutan was fairly low, so the basic education can be developed by adding to the curriculum the knowledge of different cultures

Regional variations in occupancy frequency distribution patterns between odonate assemblages in Fennoscandia

Odonate (damselfly and dragonfly) species richness and species occupancy frequency distributions (SOFDs) were analyzed in relation to geographical location in standing waters (lakes and ponds) in Fennoscandia, from southern Sweden to central Finland. In total, 46 dragonfly and damselfly species were recorded from 292 waterbodies. Species richness decreased to the north and increased with waterbody area in central Finland, but not in southern Finland or in Sweden. Species occupancy ranged from 1 up to 209 lakes and ponds. Over 50% of the species occurred in <10% of the waterbodies, although this proportion decreased to the north. In the southern lakes and ponds, none of the species occurred in all lakes, whereas in the north, many species were present in all of the studied waterbodies. The dispersal ability of the species did not explain the observed species occupancy frequencies, but generalist species with a large geographical range occurred in a higher percentage of the waterbodies. At Fennoscandia scale, we found that the unimodal satellite pattern was predominant. However, at smaller scale, we found geographical variations in odonate species SOFD patterns. The most southern communities followed the unimodal satellite‐dominant pattern, whereas in other regions, communities fitted best with the bimodal core–satellite patterns. It seems that the richer species pool in the southern locations, and the larger distribution range of the northern species, skewed the unimodal pattern into a bimodal satellite‐dominant pattern.peerReviewe

Toimintamallin johtaminen pilotoinnin avulla Lukuinto-ohjelmassa

Tiivistelmä Lukuinto-ohjelmassa (Lukuinto 2014) on pilotoinnin avulla etsitty käytäntöjä, jotka innostavalla tavalla monipuolistavat esi- ja perusopetuksessa lasten ja nuorten lukemisen tapoja. Uudet luku- ja kirjoitustaidot alati muuttuvassa tekstiympäristössä ovat niitä tulevaisuuden taitoja, joihin koulu ja kirjasto voivat yhdessä panostaa. (Korkeamäki 2011, 15; Coiro ym. 2014) Keskeisiä elementtejä kehittämistyössä on ollut koulun ja kirjaston yhteistyö ja kehittämistä tukevan koulutuksen räätälöinti yhteistyökumppaneiden kanssa. Koulutukset ovat toimineet ajattelun uudistajina ja tukena yhteisen tutkimusperustaisen käsitteistön omaksumiselle kirjaston ja koulun kesken

Intangibles and the Gender Wage Gap: An Analysis of Gender Wage Gaps Across Occupations in the Finnish Private Sector

Gender wage gap, Decomposition, Human capital, Intangible capital, Quantile regression, Wage formation, Services, Manufacturing, J16, J31,