Education International Research
UEN’s 2017–19 Action Plan In the 2017–2019 period, UEN’s work on sustainable development has focused on three key areas: education for sustainable development, sustainability and work, and sustainability internally within the union. According to UEN, “Equality, social levelling, democracy and the fight against climate change and environmental destruction must be the focal point of any change in the education system. Education must contribute to sustainable social development.” 31 The union has been advocating for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to become one of three key crosscutting themes in the new interdisciplinary curriculum currently under development, and for the conceptual definition of the topic to remain appropriately broad. UEN has also been pushing to ensure that sustainable development is included in early childhood education as part of the “value base” and in teacher training programmes; new guidelines for primary and secondary teacher education programmes emphasise preparing teachers to provide ESD as an interdisciplinary topic. Regarding work life, UEN has aimed to ensure that sustainability and climate change are taken into account in collective agreements and included in tripartite cooperation, have made a commitment to provide their members with information about sustainability in the workplace, and have been advocating for sustainable procurement at education institutions. Internally, UEN works to mainstream the concept of sustainability across all its work so that, for example, the union’s offices and investments take sustainability into account. The union has also committed to organising courses for its members and elected representatives related to climate change and sustainable development. UEN organises an annual climate seminar for employees in schools and kindergartens.
Government monitoring of the SDGs Norway ranks high in terms of national implementation of the SDGs (one study32 found Norway to be among one of the five rich countries best positioned to implement the SDGs). However, its monitoring and implementation efforts do not focus solely on international work, but they also acknowledge the need to address remaining challenges at the national level. Norway’s priorities for national SDG implementation include education and sustainable consumption and production. Norway has put in place mechanisms to “harmonise” or align policies with the SDGs and to ensure annual national monitoring. The responsibility for different goals lies with various national ministries, and every year each ministry reports on progress to Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament, through their budget proposals.33 The aim is to make the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development the basis of a new paradigm that takes a human rights–based approach.
GRO.EI-IE
There is an annual report on Norway’s follow-up of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In 2018, the report by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs recognised that “collaboration between labour organisations and unions and the state is the backbone of the Norwegian labour market model”, and that collaboration is based on mutual respect and a shared commitment to work towards inclusive and sustainable growth and decent work for all.
Making SDG 4 a reality
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This case study demonstrates the value of devising concrete, detailed plans for SDG implementation and union-government collaboration. A clear roadmap for implementation not only facilitates monitoring and progress of the goals, but also helps develop processes that are inclusive and participatory. Furthermore, this case study provides an example of how education unions can contribute to the implementation of the SDGs. Within tripartite systems, as professional organisations of workers, unions can play an important role in pushing governments to make systemic changes to implement the SDGs.
31 See: https://www.utdanningsforbundet.no/var-politikk/strategier/handlingsplan-for-utdanningsforbundets-arbeid-med-klima-og-barekraftigutvikling-20172019/ 32 See: https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/BSt/Publikationen/GrauePublikationen/Studie_NW_Sustainable-Development-Goals_Are-therich-countries-ready_2015.pdf 33 As explained in Norway’s 2016 VNR: https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/departementene/ud/vedlegg/utvikling/sdg_rapport_full_en.pdf
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