![]() When Bildung is an educational ideal, elementary critical questions are: where is education heading and what is the ultimate goal of education? The sustainability education ideal is an education where the transformation of oneself and society is a dual task. In higher education this means that sustainability becomes “a dynamic and flexible synergy issue for different sciences and subjects so that science, education, art and practices are combined, transformed and developed” (p. Action competence relates to the German Bildung concept based on the central idea that human beings have intrinsic possibilities for self-development, but also for the joint development of society. Therefore, the role of education is to encourage students and provide learning conditions that transform them into critical, political agents. The approach is based on the idea that environmental problems involve social conflicts of interests and has to be handled by problem-oriented and cross-curricular methods. According to action competence, the role of education is not to serve political goals or promote strongly normative purposes. In Denmark ‘action competence’ has been a favored approach and key concept in environmental education and health education research since the 1980s. The role of educators subsequently becomes to improve the students’ joint involvement and participation in authentic environmental activities and critical discourses. Universities need to overcome these obstacles and become forerunners in the sustainability process. Sustainability is also intricate because it is strongly connected to ecological literacy and it is value dependent. We found these reasons for the ignoring of sustainability in the Finnish teacher education: sustainability is in conflict with overall trends in society and politics, teacher education takes place at universities and is based on separate academic disciplines. In addition, the article builds on analyses of comprehensive university strategies and primary school teacher education programs. The article reports outcomes from educational policy documents and research on educational, philosophical, scientific and social aspects of sustainability, including evaluation of how sustainability has been implemented in schools and at universities, especially among teacher educators. The aim of this article is to critically analyze why the implementation of sustainability in teacher education is so intricate and to discuss possible solutions with Finland-a country highly valued for its education-as an example. Therefore, it is a great challenge for Finnish teachers to include sustainability in their teaching and everyday life in schools. This is also obvious in the academic education of primary teachers in Finland. Sustainability is internationally often emphasized as an essential aim of higher education, but more as a principle than on the practical level.
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