Abstract:

When we speak about education 4.0 we very often mean a concept that makes us rethink learning and education to match the needs of the changing world because the traditional ways of implementing education are not enough. With Education 4.0 we emphasize digitalization and globalization enabling learning to take place anywhere at anytime. We want to renew teacher roles from teaching to coaching and supporting learning and to have close co-operation between educational institutions and working life. However, with Education 4.0 we quite seldom emphasize sustainability crisis, which can very well represent the biggest challenge and change maker for education in the future. Digitalization or globalization most certainly act as significant drivers for changing education but together with the threat of climate catastrophe and the push for more sustainable social and economic systems the changes needed are bigger that what we presently understand with the concept of education 4.0.

Aiming towards sustainability changes education in many ways. Learning contents should be based on subjects but on understanding connections between nature, society and economy with an objective to develop solutions for sustainable future. The curriculum neither can be a collection of subject based knowledge but a tool for organizing learning opportunities towards solving real-life problems with competences such as critical thinking, systems thinking and creativity, and fostering character development with qualities such as resilience, curiosity, ethics and responsibility. All this calls for a mind shift, and education should support the development of future competences and character qualities as well as enhance a value basis that enables the learners to construct their own worldviews and acting to create a sustainable future.

Our approach is based on innovation pedagogy and transformative learning as well as on socio-cultural approach on learning. The research methodology focuses on literature and document analyses, action research and participatory observation as well as on the experiences of the authors of the development processes in higher education institutions during the last fifteen years.

In our approach we explore Education 4.0. from wider viewpoint than it is earlier done; we focus on the vision of future higher education, which aims towards sustainable future and describe the core ideas of this vision.We argue that not a single educational institution has yet redesigned its pedagogical approach and solutions to the extent that is needed for a sustainable future. We suggest it is time to move towards ‘Education 5.0’, which incorporates all the important aims of education 4.0 and interconnects them to a sustainable framework and value basis. Sustainable future requires quick changes in mental models and actions in higher education.

The paper examines different viewpoints how learning can enable sustainable future and how educational research can lead by example in making the changes needed in higher education development.

Keywords:

Higher education, education development, sustainable development, change management, education 5.0, education 4.0, future competences.