In recent decades, there has been a growing focus and emphasis on the role, that education should partake in developing young people’s skills to create innovative solutions and acting as agents of changes towards the global sustainability crisis, humankind and nature is currently facing. However recent worldwide mass youth demonstrations sends the message that youth, firstly are criticizing the apparent disclaim of political responsibility, secondly that they don’t feel their education is equipping them with the knowledge, skills or opportunities for creating sustainable impact. Researchers within the field of education and sustainability points to, that there should be an enhanced attention directed towards learning environments that enable youth’s ability and knowledge to interdependently solve complex problems and to act out solutions. There should also be an enhanced attention on bridging the gap between sectors and between formal and informal learning and let youth work with real problems. However, researchers all point to the fact that there is still gaps and somehow disorientation in current research into Education for Sustainable Development.
The aim of this thesis is therefore to contribute to a growing field of Danish and international research on which types of learning environments enable students’ abilities and experience with innovation and sustainable impact. It does so trough an empirical study of 3 cross-sectoral learning programs that takes place at the level of university, Danish gymnasium and Danish efterskole (continuation school). The objectives of this thesis are to disclose the factors that enable or constraint practices for learning how to create innovative solutions for sustainable problems and further, how students learning unfold within these practices. The method used for gathering data is founded in ethnographic methods, and the theoretical perspectives used for analyzing the data is founded in Stephen Kemmis Theory of practice architectures, Ludwig Wittgenstein’s notion of language games, and John Dewey’s theories of education and learning.
The results of the study showed, that prefiguration of the learning practices relied on teaching practices in order to enable specific language games, activities and relational set-up necessary to construct learning practices that in turn enable students’ abilities to work interdependently in student groups, when formulating and solving complex sustainability problems. It showed that learning practices that enables the students to work with problems that are relevant to the existing society and environment, is important in order to give students´ a perception of their learning as valuable and to enhance student’s engagement and curiosity. Furthermore it showed that the learning practices which took up the practice of producing a product a model and a presentation to external partners increased the students felling of being able to create change.
The thesis remarks conclusively, that the learning programs studied shows potential as practices of learning, which enables students to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to create sustainable innovation, but that there is a need for further research to strengthen these findings. There is also potential for further studies on how to upscale these programs and implement them as a part of the formal curriculum and not just as a part of an extracurricular activity.