VIA University College, SOSU Østjylland and Aarhus Municipality have, since 2023, worked closely together to integrate sustainability into health education programmes.
The healthcare sector is undergoing transformation: a smaller workforce must support a growing population of older adults. This demands innovative approaches and sustainable practices that minimise environmental impact and optimise resource use. It also requires professionals who embrace welfare technologies and integrate environmentally conscious thinking into their work.
“In order to integrate more sustainability initiatives in a hospital or nursing home, it is essential that all professional groups engage in open dialogue with one another. This is exactly the type of systems thinking we aim to put into practice through the Danish CoVE partnership within the TEACH4SD project,” says Birgitte Helbæk Marcussen, Associate Professor at VIA University College and coordinator of the CoVE collaboration in Denmark.
The TEACH4SD project has established a regional Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) within healthcare in Aarhus. The purpose is to develop education programmes that both live up to the EU’s green ambitions and meet the real needs of municipal care units, hospitals and day-care services.
“The Danish CoVE functions as a shared platform where we can meet across both educational levels and institutional silos. The ambition of the collaboration is to create a more holistic approach to how we equip the workforce of the future to work sustainably in the healthcare sector,” says Birgitte Helbæk Marcussen.
A new dimension to the professional field
For Merete Heick Gotfredsen, teacher and project manager at SOSU Østjylland, the TEACH4SD collaboration is not only about new methods, but also about professional pride:
“Our students are educated for care tasks with, and in collaboration with, other professional groups, where TEACH4SD can add a new dimension to the professional field and help address a societal challenge through action,” says Merete Heick Gotfredsen.
At Aarhus Municipality, consultant Susanne Riiser experiences that employees who previously had “sustainability projects” imposed on them now gain new action competencies through TEACH4SD:
“When a new climate target or sustainability project comes from the top, it can feel like something that is simply added on top of an already busy everyday life. With TEACH4SD, employees gain concrete action competencies so they both understand why we need to do things differently – and what they themselves can change in practice,” says Susanne Riiser.
From the TEACH4SD perspective, Marianne GeorgActivities for teachers and staff
The collaboration centres around a “Teach-the-teacher” course offered at both VIA and SOSU. The course consists of five workshops introducing the EU’s sustainability competence framework, the importance of nature for health, and concrete methods for developing teaching courses that integrate sustainability in the healthcare sector.
“During the planning of Teach-the-teacher, the most important thing for me was to give participants knowledge, courage and the desire to integrate sustainable development into teaching and work tasks.
For the course to be a success, the participants had to approach it with openness, curiosity and the courage to try new approaches and challenge familiar teaching and work forms – and they did,” says Birgitte Woge Nielsen, Associate Professor at VIA University College and co-developer of the Teach-the-teacher programme.
When good intentions meet everyday life
The collaboration in the Danish CoVE is built on the willingness to cooperate – but also on an everyday reality where time, schedules and operations constantly press in. It takes time to align calendars, engage participants and ensure that there is time for new ideas in the daily routines.
“We come from three very different worlds – each with our own language, workflows and priorities. It can be challenging to find common ground, especially when we are so busy on a daily basis. But when we succeed in developing together, it creates enormous value for staff and students alike,” says Susanne Riiser.
Dreams for the future
If you ask the partners, the ambition goes beyond a single project. They dream of establishing a knowledge centre where students, teachers, researchers and health professionals can come together around sustainable health, for example, in the new welfare technology house in Aarhus.
“I envision a place buzzing with students and professionals who develop new sustainable solutions for the health sector together. A place that can carry the collaboration forward when project funding is over,” says Birgitte Helbæk Marcussen.
At the educational institutions, the next step is to have sustainability written even more clearly into strategies, curricula and everyday teaching – so it does not depend on a few dedicated enthusiasts but becomes a shared task. The ambition is that more teachers, supervisors and leaders in both municipalities and educational institutions complete similar courses, so that future students encounter a sustainable educational pathway across school and professional life.
If you ask the partners, the ambition goes beyond a single project. They dream of establishing a knowledge centre where students, teachers, researchers and health professionals can come together around sustainable health, for example, in the new welfare technology house in Aarhus.
“I envision a place buzzing with students and professionals who develop new sustainable solutions for the health sector together. A place that can carry the collaboration forward when project funding is over,” says Birgitte Helbæk Marcussen.
At the educational institutions, the next step is to have sustainability written even more clearly into strategies, curricula and everyday teaching – so it does not depend on a few dedicated enthusiasts but becomes a shared task. The ambition is that more teachers, supervisors and leaders in both municipalities and educational institutions complete similar courses, so that future students encounter a sustainable educational pathway across school and professional life.
This is how the project partnership operates
VIA University College VIA coordinates the Danish CoVE for the healthcare sector and brings experience from six years of work with competence development of teachers and research within Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
“We see it as our task to translate sustainability from visions into concrete educational activities that work in a busy everyday life,” says Birgitte Helbæk Marcussen.
SOSU Østjylland SOSU Østjylland translates ESD into practice-oriented courses for teachers on the Social and Healthcare Assistant, Social and Healthcare Helper, and Pedagogical Assistant programmes.
“We are inspired by VIA’s courses but have adapted them to the frameworks and needs we have at SOSU,” says Merete Heick Gotfredsen.
Aarhus Municipality The department of Assisted Living Technology, Health and Care at Aarhus Municipality delivers care, rehabilitation and health services to older citizens and is therefore both a recipient and a co-educator in the project.
The municipality has students in internships where they are educated side by side by workplace training supervisors and clinical supervisors. Aarhus Municipality also develops and implements welfare technology solutions to meet recruitment challenges in the healthcare system, while ambitious climate targets must be incorporated.
“Today we have separate agreements with SOSU and VIA, but not much direct collaboration between the two educational institutions. The municipality is the place where students meet in practice – and here I experience that the CoVE collaboration makes a big difference, because we sit at the same table and see each other’s perspectives,” says Susanne Riiser.