Vocational education for sustainable living: community well-being at Suomen Diakoniaopisto
Jelekäinen, Ella (2025)
2025
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025120131265
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025120131265
Tiivistelmä
This thesis looks at sustainable community well-being in a Finnish educational context, focusing on a vocational institution Suomen Diakoniaopisto (SDO), in Helsinki. The aim was to explore how sustainable community well-being is currently understood and practiced at SDO, and to identify potential future actions that could further strengthen it. The study is grounded in the perspective that community well-being is a dynamic long-term process that promotes sustainable life while supporting individual growth and collective flourishing in educational environments.
This qualitative study was conducted by combining a document analysis of institutional materials together with semi-structured interviews with staff members of SDO. Themes of sustainable community well-being guiding the study were predefined based on literature; covering themes like diversity and inclusion, safety, sense of community as well as active participation which helped build an overview of this broad topic. Through thematic analysis, data was analyzed to identify recurring understandings and practices of sustainable community well-being.
The findings of this study indicate that sustainable community well-being at SDO is rooted in their values and everyday practices. The data shows that SDO has a comprehensive understanding of sustainable community well-being, including the predefined themes. SDO has established structures and statutory plans that support ethical long-term practices. Interviewees emphasized promotion of sense of community, meaningful encounters, communication, equality, active participation and building a safe and inspiring learning environment that fosters student agency and professional identity formation. Shared responsibility was highlighted where everyone has a part to play in creating daily culture that supports sustainable community well-being. Development ideas include strengthening systematic practices across study fields, increasing awareness of student participation pathways, and supporting staff through training, collaboration, and sustainability approaches.
The study contributes to understanding how vocational institutions can integrate community well-being into everyday practices and culture. It highlights that sustainable community well-being requires long-term commitment, collective responsibility, and continuous development to support both current and future members of the learning community and more broadly – the society and planet.
This qualitative study was conducted by combining a document analysis of institutional materials together with semi-structured interviews with staff members of SDO. Themes of sustainable community well-being guiding the study were predefined based on literature; covering themes like diversity and inclusion, safety, sense of community as well as active participation which helped build an overview of this broad topic. Through thematic analysis, data was analyzed to identify recurring understandings and practices of sustainable community well-being.
The findings of this study indicate that sustainable community well-being at SDO is rooted in their values and everyday practices. The data shows that SDO has a comprehensive understanding of sustainable community well-being, including the predefined themes. SDO has established structures and statutory plans that support ethical long-term practices. Interviewees emphasized promotion of sense of community, meaningful encounters, communication, equality, active participation and building a safe and inspiring learning environment that fosters student agency and professional identity formation. Shared responsibility was highlighted where everyone has a part to play in creating daily culture that supports sustainable community well-being. Development ideas include strengthening systematic practices across study fields, increasing awareness of student participation pathways, and supporting staff through training, collaboration, and sustainability approaches.
The study contributes to understanding how vocational institutions can integrate community well-being into everyday practices and culture. It highlights that sustainable community well-being requires long-term commitment, collective responsibility, and continuous development to support both current and future members of the learning community and more broadly – the society and planet.