SDG4 Seminar 2025 "Leadership in Education"

Welcome and Introduction to the Seminar

• Marja-Leena Laakso, Vice Rector (University of Jyväskylä) 

  and

• Hanna-Kaisa Pekkarinen, Head of the Institute of Educational Leadership, (University of Jyväskylä) 

Keynote #1

Development needs for ECE leadership- global and local perspectives

• Elina Fonsen (University of Jyväskylä), Hannele Roponen (City of Helsinki), Matshediso Modise (University of South Africa), Tuelo Matjokana (University of Pretoria)

In our presentation we will discuss development needs of ECE leadership in global and specific local needs in South Africa and Finland. Our theoretical approach is based on Pedagogical Leadership theory, that can be understood as a broad concept including the ECE leader's various actions supporting the implementation of the aims of curriculum and the quality of pedagogical work. In order to interpret the curriculum and lead its implementation in the constantly changing work environment, ECE leaders require strong educational knowledge. Furthermore, the ability to develop and support distributed pedagogical leadership with teachers is essential.  

First, we introduce the Pedagogical Leadership Training Project aimed at enhancing leadership in rural Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in South Africa. It addresses the prevalent economic-focused leadership that neglects pedagogical issues, hindering access to government funding and regulatory compliance. The research explores the need for professional development of South African ECD leaders and their learning experiences through the project. The findings highlight the critical role of ECD leaders in educational and administrative capacities, emphasising the necessity of leadership development and its impact on improving competencies.  

From the Finnish perspective, we will examine today’s operating environment, its challenges, and development needs, with a particular focus on leadership culture and practices at the unit level, municipal level, and national level. We will highlight how distributed pedagogical leadership requires meaning making as well as the importance of building a shared understanding of the pedagogical mission in today’s ECE. 

Parallel Workshops

Workshop 1: How to become engaging team leader in education, Facilitator - Dr. Bahare Afrahi (Faculty of Business and Social Sciences, Kingston Business School, UK)

This interactive workshop is designed to provide practical interventions and research-based strategies to improve leadership practices and policies within educational institutions. It offers students interested in educational leadership, leaders,  managers, and their teams an opportunity to reflect on their current approaches and consider how to cultivate an organisational climate that supports inclusive, high-quality work, education, and learning. The session also encourages participants to view their leadership style from the perspective of their colleagues, and vice versa. The workshop builds on five years of research and interactive sessions delivered to leaders and managers in various organisations, including educational settings. Our findings indicate that leaders benefit from reflecting on situations where their actions or communication may have unintentionally affected their teams, sometimes leading to disengagement or reduced motivation.

Workshop 2: From the Classroom Up: Transforming Education Through Leadership, Facilitator- Neli Koleva (Teach for Bulgaria)

What does it truly take to lead change in education—across classrooms, schools, and national systems? Rooted in real-life case studies from Bulgaria, this interactive workshop explores how leadership emerges when individuals take responsibility for the success of every child, especially in underprivileged communities. Drawing on experience from Teach for Bulgaria’s work in teacher training, school leadership, and policy advocacy, we will examine the emotional and systemic challenges of driving transformation—from fear and resistance to entrenched habits—and the tools leaders use to navigate them. Participants will engage with 2–3 powerful case studies, reflect on parallels in their own contexts, and explore how building strong communities is essential for lasting change. Whether you're a teacher, principal, policymaker, or researcher, this session invites you to reflect on what kind of leadership today’s education systems truly need—and how we can each be part of the solution. 

Workshop 3: Leadership as a Living System: An awareness- based leadership design experience for educational transformation, Facilitator- Bhavani Ramamoorthi

What role do human capacities such as curiosity, compassion, and courage play in leadership development—and what do we gain by reclaiming them?

This interactive workshop invites educators to explore how to cultivate nurturing leadership ecosystems within educational spaces through participatory design thinking, awareness-based leadership frameworks and creative exploration.

Participants will examine the conditions that allow leadership to emerge organically in learning communities and consider how human-centered approaches can transform hierarchical structures into dynamic ecosystems where leadership is both distributed and relational.

Together, we will explore leadership capacities—such as deep listening, presencing and generative dialogues, while engaging in hands-on activities to design “leadership containers” that support both self-leadership and collective leadership.

This experience is for participants eager to move beyond traditional leadership frameworks toward organic, relationship-based approaches that nurture learning and leadership potential in educational settings.

Workshop 4: Title (TBA), Facilitator- Educational Leadership Network Europe 

Workshop 5: Teachers’ leadership in Argentinean Early Childhood Education (ECE), Facilitator- Juan Cruz Dall’Asta (Doctoral student, University Austral in Buenos Aires, Argentina)

This workshop explores the evolving role of teacher leadership in Argentina’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector, where educators are increasingly seen not only as caregivers and instructors but as agents of systemic transformation. Drawing on current research, lived experiences, and participatory frameworks, the session invites participants to reflect on teachers’ leadership potential within diverse institutional and socio-political contexts. Participants will examine the cultural and policy-driven dynamics shaping teacher agency, engage in collaborative and comparative inquiry, and explore strategies to elevate leadership in classrooms, communities, and policy dialogues. The workshop emphasizes collaborative leadership, equity, and advocacy as key levers for reimagining ECE in Argentina and own participants’ contexts.

Panel Discussion

Global Promises, Local Pressures: Education Leadership Amid Austerity.

Convenors: Finnish University Partnership for International Development UniPID and Finnish Society for Development Research FSDR 

Education remains central to Finland’s international identity and its development cooperation policy, reflecting its commitment to addressing the global education crisis. The 2018 report Stepping Up Finland’s Global Role in Education, commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, suggested a range of recommendations for stronger Finnish contributions: through increased financing, strengthened human resources, dedicated bilateral cooperation, clearer strategies, leadership and thematic priorities, and more active participation in international education fora. Yet, at the same time, domestic austerity measures and uneven education outcomes raise questions to whether Finland can deliver on these global ambitions while remaining aligned with local political and economic realities.  

This SDG4 seminar session will create space for critical discussion on the current and potential capacity of donor countries—such as Finland—to act as leaders in advancing education cooperation, particularly in developing countries. It will bring together policymakers, practitioners, and academics to explore how Finland can strengthen its contribution to SDG4 in ways that are both internationally significant and locally grounded.  

Key questions include: 

• What has happened since 2018, and how successfully has Finland been able to seize opportunities for stepping up its role?
• In Finland’s foreign policy, education is highlighted as a strength in development cooperation, under the overarching objective of creating closer connections between trade and development. But how are policy shifts and fiscal cuts—including the abolition of four country programmes and prioritization of Ukraine—influencing Finland’s global education leadership?
• How do domestic austerity measures impact Finland’s credibility and capacity internationally?
• What are the implications of recent cuts to US development assistance (e.g., USAID and contributions to the UN system) for Finnish development NGOs, CSOs, and their ability to take part in multistakeholder initiatives?
• In what ways can Finland’s approach move beyond branding education as an “export product” and towards building more equitable partnerships? 

By sharing insights into policies, strategies, successes, and challenges in global education development, the workshop seeks to provide critical reflection on Finland’s evolving role amidst the pressures of local austerity. 

Panellists:  

• Hanna Alasuutari, Senior Adviser for Education/Development Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
• Pauliina Kemppainen, Lead Advisor for Lifelong Learning, Finn Church Aid
• Prof. Emmanuel Acquah, professor of education specializing in Minority Research at the Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies at Åbo Akademi University

Keynote #2 

Nature-based education: building a new past

• Ferenc Jordán (Group Leader at the Institute of Biological Research, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and Associated Researcher at Stazione Zoologica, Napoli, Italy)

The partnership between Homo sapiens and the Biosphere is in deep crisis. The time of our infinite growth is over and we need to seriously re-think who are we on this planet. Beyond studying emissions and microplastics, discussing sustainability and green solutions, time has come for the need of a new culture. Based on a system perspective, focusing on interactions and networks of multiple processes, we understand the non-local nature of environmental problems and also the global context of any potential solutions. Creating an old-and-new mindset, based on nature-based thinking, agro-ecological best practices and rewilding, is a crucial challenge for the next generations. If we want to inherit a habitable planet for our kids, we must replace dominance by partnership, re-considering our ecological footprint (both population size and consumption). Shaping this new culture together with the next genration is more logical than developing a strategy and showing them the manual. I will discuss the aboves at several levels, ranging from the most practical one (e.g. whether to cut the grass) to the most philosophical one (e.g. whether to protect nature or just leave it alone). 

Parallel Workshops

Workshop 1: Student thesis presentation [1]

Workshop 2: Student thesis presentation [2]

Workshop 3: Student thesis presentation [3]

Workshop 4: Resilient Educational Institutions through Learning Community Structures, Facilitator - Creatnet Education

Panel discussion - Sustainability and leadership in education

• Anna Lehtonen (Finnish Institute for Educational Research), Henna Rouhiainen (University of Turku), Eija Hanhimäki (University of Jyväskylä)

  In this keynote panel we present some perspectives on sustainability and leadership in the field of education. We define the main concepts and findings based on our previous and current research on this topic. In particular, we make use of the following points of view: what is sustainable leadership and how can we define its connections to ethical leadership in education? How can we support professional development in sustainable leadership? Why is sustainable leadership urgently needed in education? What can we learn from sustainable leadership in other sectors of society? What kind of sustainability competences are essential in leading transformations to sustainability in an educational organisation?

Coffee Break (provided)

Learning Café

Feedback session

Closing Words

• Anna-Maija Poikkeus (Dean - Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä)