We would like to have established a permanent and mutually beneficial dialogue between our students/staff and local, regional, and international experts and authorities on the circular economy. The dialogue approached the subject by focusing on 1) the personal, 2) local/regional, and 3) international challenges of adopting a more functional circular economy. By doing this, we aimed to have established a model for other upper secondary schools to include these discussions in their curricula.
Upper secondary education is often very theoretical. In particular, the local challenges of sustainable development are often overlooked when the teaching materials focused on more global and universal challenges. We needed to organize a way for students and staff to easily collect information from local authorities and experts on the challenges our own communities faced when trying to adopt a more efficient circular economy. The circular economy is an economic system that aims to eliminate waste and promote the continual use of resources. It is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. We also needed a good framework for the discussions in which the students genuinely felt they were part of important conversations that affected their community. This was where the dialogue method developed by the Finnish Timeout Foundation came in. Timeout was a dialogue method for people from different backgrounds. Timeout discussions were always facilitated.