Under the spotlight this week is SDG #4 – Quality Education. Setting strong foundations from childhood, through adolescence, and early adulthood is really important for the economic and social sustainability of individuals and society. In addition to these foundations it is equally important to ensure the ability to access education and information, develop skills, and apply them throughout ones life.
We take a look at what SDG #4 seeks to achieve and the focus of its targets. This highlights the importance of education as a central component of all that we seek to achieve when it comes to the sustainability of people and planet.
As education is key for all our sustainability efforts, it is no different for our agricultural sector. Resilience, wellbeing of communities, innovation, economic prosperity, and so much more is strongly linked to education, learning, skill development and application. The sector provides many ways for people to learn and upskill, however, there are some areas we need to consider to ensure this is accessible and equitable for all.
We love highlighting how our spotlight SDG’s are being progressed by the sector and this weeks example is the work of the Farmer Time for Schools programme. This is a great initiative that seeks to target the foundations of education and create positive flow on effects for the sector as people progress through education and life itself.
Lifelong learning, equitable access to opportunities, and supporting people through their sustainability journey are core values at The Whole Story. We have created an awesome opportunity for you to be part of this through our online course which is open for registrations right now, with an early bird price that isn’t to be missed. For more, see the information at the bottom of this blog, or follow the link.
What is SDG #4 about?
SDG #4 seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Targets under this goal are focused on:
- ensuring equitable free, and complete primary and secondary education for boys and girls,
- ensuring all boys and girls have access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education,
- ensuring equal access for all women and men to access affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education,
- substantially increasing the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship,
- eliminating gender disparities in education, and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable,
- ensuring that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy, and
- ensuring that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.
The targets for SDG #4 emphasise the central role that education plays in ensuring a sustainable future. The key themes in these targets are around equitable access, and also the ability for skill and knowledge development. The aim of this goal also emphasises the promotion of life-long learning, and how learning, skill development, and access to quality education is something that needs to be prioritised for children, right through to all stages of adulthood.
When we look holistically at what the Sustainable Development Goals are seeking to achieve as a whole, we can identify that education, knowledge, and skills are a really important part of ensuring that these goals can be progressed. While we may not think that all goals have a direct connection to education, the skills and knowledge that people possess are the vehicle that provides insight, passion, a will for change, and the ability to do something about it. We know that education is important, but its true importance is much greater than what we may give it credit.
Why is SDG #4 important for agriculture?
Education is important for all facets of life, therefore agriculture is no different. The ability to learn and develop skills is related to many parts of working in the sector such as:
- learning new tools to manage farm information,
- engaging in extension opportunities like workshops, field days, and discussion groups,
- being able to engage with sector material like papers, articles, magazines etc.
- having the opportunity to pursue courses such as Primary ITO, tertiary education, and industry programmes,
- being able to understand and engage with sector issues, policy, and business requirements,
- learning about and exploring new ideas to adopt into farming systems and business.
In the agricultural sector, there is a need to ensure that lifelong learning is something that is afforded by all, not just the few. It is important to consider how we provide opportunity to learn as we must seek to focus on meeting the diverse needs of the people who make up the rural sector, irrespective of the method of education or learning.
We all learn in different ways and have different background levels of literacy and numeracy. Some of us learn best through doing. For others, we learn best through reading and writing. Some of us do better learning from videos, podcasts, and webinars. There are many ways that we best engage with information, developing skills, and learning new knowledge. As agriculture is a sector that continuously evolves, the ability to have access to lifelong learning opportunities that are in formats that we are able to engage with is really important. This is equally important for consultancy and other rural professions that work with farmers, or people in general. Being able to adapt our methods to suit how our clients best learn or engage is also necessary for the sector to prioritise to ensure that all are afforded the ability to understand and go on the learning journey in a way that suits their needs.
Educating the Next generation about New Zealand Agriculture
One awesome initiative that is combining agriculture and quality education is the Farmer Time for Schools programme. Established in 2022 by Beef and Lamb, with support from the Ministry for Primary Industries, this programme virtually connects farmers with primary and intermediate students in New Zealand schools.
This programme aims to ‘inspire, engage and educate young people about the journey of food from farm to fork in the ever-changing, diverse agricultural industry.’
The big benefit of this programme is the direct transfer of knowledge from farmers to the classroom. So much of what we understand of rural life, and the wider sector, when we live in urban areas is through the media and this hasn’t traditionally always been a positive reflection. Connection with rural areas has decreased over time, with less people having access to extended families with farms and so on. Being able to expose people to rural issues and life is therefore really important.
One of the key aims of Farmer Time for Schools is to ‘be the educational foundation upon which careers in the primary
industries grow.’
As shown by the graphic, Farmer Time focuses on engaging young people that traditionally haven’t had access to education about where their food comes from, and agriculture more generally.
This direct focus on the early life stage demographic, which has been under-served, provides the opportunity to set wheels in motion for people to progress through further education and into employment in the sector, should it be a path they may wish to take.
There is a common saying that we can’t be what we can’t see. If children aren’t exposed to agriculture and the diverse opportunities in the sector, then we will not be able to ignite a passion for food and fibre production that carries people through the life stages and to seek out education and opportunities to be part of the sector.
The benefits of the Farmer Time for Schools programme has been shown to target many different areas of education, as shown in the image below. Not only does exposure to the diverse nature of agriculture have huge benefits for children, it also has a positive flow on effect to challenging the perceptions held by teachers around what subjects, skills and interest areas are involved in a career in food and fibre.
As mentioned above, targeting the early life stage has a core purpose of exposing children to agriculture, but likewise showing them how science, social science, maths and statistics, english, languages, health and education, technology, and the arts relate to the sector is also equally important.
If we think about each of those disciplines, that accounts for a large proportion of the future educational areas that students pursue. Showing that these areas of interest and education can be applied to a food and fibre sector role is hugely powerful, and is a great way to ensure that people can see that working in these disciplines can be achieved while choosing food and fibre as the sector they want to work in.
Do you Want to learn more about sustainability and how it relates to your farming business?
If you have ever:
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📝 found yourself “stuck” in a compliance cycle, only taking actions on farm to meet audit or regulation requirements
⏱️ struggled to find time to get off farm and attend workshops, field days or discussion groups that will help move your farming business forward
👔 dealt with sustainability professionals who don’t deeply understand the in and outs of farming
Then this course is for you!
We tackle the complexity of sustainability and break it down into strategic chunks using our tried and tested framework leaving you with clarity, a sense of pride and an action plan for the future that is grounded in what’s important for you to have the “ABILITY” to “SUSTAIN” your farming business successfully into the future.
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