Interdependence Must Become Structure

Reflections on Finland’s Basic Education 2045: For Life

Interdependence embodied in structure.

At its core, education reform reflects a conception of humanity. The structures we design in schools reveal what we believe about the individual, the community, and our relationship with the planet.

Finland’s recently published Basic Education 2045: For Life articulates this shift with clarity. Rather than centering competencies alone, it frames schooling around meaningful life, life together, and life on the planet. The vision recognizes that education is not only preparation for the future but participation in a shared human condition.

Yet a vision alone does not transform culture.

Interdependence becomes real only when it is embedded in structure. If relational thinking remains a principle in policy language, reform stays conceptual. When it becomes part of how schools gather, reflect, make decisions, and take shared responsibility, it begins to shape daily life.

In both local and international school settings, I have observed how interdependence becomes tangible only when it is consciously sustained in everyday practice. When a group of students gathers in a circle to reflect, listen, and take shared responsibility, relational principles stop being abstract ideas and begin to shape how they experience belonging.

The question is no longer whether the vision is meaningful. The question is how its relational foundations become structurally embedded in everyday school life.

If the starting point of reform is separation, change remains fragmented. If it is interdependence, responsibility becomes visible and shared.

This structural understanding of interdependence is what I describe as Circular Humanity — an approach that views education not as preparation for life, but as lived relational culture.

If interdependence is to become structural, where should it first become visible?In assessment, in curriculum design, or in the daily rhythm of school life?

For reference, the English summary of Basic Education 2045: For Life vision can be found here: Mika Vanhanen