Motivation Letter January 21, 2023

Programme: “Pedagogy and Teaching for Sustainability, Master of Arts (Education)

Attention: Submitted by
Admission Authority Tauhidul Islam Chowdhury
University of Eastern Finland Contact Number: +8801716607999
Philosophical Faculty, Joensuu campus Email: tauhidul.ssbd@gmail.com

Dear Admission Authority:

The purpose of this motivation letter is to register my interest to getting an admission for the
programme “Pedagogy and Teaching for Sustainability, Master of Arts (Edcuation).”

First of all, I always have the practice of continuous improvement through making positive
strides in life. One of such effort is enrichment of knowledge base and skills that are critical
for success. Fancying for better education and bringing perfection in my work is the intention
that I always carry with myself. Working in field of education for a sustainable world is
something that I have been currently aiming for. One thing I always keep in mind is, my area
of study should be aligned with my intended area of work. Accordingly, I started exploring
options offered by different institutions for my further study. I am quite impressed with the
two-year master degree program in “Pedagogy and Teaching for Sustainability” offered by
University of Eastern Finland.

Additionally, I have a plan of working in the field of community development in coming

years. Education will be my prime focus to build a sustainable society. I believe that Master
Degree in Pedagogy and Teaching for Sustainability is an advanced degree that broadens the
scope of such work with accuracy and perfection. Getting an admission in this programme
will provide me opportunity learning different aspects of education to develop myself as a
learned and skilled professional in the field of sustainability.

Besides, I have a track record of working in the field of sustainability involves with a supply
chain. With regard to my responsibilities, I have been mainly engaged with the sustainability
issues of apparel manufacturing and footwear manufacturing. The other industries I came
across in my career are – football manufacturing, sports accessories plants and leather
accessory units. My job responsibilities have been heavily connected with core areas like
employment practice, legal compliance, gender, workplace safety, environmental compliance,
employee awareness, community based programmes etc. The job responsibility demands
interacting with different stakeholders starting from factory workers, management,
neighbourhood, local government authorities, NGOs to many other parties. This really helped
me grow as a sustainability professional in the supply chain.

Though it’s a long career, but the journey had never been so easy because of the multiple
constraints involves in developing a sustainable supply chain. One of the biggest barrier that I
confronted in performing my job was communication. This observed to be a common
phenomenon that people are either reluctant or uncomfortable to communicating their issues
to company management or concerned parties in a workplace. For example, an employee does
not really aware of his/her benefits from the company or how to address them to the
management. The country made a significant improvement increasing its literacy rate (i.e.
around 76%), but very pity that the standard of education is not quite up to mark to develop
suck skill of communication. The poor economic condition of the country puts people struggle
with their basic needs like food, clothing and shelter in their daily life. This leads to work at
early age of life, depriving a child from going to school and early dropouts from schools as
well. Such absence of proper education makes it difficult for a nation to become responsible
enough to foster towards a sustainable society. For example, lack of knowledge on basic issues
like – legal rights, health and safety, gender discrimination, climate change etc.

These days, the word education is deeply connected to Sustainability. The ultimate goal is to
establish sustainability through quality education. The biggest task and challenge for the nation
towards getting round of such backwardness is improving the education standard at different
tiers of the society. A well-structured education system to build a sustainable society can
minimize as well as eradicate the problems of communications in the workplace and in other
parts of the society.

Moreover, Quality Education is goal number 4 in the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal)
set by United Nations (UN). It is imperative to develop oneself with real-world skills to build
a better world. Education is the most important tool to expand such skills require for future.
Education is largely associated with someone’s growth in terms of social values, arts, culture,
environmental responsibility and all other related issues. Education widens the understanding
“why it is necessary to build a sustainable world.” People with degree on educatoin can
pursue his career with many different organisations in the development sector such as NGOs,
education institutions, development agencies, international brands etc.

In addition, Sustainable Cities and Communities is goal number 11 in SDG. Sustainability is

crucial to save the planet destroyed mostly by man-made activities. It speaks about the
urgency of eliminating the hurdles for a better living today as well as in the future. It tries to
find out the equilibrium between economic growth, environmental care and social well-being.

Academic degree on Education and Sustainability will strengthen the urgency of working for
a healthy environment in society via elimination of all social hazards and complexities related
to sustainability. This will make me knowledgeable enough participate in different forums,
focus group discussions, meetings and seminars and make useful inputs in those events. I can
devote myself creating social groups working for a sustainable workplace. After long career,
I got a realisation that it’s the time to do something meaningful that adds value to my work.
Fulfillment of which will give me personal satisfaction that cannot be compared with
anything that I achieved in my life.

A sustainable workplace is crucial for multiple reasons – where people are well educated to
understand the urgency and need of healthy environment, preservation of natural resources,
minimization of wastes, cultural practice, social cooperation, gender equality etc. My dream
is to work for developing sustainable workplace in the supply chain. Going back home, my
first step will be working on education enhancement of the employees in the supply chain in a
way that guides them to make their workplace sustainable. Because, education is the only
weapon that guides development in multi-dimensional ways – personal, social, cultural and
economic. Then, I will slowly expand my activities to other areas like education for street
children, adult and other underprivileged people in the society. I also want to engage myself
with different voluntary organizations working for sustainable development in the country.
Another strong reason for choosing this program is – the University of Eastern Finland has its
own commitment to sustainability. The University advocates and incorporates Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) to execute its activities. The University also signed the Society’s
Commitment to Sustainable Development in line with Sustainable Development Agenda
2030 in Finland. It has adherence to cut down environmental impacts in the campus
surroundings.

I am highly motivated with this two-year Master’s Degree programme in Pedagogy and
Teaching for Sustainability. The programme itself promotes sustainability through education.
It’s a multidisciplinary programme that provides the scope of learning multiple aspects of
education starting from orientation studies, methodological studies, subject studies, and other
studies. This is linked up with ecology, culture, social aspect and pedagogy. This programme
will teach how a student can apply his/her knowledge and skills to planning, implementing,
and assessing different learning activities in primary and secondary school. Another great
feature of this programme is – the curriculum is not restricted to local aspects only, but
international, too. Though I am well experienced in my profession and completed my studies
in different field, but I find this programme holds a distinct standard to aspire someone
reaching further heights by achieving something new in his/her career. This programme is
quite unique that correlates two core issues education and sustainability; which is not
available in any institution in Bangladesh.

I am confident that my work experience and educational background will put me as a

potential candidate for this Master’s programme. Getting an opportunity to study, and
successful completion of this programme will be an achievement of my life-time. During the
coursework, I’ll try to contribute myself by sharing my experience and expertise with others
studying in the same subject. I’ll definitely try to add additional values to the programme
either from professional experience or from my learnings during the course. Last but not the
least, I’ll put my all-out effort on my study as effectively as possible to finish this up
satisfactorily.