This article analyzes the organizational way to form sustainable thinking in socially oriented studies for teachers and students using the experience of Stockholms stads utbildningsf & ouml;rvaltning (Stockholm Education Administration). Deep studies of thematical publications, the curriculum, and websites for teachers were used as a pedagogical method. The article's main goal is to find out what help teachers are given to make socially oriented lessons more sustainable.

This investigation aims to determine the historical and pedagogical foundations of students’ sustainable development formation in Swedish primary schools during their Religious Studies (RS) as a part of social and cultural education from 1900 onwards.

The aim is to deal with important questions about the history of RS – general points of education for sustainable development; RS for implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Sweden (focusing on the history of the issue); educational RS potential in Swedish primary schools for implementation of ESD (focusing on the current stage of development); the ways to improve implementation of ESD during RS in Swedish primary school (authors’ opinions).

This article explores the role of female education in Sweden in the development of religious education and its role in the sustainable development of primary school pupils at the beginning of the 20th century. For this purpose, a retrospective analysis of contemporary thematic content was conducted. Archival documents from the Stockholm Archives were used for the article to ensure a reliable result. Based on an analysis of regulatory documents (Protocols of the Swedish Parliament and Protocols of the General Church Meeting), the archives of four private schools (The school of Anna Sandstrom; The co-educational school of Sofi Almquist; New Elementary School for Girls or The school of Anna Ahlmstrom; The school of Anna Rönström), the author concludes that teachers of these institutions: 1. use religious orientation materials for general education; 2. draw on religion as an instrument to show pupils their connection with other components of the environment and to convince them that all components are connected and that the expected future depends on each individual; 3. show pupils the connections amongst the society – people – nature and the necessity to multiply all their resources.

Religious education is an effective tool for organizing primary school children's spiritual and moral  development.  Primary  religious  education  aims  to  teach  interaction  and achieve constructive dialogues with others. Teachers have a responsibility to make classes appealing and  learning  accessible  by  taking  the  age  range  and  cognitive  skills  of  primary school children into account in the planning. Introducing a mixture of alternative forms and systems for  teaching  may  be  the  best  way  to  achieve  this.  Approaches  from  several alternative education systems could be used to expand religious education teaching practices in primary schools.  The  systems  that  are  to  be  discussed  further  here  are homeschooling,  unschooling, world  schooling,  outdoor  education,  online  learning, Montessori,  Frobel,  Amonashvili,  and Waldorf.  

The text of the research deals with an analysis of the European framework for the implementation of education for sustainable development and the Swedish experience in it.

Also, there will analyze the Swedish way to the modern understanding of sustainability and the role of education in it, which was always and still is closely connected with the International and European experiences.

Mass media always was (and still is) a very platform to form public opinion and to express own position on important social issues. In the context of this study, it is especially very important because the role of specialized newspapers or magazines during the last century cannot be overestimated.

The beginning of the XX century is characterized by the big pace of development of economics, science, technologies, and education (obviously). In archives we can find many magazines, and newspapers of different thematic focuses, including education and religion.

Journals and Newspapers always were (and still are) a very platform to form public opinion and to express own position on important social issues. In the context of this study, it is especially very important because the role of specialized newspapers or magazines during the last century cannot be overestimated.

The beginning of the XX century is characterized by the big pace of development of economics, science, technologies, and education (obviously). In archives we can find many magazines, and newspapers of different thematic focuses, including education and religion.

Primary school religious education is important and understudied in modern educational practice. Classes on religious education are used to impart knowledge to pupils about the world’s main religions. Knowledge about specific religions, or how to collaborate with representatives of different religions, is mostly absent. Unfortunately, teachers of religious education often do not use their classes as a tool for their students’ moral and spiritual development. It is also one of the problems for Swedish schools and it has to be solved because Sweden is a very multicultural country with representatives of many religions; and one of the tasks of modern schools is to show how to be tolerant of others. This research aims to highlight problems and develop ways of teaching religious education in primary schools through theoretical literature analysis on the research topic. Also, we provide didactic exercises which teachers can use during religion lessons to diversify them and make it more accessible to students.

The title of the research is «The Child. The Religion. The Sustainable Future: How it Started in Sweden and Where it is now?» The purpose of research is to determine the historical and pedagogical foundations of the formation of students’ sustainable development in Swedish Primary Schools during their religious education from 1900 till now. The main task of research is to identify the main trends of transformation of the content of religious education as part of the social-cultural of younger schoolchildren since 1900 till now and determine the prospects of their application in modern primary schools.

Methods and materials.

General methods: Analysis, Synthesis, Induction, Deduction, Analogy Specific scientific methods: a historical-structural, constructive and genetic, comparative analysis Source material: books, articles, pictures, videos, reports, policy, archives materials.

This article is related to an essential aspect of modern pedagogy of sustainable development – namely, its development in Sweden.

This country was one of the first to support the idea of sustainability. Within the framework of this article, the author clarified the concept of «sustainable development»; the role of religious education in the implementation of sustainable development ideas in Swedish primary schools are outlined; the views of one of the vital Swedish educators of the XX century E. Key to the role of Religious Education and its influence on the «sustainable development» of students is characterised.