ABSTRACT. This article discusses Indigenous Sámi parents’ overlooked expertise and agency in education planning and in working towards eco-socially sustainable futures for their children, as well as for the larger society, not excluding the planet. This study contributes to the theoretical foundations of developing educational planning that moves towards Indigenous Sámi desire-based practices. By highlighting Sámi parents’ desires in the context of education planning processes, we build a framework for decolonising/ reconstructing education planning in Finland. Through examining desire and futures images, we can better understand the potentials and forces affecting the actualisation of futures. We can learn to identify formulae of ethnopolitical social exclusion and seek ways to address them in terms of decolonisation. The research is limited to the Aanaar municipality area for its Sámi linguistic and historical characteristics. The reflections of Sámi parents on educational choices, hopes, fears and values connected to ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) and BE (Basic Education) in Finland, in the past, present and futures represent a limited take on current-day Sámi parents’ perspectives. These reflections were acquired through a thematically structured online questionnaire designed to respond to Sámi parents’ wishes for participation and to be as non-obtrusive as possible. A lengthy process of ethical evaluation to ensure oadjebasvuohta – a feeling of safety for Sámi parents in participating, was carried out prior to data gathering. Based on our findings, we propose developing education planning on a municipal and national level based on collective futuring that accounts for pluriversity and complexity of lived experiences in the past and present and with a premise of Sámi parents’ expertise, agency and desire.

Keywords: Sámi parents; Indigenous desire; Sámi education; education planning; decolonising education; futuring

How to cite: Francett-Hermes, M., & Namdar, C. (2025). Mattering Sámi parents: Sámi parents as experts in education planning and development: Perspectives on sustainable Sámi and collective eco-social futures. Knowledge Cultures, 13(2), 98–132. https://doi.org/10.22381/kc13220256

Received January 18, 2025 • Received in revised form June 28, 2025
Accepted August 1, 2025 • Available online September 1, 2025