Special Issue Journals

In this commentary, the idea of a stronger focus on a net-positive learning perspective and a solutions-oriented approach in education for sustainable development is proposed as a means to uplift its transformative potential and support an accelerated effort towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals…

This article examines the role of cities as critical spaces for advancing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) policies within global governance. Traditionally guided by national governments, education policy-making now involves diverse actors, including international organizations and local authorities…

The role of assessment in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is in need of re-assessment. Despite its importance, assessment in ESD has been criticized for its detrimental effects on learner wellbeing, lack of innovation, and failure to adequately consider fundamental sustainability principles, limiting its integral link to learning…

This commentary explores the dynamic landscape of climate change education (CCE) in Asia, spotlighting the crucial role of integrating CCE into teacher training programs. It introduces the Asian Teacher Educators for Climate Change Education (ATECCE) Network, whose impactful initiatives have catalyzed change in teacher education and community engagement…

This commentary explores Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and international policy, focusing on participatory decision-making, long-term planning, and education and awareness. Highlighting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.7, which emphasizes sustainability, peace, gender equality, and human rights in education, the text underscores the importance of inclusive, youth-driven participation in policy development…

This study utilizes literature databases and correspondence between UNESCO and Japan to clarify the effectiveness of implementing UNESCO’s recommendations for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and examines Japan’s domestic educational policy. After the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) ended in 2014, a noticeable decrease in references to ESD within the databases was observed…

This article contributes to the scholarship on integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) into global development frameworks, which emerges from the need to investigate and propose solutions to enrich and enhance the nexus between policy and practice…

Holistic education empowers learners’ with a transformative impact and improves their living conditions by enhancing their core competencies. A project-based learning approach helps to further facilitate environment improvement initiatives at an individual and institution level through a whole school approach, ensuring sustainability and contributing to measurable results…

Biodiversity decline and habitat destruction have drastically accelerated in recent decades, as reported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Increasingly, national, and international legislation mandates that businesses report and manage the potential effects of their operations on biodiversity…

In an era of environmental and social crises, integrating Indigenous knowledge into Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is critical for fostering a holistic, inclusive, and effective approach to sustainability. This article explores the essential role of Indigenous knowledge in contextualizing education, highlighting its contributions to sustainable resource management, environmental stewardship, and cultural preservation…

The Greening Education Partnership (GEP) has emerged as an actionable initiative with four strategic pillars each having its measurable indicators. An outcome of the UN Secretary General’s Transformative Education Summit, GEP sets ambitious targets for countries to be achieved by 2030…

As the world approaches the 2030 deadline, the promise of education in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains unfulfilled, while the dominant educational models prevail without critical scrutiny. Our analysis dives into the SDG targets and their portrayals in seminal reports from UNESCO, the OECD, and the World Bank, revealing the heavy hand of these international bodies in shaping the global education trajectory…

Member states of the UN and UNESCO have committed themselves to adopt education policies and curricula that help students address 21^st century challenges, from climate change and conflict to gender inequality and misuse of information channels. The 2023 UNESCO Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development builds on the 2015 SDG Target 4.7…

Universities have a vital role to play in any social pact for the future.  For higher education to contribute to sustainable futures in which the ability of succeeding generations to chart their own flourishing futures is not compromised, a pivot is necessary…

This reflective article argues that despite the widespread adoption of education for sustainable development (ESD) most manifestations of ESD are not sufficiently radical. They do not effectively nurture the kinds of social learning and societal shifts that international agencies agree are urgently needed to address current unsustainable socioeconomic pathways…

This paper clarifies the role of higher education networking in promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The significance of ESD in higher education has been recognised since the 1990s. Globalisation and internationalisation emphasise the importance of creating partnerships through networking and international collaboration…

The article starts by making a case as to why it is necessary to transform knowledge and research. It is argued that transformation is essential for epistemic justice and to tackle the complex problems of unsustainable development…

In international and comparative education, the unit of analysis has traditionally and predominantly been the national education system. However, many of these systems are or have become fragmented and decentralised. This commentary therefore presents five key insights from policy studies at the subnational and particularly at the urban level to understand the field of ESD…

Undeniably, education for sustainable development can justifiably be considered as a laudable educational practice because of its purpose to foster environmental awareness and responsibility, enhance economic sustainability, cultivate critical thinking and empowerment of people, and build inclusive societies (UN, 2017).  In this article I tease out three policy perspectives on education for sustainable development in the quest to cultivate a more tenable notion of higher education specifically related to the African context…

This paper seeks to reconceptualize education for sustainable development (ESD) with the explicit inclusion of innovation. Drawing on policy dialogues held over the past three years, including those at COP28, a Theory-of-Change framework for youth-led innovation is proposed…