Between Global Crises and Sustainable Transformation: Critical Reflection on Education for Sustainable Development from Perspectives of the Global South
Humanity, through its actions, is exceeding the ecological boundaries of the planet. Furthermore, significant social challenges persist, as the global COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in poverty and inequality worldwide. Addressing these crises requires a “Great Transformation” (WBGU, 2011) that is intended to be achieved through sustainable development (Kopfmüller et al., 2001; Ott & Döhring, 2004). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide guidelines for this transformation (UN, 2015).
Since the late 1990s, there has been a growing emphasis on sustainable development in educational discourse and practice. In this context, the concept of “Education for Sustainable Development” (ESD) has been developed as an educational response to global crises (Michelsen & Fischer, 2019; Rieckmann, 2022). ESD aims to empower individuals to engage in societal learning, communication, and transformation processes for sustainable development, the implementation of the SDGs, and thus the promotion of the “Great Transformation”. Learners, as “Sustainability Citizens” (Rieckmann & Schank, 2006), should be able to reflect on questions of sustainable development and find their own answers. At the same time, ESD can be seen as transformative education (Koller, 2022; Scheunpflug, 2019). A “conceptual change”, meaning the alteration of fundamental orientations (attitudes, values, paradigms, and worldviews) (Scheunpflug, 2019, 65), can be fostered through ESD (Sterling, 2011).
However, for a transformation in the sense of sustainable development, structural changes are also required (WBGU, 2011). Therefore, ESD should not only focus on the level of individual behaviour – and the necessary acquisition of knowledge and competencies, along with a corresponding value orientation – but also raise questions about structures. ESD should contribute to the (political) education of sustainability citizens who are capable of questioning existing structures, thinking beyond them, and thus contributing to structural transformation (Balsiger et al., 2017; Rieckmann, 2017, 2020; Rieckmann & Schank, 2016).
This disruptive dimension is often emphasized more strongly in ESD discourses in the Global South than in the discourse here. ESD approaches from the Global South (including transgressive learning, postcolonial perspectives) can provide inspiration for critical reflection and further development of ESD.