Has ‘sustainable development’ had its day? Interrogating and reframing the global education agenda

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Is it possible to disagree with the idea of sustainable development? Can one really be against positive change in society and the avoidance of self-destruction, or opposed to the win-win of environmental protection and human wellbeing? The apparently consensual nature of the idea catapulted it to the forefront of global agendas when it was adopted in 2015 as the centrepiece of Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The idea of ‘sustainable development’ emerged from the meeting of two hitherto separate agendas: on the one hand, international development, which in the post-Second World War period became the orienting ideal for the trajectory of nation-states, and on the other, the environmental movement, seeking to protect and conserve the natural world against the ravages of global industrialisation (McCowan 2019). These potentially competing agendas were gradually brought together through the decades, and enshrined in the influential Brundtland report in 1987, which defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (WCED 1987: 37).

Yet a number of forceful critiques have emerged of this dominant framing. The notion of ‘development,’ despite its lack of substantive content as a concept, has been strongly associated with a modernist paradigm of ‘progress’ through industrialisation and the emergence of consumer culture, both inimical to planetary health. The idea of ‘sustainability’, on the other hand, is so malleable that it can be used to signify the unimpeded profits of a mining company as much as regeneration of ecosystems. Colonial legacies and capitalist exploitation are made invisible in the sustainable development discussions: the questions of ‘sustainable for whom?’ arises, and indeed of whether sustainability or transformation is what is really needed.

Amidst these critiques, some scholars have argued for other frameworks, including Southern and indigenous theories (Mutanga & Marovah 2023), degrowth (Hickel 2021), circular economy (Schröder & Barrie 2024), buen vivir (Kothari, Demaria & Acosta 2014), post-growth alternatives that prioritise redistribution and moral accountability (Mistri, 2023), planetary health (Guzmán et al. 2021), emotional well-being and cohesion (Zwitter et al., 2025). While there has been considerable attention to the implementation of the SDGs and their operationalisation in the form of targets and indicators, there has been less consideration of their conceptual underpinnings and overarching orientation, including whether sustainable development should be the heart of the next global agenda.


This symposium critically engages with the idea of sustainable development, interrogating the fundamentals of each of its constituent concepts, its associations and framings in the contemporary world, and putting forward fresh proposals. By bringing together diverse perspectives on the issue, it provides nourishment for crucial debates on the post-2030 development agenda. It invites participants to unsettle the language of sustainable development, and to consider some possible alternatives, around notions of justice, repair, futures, pluriverse, decolonisation and radical democracy.

The symposium also discusses potential implications for education. The current global agenda frames education both as a goal in itself (SDG4) – achievement of universal basic education, and encouragement of early years, vocational and higher education – and as a means of enabling the full set of goals. Education for sustainable development has become an increasingly popular curricular area, actively promoted by organisations such as UNESCO (2020). How might an alternative framing of the agenda impact the organisation, aims and content of education, through its formal manifestations, but also in the broader dimension of public awareness and human development in society at large?

In fact, the relationship between education and sustainable development is multifaceted and porous (McCowan 2023). Educational aims and practises can be reoriented to achieve sustainable development as a ‘product’, by incorporating them into curricula and pedagogy, and promoting them through the knowledge, skills and values acquired by students. Yet sustainability can also imbue governance and leadership of institutions, characterising relationships within the community and influencing procurement and estates management. For these reasons, the framing of sustainable development at the global level is so relevant for educational institutions, through its filtering down into educational practice on the ground. Yet what is often forgotten is the reverse relationship: the influence of education on sustainable development. Schools and universities also have a ‘constructive’ role, forging the ideas, imaginings and concepts that provide the language for our global agenda.

After a brief introduction to the background issues from the chair (Tristan McCowan), the symposium engages four distinct perspectives on the issues from Moira Faul & Oakleigh Welply, Olga Mun, Nigel Brissett and Benjamin Scherrer, drawing on diverse contexts (Kazakstan, the Caribbean, Kenya), conceptual tools (coloniality, repair, relationality) and alternative visions (social transformation, just futures and new genres of the human). Finally, there will be a critical response from Roxana Chiappa Baros, before opening up to the floor for questions, comments and debate.

This symposium addresses this crucial but rarely explored question in the contemporary age, in the context of the rapidly approaching expiry of the SDG agenda in 2030. In relation to the overall conference theme of ‘Re-examining education and peace in a divided world’, it addresses one of the key components of the polycrisis, with conflict and peace intersecting strongly with the ecological crisis and sustainability. In the lead-up to the forming of the post-2030 agenda, an open debate on these issues is essential.

Sub Unit

• Environmental and Sustainability Education SIG

Chair

• Tristan McCowan, University College London

Individual Presentations

• Towards a future sustainability agenda in education? - Moira V Faul, NORRAG, Geneva Graduate Institute; Oakleigh Welply

• Unlearning Development: Rewilding Comparative and International Higher Education - Olga Mun, Oxford University

• Whither sustainable development (and its education)? A view from one Caribbean person - Nigel Brissett, Clark University

• Finding Ceremony Beyond the Ruins of Sustainable Development - Benjamin D Scherrer, Lehman College, CUNY

Discussant

• Roxana Chiappa, Universidad de Tarapacá