Decolonising education for sustainable development (ESD): The case of the German conceptual framework for secondary schools

Abstract

Highlights: – A progressive reading of ESD offers opportunities to decolonise SSE. – SDG4, highlighting quality in education, should define the centre of gravity of the SDGs because it has a global and decolonial DNA. – ESD, in its genuine form, should be interpreted as a revolutionary paradigm change for rethinking schools as whole institutions and consequently for decolonising teaching. – Attempts in Germany to reform schools are in jeopardy due to the priority for comparative approaches to education, e.g., PISA. – To facilitate ESD within given system constraints, global justice offers an appropriate leitmotif to expand and globalise horizons and decolonise teaching practices in SSE. Purpose: The article offers a progressive reading of ESD with a teaching example to decolonise SSE despite constraints set by the school system. Design/methodology/approach: The article presents ESD’s idea of thought within ‘the big picture’ of global education. After that, a description of an expert group is given, tasked with developing a conceptual framework for SSE, commissioned by the school administration in Germany and critically reflected on amidst system constraints. Findings: Full-fledged reforms to rethink schools in the 21st century from scratch to efficiently decolonise and integrate ESD are required. Research limitations/implications: The last part of the article is limited in its description and critical reflection of the federal German example. Practical implications: It is recommended that the big picture in terms of promoting global and decolonial dimensions of ESD and facilitating a sustainable transition of schools for achieving the SDGs is kept in sight.

Keywords

• SDGs goals
• education for sustainable development
• whole school approach
• social science education
• decolonization of education