In the winter semester 2025/26, the TEA Lectures: Transformative Education for All: Education for Sustainable Development in a Migration Society will…
A collaboration between the Intercultural Education Unit, the Department of Education, and
the Center for Empirical Educational Research (zepf)
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) aims to initiate educational processes that enable all people to actively participate in shaping a sustainable society. UNESCO defines ESD as a contribution to a society “where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from education and learn the values, behavior, and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation” (UNESCO 2005: 6, H. d. V.). This inclusive aspiration is also reflected in the 2030 Agenda, which was formulated under the guiding principle of “leaving no one behind” (UN 2015: 1) and specified in sub-goal 4.7.
Based on recent educational concepts in the context of flight and migration (Mecheril et al. 2010; Nohl 2014), the central challenge for ESD in a migration society is to 1. empower all people, regardless of their origin, to shape the world sustainably through specific educational opportunities, and 2. recognize them as actors or “sustainability citizens” (Rieckmann 2016) who can contribute to the “Great Transformation” (WBGU 2011) with their experiences, knowledge contexts, and actions. In this context, it is crucial to avoid the so-called culturalization and essentialization traps (Head et al. 2019, 2021).
Current News
In the summer semester, five lectures will take place as part of the TEA Lectures: Transformative Education for All: Education for Sustainable…
Barbara Pusch's handbook article has been accepted for publication. Pusch, B. (ret.). Education for Sustainable Development in a Migration Society. In…
Sources:
Head, Lesley, Klocker, Natascha, & Aguirre-Bielschowsky, Ikerne (2019). Environmental values, knowledge, and behavior: Contributions from new literature on the role of ethnicity and migration. Advances in Human Geography, 43(3), 397-415. doi.org/10.1177/0309132518768407.
Head, Lesley, Klocker, Natascha, Dun, Olivia, Waitt, Gordon, Goodall, Heather, Aguirre-Bielschowsky, Ikerne, Gopal, Ananth, Kerr, Sophie-May, Nowroozipour, Fatemeh, Spaven, Tess, & Toole, Stephanie . (2021). Barriers and enablers to sustainable practices: Insights from ethnic minority migrants. Local Environment, 26(5), 595-614. doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2021.1904856.
Mecheril, Paul, Castro Varela, María do, Dirim, Inci, Kalpaka, Annita, & Melter, Claus (2010). Migration Education. Weinheim: Beltz.
Nohl, Arnd-Michael (2014). Concepts of Intercultural Education. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt.
Rieckmann, Marco (2016). Education for Sustainable Development – Conceptual Foundations and Status of Implementation. In M. K. W. Schweer (Ed.), Education for Sustainable Development in Educational Fields of Action: Foundations, Anchoring, and Methodology in Selected Teaching-Learning Contexts (pp. 11-32). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
UNESCO. (2005). United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014): International Implementation Program. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001486/148654E.pdf.
UN (United Nations). (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. www.un.org/depts/german/gv-70/band1/ar70001.pdf.
WBGU. (2011). The Great Transformation. Berlin.