Education for Social and Environmental Justice: Diversity, Sustainability, Responsibility
Crises including the COVID-19 pandemic, the unfolding climate emergency and ongoing and resurgent violent conflict have shown that progress towards a sustainable planet is fragile and reversible. Ensuing and ever-increasing inequality and injustice threaten progress towards the goal of equitable quality education and lifelong learning (including social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and creative aspects) for all by 2030 (SDG4) and require urgent remediation and mitigation. Education and learning among marginalised groups in particular must be prioritised as a shared global responsibility if the tide of widening inequalities and injustices is to be stemmed and in furtherance of global human rights. Moreover, equitable and sustainable progress require much more than ’business as usual’, calling not only for innovation but for transformation. Re-thinking conceptualisations of education and learning and spaces where they take place (diverse learning spaces such as home, community, religious spaces, among many others) is critical. Re-imagining relations between global North and South in education and learning is fundamental to addressing marginalisation and its root causes, including by ‘reversing the gaze’ to critically examine the role played by the North in education, learning, and development from the perspectives of the global majority.
This conference will bring together scholars and practitioners in the field of international education, training, and lifelong learning at this crucial half-way point on the timeline set for the SDGs in 2015, offering opportunity for diverse and critical dialogue and debate on ways forward in this crucial field of research and practice.