The world needs a better understanding of the key role of education in sustainable development
“Different political, cultural and economic contexts across the world inevitably suggest that humanity may not share the same understanding of what formal education should entail”
The Sustainable Development Goals were created by the United Nations to mobilise the world’s community in tackling a range of global problems.
‘Quality Education’ is the focus of Goal 4, but the remaining 16 SDGs also have links with education as an essential foundation of some of their targets.
However, there are apparent gaps in our knowledge around the definition and role of education in sustainable development; the links between the education goal and other goals; and the operationalisation of those links to help SDGs achieve their mission in sustainable development globally.
My recent research explores these gaps, highlighting the vague aspects of the definition of education and inconsistencies in the links between the education goal and other goals of the UN, their targets and indicators, which means that aspects of the process of utilising education to achieve sustainable development remain too vague.