Transformations of Education and Development - Testing Trajectories and Turbulent Times

Transformations of education and development - testing trajectories and turbulent times

This joint session invites papers that contribute to joint, critical, and collective reflection on the current moment, when the futures of development cooperation and educational systems are being globally recalibrated, and new global agendas are being set for a post-2030 period.

The possibilities for sustainable societies and educational systems are threatened by polycrisis and deleterious trends, including the transgression of fundamental planetary boundaries (Sakschewski et al 2025), continued ‘educide’ and ‘scholasticide’ (Iriqat et al 2024; UN OHCHR 2025), challenges posed by new technologies of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (UNDP 2025), and more generalized challenges to the international order (Ikenberry 2018) and education (Zembylas 2024) as ‘liberal’ world projects.

This Joint Session invites contributions reflecting upon times of polycrisis and transition when ‘liberal’ narratives of development, transformation and progress are destabilized (e.g. Fukuda-Parr 2012). As the SDG period nears its 2030 end point, fundamental questions resurface about whether action and learning are possible, to point towards new goals of living collectively ‘in a way that is good for the environment, economy, and society’ (UNESCO, nd). We particularly invite papers that critically examine the global landscape of reform in both education and development - between privatization and reclamation of public, common and collective goods (Mazzucato 2026; Ravitch 2020; Daviet 2016), human rights (Fredman 2021) or care (Barca et al 2025) that may be necessary for both people and planet to attain safe and just transitions through these turbulent times.