Education for Sustainable Development in Formal and Higher Education: Emerging Trends, Pedagogical Innovations, and Global Challenges

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has become a central priority within the global educational agenda, particularly since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which highlights the need to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, and values required to promote sustainability. Although both formal schooling and higher education systems have begun to integrate ESD principles into curricula and institutional strategies, implementation remains uneven and often limited to isolated initiatives. Schools face challenges in translating sustainability frameworks into meaningful classroom practices, while universities are pressed to prepare professionals capable of driving societal transitions toward sustainability. Emerging pedagogical approaches—such as experiential learning, project-based learning, and interdisciplinary teaching—offer promising avenues. However, there is still limited comparative research connecting ESD efforts across educational levels. This special issue aims to address that gap.

The goal of this Research Topic is to address the persistent gap between the aspirations of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the actual implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) across formal and higher education systems. Although global policy frameworks emphasize the need to develop sustainability competencies, many educational institutions struggle to translate these mandates into coherent curricula, effective pedagogical practices, and meaningful institutional commitments. Fragmented initiatives, limited teacher and faculty training, inconsistent evaluation methods, and insufficient integration between school-level and university-level efforts remain major challenges.

To address this problem, this Research Topic seeks contributions that propose innovative pedagogical approaches, evidence-based strategies, institutional models, and policy analyses capable of strengthening ESD implementation. By bringing together comparative studies, theoretical reflections, empirical research, and case-based experiences, the issue aims to generate actionable knowledge that supports curriculum transformation, reinforces educator training, and enhances students’ sustainability competencies. Ultimately, this initiative seeks to bridge existing gaps and foster a more coherent, systemic, and impactful integration of ESD across educational levels.

This Research Topic welcomes contributions that explore the integration, challenges, and innovations of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in both formal schooling and higher education. Submissions may address themes such as curriculum transformation for sustainability, development and assessment of sustainability competencies, teacher and faculty training, institutional strategies aligned with the 2030 Agenda, climate change education, campus sustainability initiatives, digital tools for ESD, and interdisciplinary or community-engaged approaches. Comparative studies across educational levels or regions are particularly encouraged, as well as analyses connecting policy and practice.

We invite a broad range of manuscript types, including empirical research (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods), systematic and scoping reviews, theoretical or conceptual papers, case studies, methodological contributions, and practice-based innovations grounded in evidence. All submissions should clearly articulate their contribution to advancing ESD research and practice.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Sustainability Education, Formal Education, Higher Education, Sustainability Competencies, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Climate Change Education, Curriculum Innovation, Pedagogical Strategies

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.