Reimagining Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development: Interdisciplinary Pathways and Sociocultural Commitments
A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Community and Urban Sociology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 12
Special Issue Editors
Interests: the complexities that contribute to students’ lack of success: such as race, ethnicity, and gender; tensions between education policy and teaching and learning in general and science in particular
Interests: science education; climate change education; environmental health education; sociocultural perspective
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The escalating impact of climate change presents an urgent call not only to mitigate ecological damage but to transform the ways in which education contributes to sustainable development. This Special Issue seeks to explore the dynamic intersections of climate change education (CCE), sustainability, and sociocultural frameworks, drawing on interdisciplinary methodologies to interrogate dominant paradigms and propose equitable, community-driven alternatives.
While efforts to integrate climate-related content into educational systems have expanded globally, many curricula continue to rely heavily on technocratic, decontextualized models that overlook the lived experiences, histories, and identities of marginalized communities. This gap signals a crucial need for critical, inclusive, and action-oriented educational approaches—ones that foreground indigenous knowledge systems, socio-political awareness, and the ethical dimensions of planetary stewardship.
We invite contributions that reconceptualize climate change education as a vehicle for justice-oriented sustainable development. Grounded in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4.7—which emphasizes the promotion of global citizenship and sustainable lifestyles—this Issue will feature scholarship, case studies, and theoretical reflections that position education as both a space of resistance and a platform for systemic transformation.
Submissions may address themes such as follows:
- Sociocultural perspectives on environmental literacy and community resilience;
- Critical pedagogy and decolonial approaches to CCE;
- Integrating indigenous and local knowledge into sustainability education;
- Intersectional analyses of environmental justice and access to education;
- Arts-based, experiential, or place-based learning for ecological consciousness;
- Methodological bricolage and interdisciplinary frameworks for climate research in education.
We especially welcome work that bridges theory and practice, offering insights into how policy, curriculum, teacher preparation, and community engagement can coalesce to foster empowered, climate-literate citizens. Contributors are encouraged to articulate the tensions, possibilities, and implications of embedding sustainability as a core educational commitment across diverse geographic, cultural, and institutional contexts.
Ultimately, this Special Issue aims to amplify voices and visions that challenge extractive logics and reimagine education as a regenerative, relational practice—one that cultivates not just knowledge about climate change but, also, deep responsibility and capacity for collective action.
Prof. Dr. Alejandro Gallard
Prof. Dr. Silvia Lizette Ramos de Robles
Dr. Juan Alberto Gran Castro
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- climate change education
- social vulnerability
- collective action
- sociocultural commitments
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