Whose Sustainable Education for Whom in an Era of Commodification of Education and Technology

Dear Colleagues,

The word “sustainability” is a synonym of durability, and has started to be overly used after the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations. The norm of sustainability as a term is greatly connected with nature and the environment. On the other hand, sustainable education refers to an education system or programme that enables the development of a substantial society that can ensure the solid development and progress of a nation without developing any form of discrimination or detrimental agenda.

The recent global promotion of modernisation has been drastically extended by technologization, especially after the robustness of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and digitalisation, which may not be able to deny the fact of commodification and commercialism. Such expansion may develop a greater social discrepancy. Under such a climate, advocacy suggest that technology could be a greater tool to ensure sustainability. This generates a concern: is it not hypocrisy to contemplate technology as a moderator for sustainability while being a consumerist item that mediates between commercialism and commodification?

Education does not live in isolation from ongoing social norms. Hence, commodification and commercialism might have inevitably become a greater part of modern education, which may present a biassed education—a greater constraint for ensuring sustainable education to construct society. Without paying much attention to this underpinning constraint, attention is paid to ensure substantiable education through technologization in the era of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and digitalisation.

Hence, a question is generated around whether technologization in the era of AI and digitalisation is as much an ally or enemy for sustainable education, as it is not free from prejudice. This question is an underpinning motivation of this Special Issue, which aims to focus on a discussion to highlight the constraints of sustainable education in the era of technologization and to explore the avenues to resolve such limitations. Following this focus, the core scopes are outlined below:

• The effect of technologization on sustainable education.
• Sustainable education in the era of Artificial Intelligence and digitalisation.
• The impact of dependency theory on sustainable education.
• The impact of commodification and commercialism on sustainable education and society.
• Internationalisation and globalisation in sustainable education.

Although this is the fundamental scope, authors are encouraged to communicate with the editor further to determine whether their work fits within this Special Issue’s broader focus.

In addition to these descriptions, please consult the following papers published in Sustainability:

1.  Alam, G.M. Sustainable Education, Sustainability in Education and Education for Sustainable Development: The Reconciliation of Variables and the Path of Education Research in an Era of Technologization. Sustainability 2025, 17, 250. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17010250
2. Alam, G.M. Sustainable Education and Sustainability in Education: The Reality in the Era of Internationalisation and Commodification in Education—Is Higher Education Different? Sustainability 2023, 15, 1315. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021315

Prof. Dr. Gazi Mahabubul Alam
Guest Editor

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