Search Results (192)

This study examines complex thinking as a higher-order cognitive competence in international graduate education. Drawing on Edgar Morin’s theoretical perspective, it analyzes how master’s students perceive this competence through four interrelated dimensions: systemic, scientific, critical, and innovative thinking. A total of 491 international students from a graduate university in Japan participated in the study. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional design, data were collected with the validated eComplexity instrument and analyzed through PERMANOVA with 999 permutations. The analysis examined differences in self-perceived complex thinking by sex, academic field, nationality, and academic semester. Results showed moderately high levels of self-perceived complex thinking across the sample, with systemic and critical thinking emerging as the strongest dimensions. Significant differences were found by nationality and academic semester, while no significant differences were observed by sex or academic field. These findings suggest that students’ perceptions of complex thinking are associated with cultural and academic trajectories, although the cross-sectional and self-report design requires cautious interpretation. The study contributes to competence-based graduate education by showing that complex thinking can be examined as a multidimensional and context-sensitive form of perceived cognitive development. Educational implications are discussed in relation to curriculum design, intercultural learning, global citizenship, and inclusion in international master’s programs. Full article

Anthropocene pressures underscore that human well-being and societal resilience depend on both biodiversity and geodiversity, the latter providing the abiotic foundation of Earth’s life-support systems. Despite increasing emphasis on systems thinking, participation, and action, Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development often underrepresent this abiotic dimension and leave ethical commitments insufficiently articulated. Addressing these gaps, this concept paper develops a convergence framework that integrates geoethics, geoeducation, and geoenvironmental education within the broader domains of EE and ESD. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, geoethics is positioned as a normative lens that clarifies principles for responsible human–Earth relations, including responsibility, justice, respect for Earth processes, transparency in science communication, prudent resource use, and risk-aware decision-making. Geoeducation is conceptualized as the pedagogical vehicle through which these values are translated into competencies such as geoliteracy, systems thinking, critical reflection, ethical deliberation, and evidence-informed action, while geoenvironmental education provides the integrative content domain linking biotic, abiotic, and cultural dimensions. Place-based learning functions as the primary implementation pathway, with protected landscapes and UNESCO Global Geoparks serving as exemplary “living laboratories” where geoconservation, education, and sustainable development are co-produced with local communities. The paper advances three interrelated contributions: (a) a conceptual convergence framework, (b) an operational definition of geoethical awareness, and (c) a programmatic model linking geoethical values to competencies, pedagogies, indicators, and place-based implementation strategies. Operationalized through a Theory of Change and a translation matrix connecting principles to educational outcomes, the framework provides a foundation for future empirical research, curriculum development, teacher education, and the cultivation of geo-citizenship, stewardship, and more resilient human–Earth relationships. Full article

As global education steps into a new era marked by core literacy and sustainable development, teacher literacy has become a critical pillar for fulfilling United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) and advancing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Guided by the Educator Spirit and based on the logical framework of dual professional roles and four professional relationships, this study constructs a teacher literacy model for Chinese teachers in the new era, which consists of seven dimensions: disciplinary literacy, general literacy, learning support literacy, holistic education literacy, communication and collaboration literacy, development and improvement literacy, and teacher ethics literacy. Adopting systematic literature review and international comparative research methods, this study integrates mainstream international teacher literacy frameworks issued by the European Union, OECD, UNESCO, the United States and Australia with China’s educational policies and practical experience to establish the proposed model. It further elaborates how the model directs sustainability-oriented teacher education, facilitates transformative teaching approaches, boosts interdisciplinary teaching practice, highlights social justice and global citizenship awareness, and embeds sustainable development principles into curriculum design and teaching practice. This model can effectively tackle prevailing practical dilemmas including teachers’ weakened professional identity, vague professional development paths, unitary evaluation systems, inadequate digital teaching competence, insufficient interdisciplinary integration capacity, deficient ESD literacy and inefficient collaborative education mechanisms. It can systematically support teachers in carrying out sustainability-oriented teaching, innovating curriculum design, conducting transformative teaching and promoting students’ sustainable learning while practicing social justice and educational equity and cultivating global citizenship awareness in educational scenarios. It also provides a theoretical basis and practical guidance for promoting the transition of Chinese teachers toward high-quality, professional and sustainable development, and also offers localized solutions with distinctive Chinese characteristics and universal international implications for the implementation of global ESD initiatives and the achievement of SDG 4. Full article

As housing and migration are increasingly emerging as key global concerns in the 21st century, this article offers an in-depth evaluation and synthesis of existing research at the intersection between housing and migration. Through a detailed critical review of discipline-specific approaches in sociological, political and economic traditions, the article assesses the strengths, weaknesses and gaps in extant literature to challenge and define underlying assumptions and approaches to analysis. The article argues that the debates surrounding migration have been under-theorised in the housing literature and that, despite some exceptions, the general literature in migration studies has tended to underplay the importance of housing. Moreover, studies which have been undertaken within housing research can be criticised on grounds of being aspatial, ahistorical and/or apolitical. This critical review identifies cross-cutting themes of causality, cohesion and citizenship as areas for further development and argues that future housing and migration research studies should have a more solid theoretical foundation, which can offer opportunities for more effective, engaged scholarship. Full article

In the face of intensifying socio-ecological crises, there is a growing debate about how processes of societal transformation can be shaped. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), particularly in its transformative orientation (ESD 3), is widely regarded as a key lever in this context. While ESD 3 gets increasingly differentiated in educational theory, its disciplinary grounding remains insufficiently specified. This article addresses this gap by examining which structural characteristics of sustainability issues must be exhibited to enable individual and societal transformation. Drawing on Integral Sustainability Science, sustainability-related transformation processes are differentiated along internal (the meaning-making and culture domain) and external dimensions (the behavior and systems domain), integrating both factual systemic interrelations and normative perspectives of meaning and interpretation. On this basis, sustainability issues are characterized by internal and external complexity as well as controversiality. These features are brought together in the 3C Framework for Sustainable Learning and extended by the dimension of individual and collective contingency. As societal transformation unfolds through social negotiation processes under conditions of (double) contingency, transformative education aims to foster a deeper understanding of sustainability issues and to enable learners to perceive themselves as part of societal transformation processes and to participate in collective negotiations under conditions of uncertainty. Full article

Africa is historically celebrated as the cradle of humankind. However, there is doubt on whether she is maintaining her own originality and position as the motherland and fatherland of all humanity. Although globalisation has impacted all continents and states, its negative effects seem to be skewing towards African and in particular Zimbabwean Shona families. This paper examines how DNA testing has impacted on some of the Shona families in Zimbabwe. The Shona community in Zimbabwe is culturally porous and receptive in terms of traditional, religious, linguistic and cultural values. They embraced Western democracy that is premised on human rights principles, constitutionalism, and citizenship, which, however, do not guarantee their belongingness. As some of the Shona families in Zimbabwe drifted away from the traditional cultural belief system campus, they got into a foreign and alien worldview that is dictated by the host in the name of technology. This has led to excessive reliance on foreign systems that are appearing like global standards yet they are disempowering them and causing them emotional and social distress. The reliance is a result of neocolonialism, linguistic and cultural imperialism that needs decolonisation. Thus, the paper adopts a qualitative approach based on an illuminating multiple case study design of six purposively selected scenarios aired on the The Closure DNA Show programme broadcasted on Zimbabwe Television (ZTV). The Afrocentric paradigm serves as a lens to uncover some of the perceptions of Shona families in Zimbabwe on DNA testing and its implications on parenthood, the family unit, and identity. The findings reveal that DNA testing is perceived as gender divisive and a destroyer of the family unit and exposing children to vulnerability, while it is also perceived positively as a way of (dis)affirming identity, which is crucial among the Shona. The paper recommends that other television programmes be screened based on their implications on gender relations, the family unit and identity. Full article

This study examines the multicultural school as a micro-organizational unit, focusing on the interplay of power relations, organizational culture, and everyday pedagogical practices. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with educators at the 16th General Lyceum of Thessaloniki, the analysis situates school life within broader institutional and normative frameworks. Grounded in Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), specifically Target 4.7 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the findings show that while educators actively promote intercultural coexistence and democratic participation, their initiatives are constrained by centralized governance and curricular rigidity. Nonetheless, teachers’ personal agency and informal leadership play a crucial role in fostering inclusion, care, and global citizenship values at the micro-organizational level. The study contributes theoretically by reframing the multicultural school through an organizational sociology lens, emphasizing the micro-politics of discretion, institutional logics, and cultural reproduction within school settings. Practically, it highlights the need for structural policy reforms that move beyond reliance on individual teacher initiative and institutionalize inclusive, care-oriented, and sustainability-driven practices within centralized educational systems. Full article

Amid Europe’s demographic decline and the intensifying global “war for talent,” migration is increasingly viewed as a critical source of human capital capable of sustaining economic growth and welfare systems. Nevertheless, the literature on Macro-Talent Management (MTM) has primarily focused on the attraction of highly skilled expatriates, paying limited attention to how national integration systems shape the broader capacity of countries to attract and retain migrant talent. Addressing this gap, the present study conceptualizes migrant integration as a strategic component of macro-level talent management and evaluates the “talent attractiveness” of different European welfare and migration regimes. Methodologically, the study develops a multi-criteria evaluation framework based on the PROMETHEE II (Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment of Evaluations) outranking method, enabling the simultaneous assessment of institutional, socio-economic, and administrative dimensions of migration governance. The model integrates nine indicators combining policy inclusiveness (e.g., Migrant Integration Policy Index—MIPEX (Migrant Integration Policy Index), citizenship accessibility), labor market outcomes (employment and gender gaps), and systemic pressures on migration management (asylum applications). By integrating policy indicators with real-world labor market performance and administrative capacity, the proposed framework offers a novel analytical tool for comparative migration policy evaluation and decision support. The empirical application covers six European countries representing distinct migration regimes: Portugal, Sweden, France, Poland, Greece, and Germany. The results challenge the conventional assumption that economic strength alone determines migrant attractiveness. Portugal emerges as the most attractive destination, demonstrating that inclusive rights-based integration policies can offset lower GDP levels. In contrast, Germany ranks last in the sample, revealing signs of systemic overextension due to extreme administrative pressure, while Greece occupies the fifth position characterized by structural integration deficits. The study contributes to the literature by linking migration governance, integration policy effectiveness, and macro-level talent management and by introducing a multi-criteria decision-analytic approach for evaluating national migration systems in Europe. The study offers a reassessment of the ‘talent attractiveness’ of European welfare models in a post-pandemic context (2023). Full article

Hospitality and tourism firms are central actors in sustainable tourism transitions because their operations are resource intensive and highly visible to consumers and local communities. This study examines whether board-level governance mechanisms—board independence, gender diversity, a sustainability committee, CEO duality, and board size—are associated with environmental performance, and whether environmental performance is related to firm value in global hospitality firms. Using a panel of 10 large publicly traded hospitality companies across North America, Europe, and Asia from 2013–2022 (100 firm-year observations) and fixed-effects estimation, we find positive associations between board independence, board gender diversity, and the presence of a sustainability committee and environmental performance, while CEO duality is negatively associated. Environmental performance is positively associated with firm value (Tobin’s Q) after controlling for profitability and firm size. Because the sample is intentionally bounded to large listed firms and the Refinitiv Environmental Pillar Score is disclosure based, the results should be interpreted as sector-specific associative evidence rather than as definitive causal estimates of operational environmental outcomes. To support longitudinal research on emerging practices in sustainable tourism, we also document a public-source protocol that enables researchers to extend the panel beyond 2022, broaden firm coverage, and incorporate direct environmental indicators over time. The findings highlight board sustainability governance as a potentially important private-sector practice for strengthening environmental citizenship in hospitality, while also clarifying the measurement and generalizability limits of the present design. Full article

In light of the current polycrisis and the perceived lack of theoretical development in education for sustainable development (ESD), this article considers how ESD can enhance its theoretical understanding. Against the backdrop of debates in the philosophy of science and long-standing concerns about limited progress in educational paradigms, this study aims to further develop a metatheoretical analysis grid for ESD (MAG-ESD). Methodologically, the study is theoretical and philosophical, situated in the ‘space of reasons’. It makes the case for the necessity of a metatheory, clarifies core concepts, and systematically builds on and expands the existing MAG-ESD framework. The grid distinguishes between four fundamental questions and incorporates additional dimensions of scientific systematicity to differentiate scientific knowledge from everyday knowledge. To illustrate its analytical potential, the MAG-ESD grid is applied to a case study examining a theoretical contribution to ESD. This example demonstrates how an analytical examination of the selected article using MAG-ESD can reveal weaknesses in its argumentation. While it does not replace existing approaches, the article concludes that MAG-ESD offers an additional meta-theoretical instrument with which to organise discourse, foster critical reflection, and stimulate more coherent and cumulative theory development within ESD. Full article

Over the past decade, far-right parties have moved from the political margins into the mainstream of several European democracies. This article examines how migration functions not primarily as a demographic driver of electoral change, but as a discursive resource through which democratic boundaries are redefined. Drawing on a qualitative comparative analysis of political speeches, party manifestos, and public debates in selected European countries between 2014 and 2022, the study investigates how migration is constructed as a threat to welfare systems, national cohesion, and liberal-democratic order. The analysis integrates three complementary frameworks of ethno-pluralism, welfare chauvinism, and civic nationalism to demonstrate how exclusion is legitimized through moralized appeals to culture, fairness, and liberal values. Rather than rejecting democracy outright, far-right actors reinterpret concepts such as citizenship, solidarity, and equality in conditional and culturally bounded terms. Migration thus operates as a symbolic condensation of broader anxieties related to globalization, economic insecurity, and political distrust. The findings show how democratic language itself can normalize exclusionary interpretations of membership, contributing to gradual forms of democratic erosion across Europe. Full article

This study advances the conceptual and practical scope of social education by integrating Security and Safety Education (SSE) categories into its theoretical foundation. We demonstrate that SSE encompasses multidimensional areas highly relevant to social education and offer a structured competence model to guide curriculum design. Using a mixed-methods approach, 2926 Web of Science publications were analysed through an NVivo Word Frequency Query to identify key domains associated with security and safety. The temporal scope of the corpus (2019–2021) provides a coherent analytical baseline, capturing intensified security and health-related discourse during the COVID-19 period while preceding geopolitical disruptions that could otherwise distort thematic patterns. The results show that security is associated with broad social and geopolitical issues, including food, political, economic, public, national, and international affairs, as well as health and information. In contrast, safety is mainly linked to transport-related concerns, although both domains converge in areas such as health, social, public, national, and information matters. These findings indicate that SSE encompasses multidimensional areas relevant to social education. To support curricular integration, we propose an eMEDIATOR-derived competence model that structures SSE content into measurable, outcomes-based components. Ultimately, this research provides actionable tools to elevate social education and promote active, informed citizenship in times of global uncertainty. Full article

Kazakhstan has aggressively pursued the internationalization of higher education, evidenced by the strategic Bolashak scholars’ program, adoption of the Bologna Process, and expanded academic mobility. In this paper, we argue that these efforts, while structurally significant, have yielded results that have prioritized institutional outputs over intercultural learning outcomes. To achieve genuine modernization, internationalization must move beyond technical compliance and be grounded in the cultivation of intercultural competence and citizenship. We review the trajectory of Kazakhstan’s educational history, development, and reforms and conclude that current efforts lack the cohesion and theoretical grounding necessary to foster globally engaged, interculturally competent citizenship. We narratively review selected international case studies of higher education institutions that have developed intercultural competence and citizenship programs to develop cross-case themes and practices. Consequently, we suggest a contextualized paradigm for developing intercultural competence within Kazakhstani higher education. We present a series of theoretical, practical, and institutional suggestions tailored for Kazakhstani higher education institutions to consider. Ultimately, intercultural competence in Kazakhstan must begin with a critical exploration of national and local values to engage the global community from a “glocalized,” culturally resonant, and decolonized standpoint. Full article

As the global learning environment increasingly aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), social sustainability, often described as the missing pillar of development, has gained a more central position in national education agendas. However, these global tendencies do not translate directly into local curricula, as sustainability constitutes a multidimensional framework shaped by contextual conditions, cultural negotiations, and policy-oriented discussions. This study presents an empirical analysis of the conceptualization of social sustainability within the framework of the Turkey Century Education Model (Türkiye Yüzyılı Maarif Modeli), introduced as part of a curriculum redesign in Turkey in 2024. Turkish Language and Literature textbooks used in Grades 9 and 10 are analyzed through Critical Document Analysis (CDA). A hybrid pedagogical model is developed by integrating the Virtue–Value–Action curriculum framework with the tripartite sustainability model formulated by Vallance et al. The findings indicate that Bridge Sustainability is evident through conceptual tools and performance-based activities promoting active and responsible citizenship. In contrast, Development Sustainability remains limited, particularly regarding gender equity and inclusive practices. Cultural continuity is prioritized over structural accommodation within the curriculum. Overall, the results suggest that the Turkey Century Education Model prioritizes cultural continuity while engaging with internationally valued competencies. Full article

The Wallonia-Brussels Federation is transforming through its education through the ‘Pact for an Education of Excellence’, notably by redefining the post-common core stage. This perspective article proposes a curricular paradigm that reconciles the specialisation of pathways with a shared foundation ensuring informed citizenship for all students. Based on a conceptual analysis of existing literature, we advocate for integrating Socially Acute Questions (SAQs) as a transversal axis of the post-common core curriculum. This shift the system from a ‘retrocognitive’ model—where knowledge is accumulated for uncertain future application—to a ‘procognitive’ model inspired by Chevallard’s ‘questioning of the world’. We outline seven pedagogical approaches to support this: controversy mapping, case studies, reasoned debate, the problematic matrix, researcher–student encounters, moral dilemmas, and role-play simulations. However, implementation faces barriers, including the rigidity of school structures, disciplinary compartmentalisation, teachers’ epistemic vulnerability, and challenges surrounding neutrality when addressing sensitive subjects. Success depends on transforming teaching professionalism through collaborative and interdisciplinary work, adopting ‘committed impartiality’ or ‘active neutrality’, and developing assessment tools that capture complex competencies. This proposal aligns with global curricular renewal movements and suggests a model where common ground rests not on contents, but on a competency to navigate the uncertainty and complexity. Full article