New research on global education and learning

This presentation from Jonathan Harris summarises research from his MA (Global Learning) dissertation which explored approaches taken by music and arts educators nationally and internationally to integrate areas of sustainability education within their teaching practice. It examined current and potential practice within primary music education in England and focussed on ways in which incorporating approaches such as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into music education can be mutually beneficial musically and to the aims of ESD.

The research showed the need for guidance for music educators to help develop an understanding of the benefits of such practice, show examples of best practice, and reveal the depth of learning that can take place when such teaching and learning is grounded in a conceptual understanding of the field.

This presentation from Carrie Liu is based on a research study that seeks to understand how young people engaged in a Bahá’í educational process view the relationship between self and society and the meaning of Global Citizenship (GC) in an effort to search for alternative narratives beyond the liberal and critical frameworks of Global Citizenship Education (GCE).

The findings show that young people adopt an inter-relational view between individual growth and social transformation based on a common vision formed through engaging in a global educational process. In articulating ways in which such an educational approach connects to GCE, this article suggests that elements from the Bahá’í educational framework such as value learning, grassroots action, and knowledge from spiritual sources can reduce the tensions in binary imaginaries that commonly structure GCE debates.

This presentation from Simon Lightman explores how schools attempt to construct whole-school approaches to transformative sustainability education, and why such efforts often remain fragile in practice. Drawing on qualitative MA research conducted within a UK independent school, it examines how senior leaders conceptualise sustainability, how it intersects with institutional priorities, and how leadership, culture, and accountability pressures shape enactment.

The analysis argues that sustainability education is not primarily a curricular or technical challenge, but an ontological one, raising questions about educational purpose, responsibility, and who schools are becoming in conditions of ecological uncertainty. By foregrounding leadership as ethical and cultural practice, the presentation contributes to debates in education for sustainable development and global citizenship education, highlighting the tensions between structural coherence, cultural depth, and transformative intent.