The Perspective of Degrowth in Education for Sustainable Development

Dissertation project of Sofia Getzin

In times of the anthropocene and socio-ecological transformations, education is challenged with great societal and planetary demands. Various concepts of sustainability education aim to meet these challenges. However, the current educational status quo still contributes to unsustainable living and societies and has so far promoted only little change towards a low-carbon, sustainable society. The aim of this PhD project is to identify transformative elements of educational interventions that empower young people as change agents to participate in socio-ecological transformations. The first part of the study uses a case study design to investigate learners’ perspectives in non-academic educational programs with a degrowth focus. The second part studies experts’ perspectives on education from a degrowth perspective. In a triangulation design, the two parts of the study aim to explore the possible gaps and overlaps between degrowth and sustainability education with regards to competencies, knowledge and educational opportunities.