Education for Global Citizenship Education & Sustainable Development: Content in Social Science Textbooks

In times of violence and egregious destruction of human lives and the natural world, our recognition of the need for education that promotes peace and justice becomes particularly pressing. This background report reviews the state of existing research and data on relevant sustainable development content in social science education in countries around the world. Specifically, it examines the extent to which textbook content could help learners acquire the knowledge, skills, and values needed to meet goal 4.7 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals: “By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.” It reviews relevant literature and analyzes three cross-national, longitudinal databases containing information coded from textbook content to assess the current state of knowledge. The paper concludes by indicating where future research efforts are most needed, identifying geographic and substantive needs, and considering monitoring mechanisms that could encourage on-going evaluation and monitoring of textbook content.