Dear Colleagues,

There is an increasing concern that today’s world may have become unsustainable, amid questions raised about the way society has developed thus far in various parts of the world. For people living in this present age, what kind of personal qualities and skills will be important to acquire? In other words, how we can make the world more “sustainable” by fostering individuals (i.e., citizens), and helping them to find how they can work together, and what kind of qualities and abilities do these individuals need to be equipped with?

In the field of education, these questions have attracted much attention, and many new initiatives for educational reforms are under way in various countries. Against such a backdrop, this feature aims to discuss the ideal state of education for nurturing human resources that can contribute to the realization of a sustainable society, with particular focus on political interests.

For example, in terms of the concept of “planetary boundaries (the limits of the Earth system)”, what roles can education play in averting possible devastation to ensure that people can live more “prosperous” and stable lives, without leading to the deterioration of the natural environment but restoring it to a sounder state? In this context, by “prosperous”, we mean a situation in which people can lead healthy and happy lives, rather than referring to material affluence, which people have strived to attain by single-mindedly pursuing economic growth in the conventional sense.

In considering such a major issue, we are focusing on education because education is a fundamental human activity, and also because human resource development and knowledge creation through education are indispensable for tackling various challenges and tasks highlighted by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To achieve the SDGs, people must heighten their awareness of global-scale issues and act on ethical judgments and social justice, while developing science and technology by promoting research and development activities. We strongly hope that you will contribute papers that explore what education should be like to enable these initiatives.

We expect to receive your papers, which may, for instance, consider educational policy to facilitate curricula, teaching methodology, and educational practice (covering both formal education and nonformal education), particularly in relation to new educational approaches—including Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) as stated in SDG 4.7—and in relation to other important themes, such as peace, human rights, and gender. However, possible research themes are not limited to these examples. In their papers, individual researchers are encouraged to address ambitious themes, especially concerning what kind of educational policy is ideal for realizing a sustainable society, based on their own ways of thinking. We also welcome papers that theoretically examine such policy, instead of paying attention only to the practical aspects.

Prof. Yuto Kitamura
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.