Abstract
While there is little doubt that social networks are essential for processes of implementing social innovations in community education such as Climate Change Education (CCE) or Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), scholars have neglected to analyze these processes in the multilevel governance system using Social Network Analysis. In this article, we contribute to closing this research gap by exploring the implementation of CCE and ESD in education at the regional and global levels. We compare the way CCE is negotiated and implemented within and through the global conferences of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with the way the UN Decade of ESD is put into practice through networks in five different German municipalities. We argue that the role of social networks is particularly strong in policy areas like CCE and ESD, which are best characterized as multi-level and multi-actor governance. Based on data derived from standardized surveys and from Twitter we analyze the complex interactions of public and private actors at different levels of governance in the two selected policy areas. We find, amongst others, that the implementation of CCE and ESD in community education depends in part on actors that had not been assumed to be influential at the outset. Furthermore, our analyses suggest the different levels of governance are not well integrated throughout the phases of the policy innovation cycle.
Highlights
In recent years, the issues of Climate Change Education (CCE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) have become high-profile projects in education worldwide
While there is little doubt that social networks are essential for processes of implementing social innovations in community education such as Climate Change Education (CCE) or Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), scholars have neglected to analyze these processes in the multilevel governance system using Social Network Analysis
Amongst others, that the implementation of CCE and ESD in community education depends in part on actors that had not been assumed to be influential at the outset
Summary
The issues of Climate Change Education (CCE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) have become high-profile projects in education worldwide. School and non-school actors (e.g., educational organizations within communities, educational politicians, administrative staff, civil society actors, foundations or businesses) recognize that attaining sustainability objectives highly depends upon education and learning processes Likewise, international organizations, such as the United Nations (UN), and international conventions, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aim to foster the implementation of CCE and ESD at the regional, national, and global levels. We seek to answer the following research question: how do different actors get involved in and influence the complex interactions of education-specific negotiations in the field of sustainable development and aim to foster the implementation of CCE and ESD?
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