Mapping a Sustainable Future Through Conceptualization of Transformative Learning Framework, Education for Sustainable Development, Critical Reflection, and Responsible Citizenship: An Exploration of Pedagogies for Twenty-First Century Learning

Abstract

This research examines how transformative learning has been conceptualized and operationalized in education for sustainable development (ESD) and sustainability learning, and gathers evidence on how to promote transformative learning in formal and non-formal settings. The author performed a systematic literature review to create a bibliometric overview that combines a quantitative description of the body of literature with a qualitative study of the learning processes, results, and circumstances. The current investigation shows that transformative learning theory may help in designing and implementation of educational interventions and evaluations of learning towards sustainability by analyzing the learning process, results, and circumstances in the core sample of studies. This systematic review allows for a better understanding of how transformative learning theory’s concepts and mechanisms are operationalized in sustainability learning and ESD research, and it serves as a source of encouragement for researchers and practitioners working to make sustainability education, teaching, and learning more transformative.