Synergy of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Education and Transformative Learning: Theory to Action

Abstract

The 21 st century for United Nations (UN) began with Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MGGs) from 2001-2015 and is being continued with SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals set bythe UN. Goal 4 states: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education andpromote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” This goal has several key areassuch as inclusive education, equitable education, quality education, lifelonglearning, and education for all. On the other hand, Transformative Learning (TL)emphasizes on learning through meaning transformation which means that thelearners can transform an individual meaning scheme by examining previousactions. This is completely learning for a lifetime, which lasts till the meaningchanges. Both the SDG 4 and TL acts on lifelong learning, the underlying fact isfor peaceful world through betterment of the educated society. Though the ideas ofboth the concepts converge, the synergy needs to be identified. This study is atheoretical study that has identified the synergy of SDG 4 and TL in the premise ofphilosophy, values, beliefs and action. This study presented argument both in favorof and against from the origin of these concepts.