scholarly journals Unsustainable measures? Assessing global competence in PISA 2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Harsha Chandir ◽  
Radhika Gorur
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Global Competence ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Development Goals

In the context of rising fundamentalism, urgent threats to the environment, and the persistence of poverty and deep inequities in the world, 193 nations have pledged to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) crafted by UNESCO in 2015. Education is seen as key to attaining all the other SDGs. Within the ‘education goal’ (Goal #4), there is an explicit target, SDG 4.7, which focuses on ‘sustainable development and global citizenship’. Nations are expected to incorporate a focus on SDG 4.7 into their curricula, policies, teacher education programs, and student assessment. PISA has now developed an assessment of ‘global competence,’ which is presented as a way to assess SDG 4.7. Through this assessment, it seeks to inform policy, curricula, and pedagogies and catalogue ‘best practices’ for developing students’ ‘global competence’. Given this ambition and the centrality of ‘sustainable development and global citizenship’ within the globally endorsed SDGs, it is important to analyze the extent to which the PISA assessment of global competence is usefully able to inform policy and practice and contribute to fulfilling SDG 4.7. We build upon the work of other scholars examining this question, taking a material-semiotic approach inspired by Science and Technology Studies. Empirically, our study is based on documentary analysis, interviews, and ‘survey encounters’ in which we administered a curated part of the assessment to 15-year-olds and followed this exercise with interviews. We explore how the hard-won stability gained around the notion of ‘global competence’ through its inscription into the standardized survey instruments is again threatened when the survey instrument encounters diverse 15-year-olds. The survey encounters provide an opportunity to ‘test the test’, and we conclude that the PISA test of global competence is not as yet in a position to provide useful direction to policy or practice in the promotion of SDG 4.7.

Making Crime a Sustainable Development Issue: From ‘Drugs and Thugs’ to ‘Peaceful and Inclusive Societies’

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarrett Blaustein ◽  
Tom Chodor ◽  
Nathan W Pino
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Crime Policy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Millenium Development Goals ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Drugs And Crime

Abstract Development has long featured on the United Nations (UN) crime policy agenda; however, crime was only officially recognized by the international community as a global development priority following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. Adopting a sociological institutionalist perspective, this article sets out to account for how this recognition was achieved. We draw on interviews with senior UN crime policy insiders and documentary sources to analyse the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to amplify awareness of the crime-development link following the omission of this issue from the Millenium Development Goals and amidst significant institutional and material pressures to strengthen its ties to the wider UN system. The article accounts for the political construction of the crime-development nexus and the important role that UNODC has historically played in facilitating global governance in this emergent and increasingly expansive sphere of policy and practice.

scholarly journals Local Action with Global Impact: The Case of the GROW Observatory and the Sustainable Development Goals

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10518
Author(s):  
Raquel Ajates ◽  
Gerid Hager ◽  
Pavlos Georgiadis ◽  
Saskia Coulson ◽  
Mel Woods ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Closing The Gap ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

This article reports on Citizen Observatories’ (COs) potential to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reflecting on the experience of the GROW Observatory (GROW). The research aims to take the first steps in closing the gap in the literature on COs’ potential contributions to the SDG framework, beyond quantitative data contributions for indicator monitoring. Following an analysis of project activities and outcomes mapped against the SDG framework, the findings reveal GROW’s potential contributions across two dimensions: (i) Actions to advance the implementation of goals and targets through awareness raising and training; participatory methods; multi-stakeholder connections; and supporting citizens to move from data to action and (ii) Data contributions to SDG indicator monitoring through citizen-generated datasets. While earlier research has focused mostly on the latter (dimension ii), CO activities can impact numerous goals and targets, highlighting their potential to relate global SDGs to local level action, and vice versa. These findings align with the growing literature on COs’ ability to bring together policy makers, scientists and citizens, and support changes to environmental policy and practice. Furthermore, this research suggests groundwork activities that address the goal and target level can also enhance sustained data collection to contribute to indicator level monitoring. We conclude with future trends and recommendations for COs wishing to contribute to the SDGs.

Sustainable Development Practice: The Central Role of the Human Needs Language

Social Change ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-309
Author(s):  
Senkosi Moses Balyejjusa
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Development Practice

Sustainable development has become a mantra in politics, academia and development policy and practice. Indeed, many policy and practice strategies, such as the sustainable development goals, have been devised in order to achieve sustainable development. Although the contents and items in these agendas are human needs, the use of ‘human needs’ language is less emphasised/explicitly spelt out. In fact, the language of human needs is almost absent. In this article, I argue that the adoption of the human needs language will strengthen sustainable development practice, efforts and agenda. This is because, unlike other aspirations, human needs by nature are universal. Secondly, human needs are limited in number compared to wants, desires, goals and capabilities. This nature of human needs makes the human needs language effective in promoting the sustainable development agenda and efforts, thus, adequately meeting the needs of the current and future generations.

scholarly journals Crime and victimisation in the era of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

2021 ◽  
Vol 317 ◽  
pp. 01001
Author(s):  
Robert Peacock
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The United Nations

Crime and victimisation have reached epidemic proportions. By fostering sustainable development within the social, economic and environmental spheres, the United Nations envisaged the strengthening of crime prevention and justice. However, within the global North/South divide there is little reason to assume that criminological and victimological interventions, development programmes or economic reforms can ever fully resolve the underlying causes of many victimological harms that affect developing or developed countries, unless and until they lead to greater freedom, equality and justice. Intersecting inequalities and social and economic exclusion highlight the importance of context and the complex geopolitical, institutional and ideological landscapes that gave rise to this global agenda. Together with the associated challenges for the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a critical appraisal of the nexus between crime, victimisation, justice and sustainable development on account of the gravest threat to humanity, namely climate change and environmental degradation, remains a functional imperative for research, policy and practice.

scholarly journals A cross-cultural comparative study of sustainability consciousness between students in Taiwan and Sweden

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 6287-6313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Berglund ◽  
Niklas Gericke ◽  
Jelle Boeve-de Pauw ◽  
Daniel Olsson ◽  
Tzu-Chau Chang
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Cultural Specificity ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Development Goals

Abstract Education for sustainable development (ESD) is promoted as one important component in the endeavor toward sustainable development. Goal 4 in the Sustainable Development Goals (UN in Sustainable development goals—17 goals to transform our world, 2017) in particular targets the role of ESD in this respect. The importance of cultural specificity in ESD is emphasized in numerous international policy documents, but there are few cross-cultural studies that focus on the broad context of sustainable development and ESD. The current study investigates the sustainability consciousness of grade 12 students (age 18–19) in Taiwan (N = 617) and Sweden (N = 583) and discusses the implications for ESD policy and practice. The findings indicate that significant differences exist between the two samples, both with respect to their sustainability consciousness and within the three sub-constructs of knowingness, attitudes and self-reported behaviors. The differences are considered in light of the cultural value orientations of the East Asian and Western European regions. Implications for ESD are discussed from the perspective of cultural specificity.

scholarly journals Global Citizenship Education and Gender Depiction in Textbooks: The Case of Punjab Textbook Board’s Pakistan Studies and Urdu Textbooks

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-79
Author(s):  
Aniqa Munir ◽  
Dr. Sumaira Noreen
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Research Work ◽  
School Level ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
Secondary School Level ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
And Gender

This research is focused on the case of gender depiction in textbooks of Punjab Textbook Board's Pakistan Studies and Urdu at Secondary and Higher Secondary School Level. A content analysis was done of Pakistan Studies and Urdu textbooks while keeping in view UNESCO's Global Citizenship Education (GCED) targets being given under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target 4.7. The theme has been operationalized concerning learning objectives of "Education for Sustainable Development" (UNESCO, 2017) that centers around empowered and motivated learners being capable of critical thinking and to contribute towards a sustainable future. The findings of this research work highlighted the need for a clear focus on the content regarding women in textbooks.

scholarly journals Volunteering and the Sustainable Development Goals: an opportunity to move beyond boundaries

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-260
Author(s):  
Angela Ellis Paine ◽  
Cliff Allum ◽  
Danielle Beswick ◽  
Benjamin J. Lough
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Interdisciplinary Learning ◽  
Global North ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Uk

There is growing recognition of the role that volunteering can play in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Evidence of its contribution, however, remains relatively weak, including for countries in the Global North such as the UK. This is compounded by limited collaboration between those concerned with volunteering and those concerned with development. The SDGs provide an opportunity to bring together research, policy and practice on volunteering and development, and on international and ‘domestic’ volunteering, enabling valuable interdisciplinary learning.

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