Whose Knowledge Counts? Rethinking Sustainability Education in Higher Education

Sustainability education has become a key priority in UK higher education, shaped by policy frameworks such as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UNESCO, 2017; United Nations, 2015). Universities are expected to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequality through teaching and research, often framing sustainability in terms of skills, competencies, and measurable outcomes (Advance HE, 2021; QAA, 2021). While this signals institutional commitment, I argue that dominant pedagogical approaches frequently rely on universal and Eurocentric assumptions, marginalising Indigenous and place-based knowledge.

Drawing on decolonial theory and Indigenous scholarship, this conceptual research will critique how ESD and SDG discourses shape sustainability pedagogy in the UK. Decolonial scholars highlight how education systems privilege certain knowledge systems while silencing others (de Sousa Santos, 2015; Mignolo, 2011). In sustainability education, global narratives can frame environmental crises as technical problems detached from colonial histories and unequal responsibility (Andreotti, 2014). Indigenous perspectives instead emphasise relational, place-based understandings of sustainability grounded in responsibilities to land and more-than-human relations (Ajaps, 2023; Whyte et al., 2016).

I will identify three tensions: between global policy universality and local epistemic plurality; between institutional inclusion and epistemic justice; and between policy compliance and meaningful educational responsibility. I propose a decolonial reframing centred on relationality, reflexivity, and place-responsiveness. Rather than adding Indigenous content, sustainability education should become a space for critical dialogue about power, knowledge, and contested futures, challenging assumptions about whose knowledge counts and what futures universities help sustain.