An Afterword

Abstract

In this Afterword, the editors reflect on some of the main themes emerging from the collected chapters. They note that the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report, Education for People and Planet, was launched just as the first draft of this book was completed. This report is welcomed as it couples the status of education with planetary prospects. Yet, it also serves to underscore the very purpose of this book by failing to recognize the nature and depth of change required in educational practice to meet the aspirations of the report’s subtitle, “creating sustainable futures for all.” Rather, as reflected by the different authors in this book, the editors suggest that there needs to be a disruption of dominant assumptions in educational thinking and purpose so that a cultural shift towards practice that is life-affirming, relational, and truly transformational can take root. This can be realized at any level of engagement through the role of “rebel teacher” and through “being differently” in the world.