Series Editor Preface

Summary

The Bristol Studies in Comparative and International Education series and the Centre for Comparative and International Research in Education (CIRE) are pleased to have been involved in the initiation and development of this challenging, co-edited volume from the outset. Initial discussions began when ways of linking CIRE's long-time engagement with diverse ‘ways of knowing’, context-sensitive research and post-colonial theorizing, to UNESCO's ‘Futures of Education’ initiative, were first explored. This inspired a three-part seminar series on the theme of ‘decolonizing education for sustainable futures’ (Cortez Ochoa et al, 2021) a subsequent widening of the debate, the engagement of new writers, and planning for the present book. This was a creative and dialogic process in its own right, and one that, as readers will see, generated contributions from researchers, advocates, policy makers, agency personnel, activists and practitioners. This is, therefore, a cross-cutting volume that bridges the worlds of theory, policy and practice, and one that reflects a diversity of positions while generating a coherent, challenging and inspiring framework for ongoing analysis.

In doing so, the book makes a timely and stimulating multi-disciplinary contribution to contemporary decolonization, sustainability and ‘education futures’ discourses while, from a Comparative and International Education perspective, recognizing that:

These are challenging times … when global socio-political changes and tensions are prioritising the critical interrogation of the intellectual foundations of our field, the nature and rationale for international development, the foregrounding of decolonisation debates, and the implications of climate change and environmental uncertainty for more equitable education futures. (Crossley, 2021)

Here then, is a book that extends critical scholarship to multiple audiences, disrupting many epistemological and methodological assumptions, opening up debate across constituencies, focusing upon the global challenges of our times and seeking to engage with theorists and stakeholders – at all levels – involved in the formulation, implementation and critique of emergent international agendas.

The chapters that follow elaborate upon these and other related themes in ways that all involved hope will contribute to ongoing debate and to the advancement of both theoretical thinking and transformative educational policies and practices.