Chapter 4: Critical Education for Sustainable Development: Bridging Policy and Practice in Irish Higher Education

The global social, economic and environmental crises facing our society are significantly complex and present challenging issues that require critical engagement within higher education (HE) classrooms. This chapter introduces a framework used for teaching Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) that increases awareness and understanding of the rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world while fostering knowledge and skills to navigate this world beyond the classroom. This framework was developed in response to a priority action area of national ESD policy in Ireland, which focused on research-informed pedagogical approaches. The ’PLANS’ framework, Purposeful Learning through Actions and Networks for Sustainability, addresses global issues through the lens of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and introduces critical educational theories to empower students to build a fairer and more sustainable world throughout their HE trajectory and beyond. This chapter presents an autoethnography analysing educators’ observations and reflections on the collaborative implementation of the PLANS framework in 2024 in the context of an undergraduate module taught in a higher education institution (HEI) in Ireland. This chapter highlights the key role played by HEIs in implementing national and international ESD policy and the SDGs and considers how grassroots policy-making and practice can be explored and contributed to within HE. The challenges and opportunities experienced by the educators are examined in relation to curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. The findings consider these domains in relation to both the implementation of the PLANS framework and the complex issues that present when teaching ESD in an era of growing social and economic disparities.