Benavot Presents The 'Greening' of Education

Albany, NY (September 17, 2025) – Dr. Aaron Benavot gave an invited keynote presentation at the 11th IEA International Research Conference (IEA IRC) entitled, The "Greening" of Education: Causes and potential consequences. The June 25-27 conference in Rome, Italy, focused on "Researching Education for Sustainable Futures."  

Benavot’s presentation described the emergent notion of “greening” education, which draws on earlier understandings of environmental education and education for sustainable development. It argued that countries often engage in several interrelated reforms to promote greening, including:

     a. the prioritization and inclusion of “green” content in the intended and implemented curriculum;

     b. the updating and upgrading of school infrastructure to reduce carbon footprints;

     c. the preparation of teachers who can engage in holistic and interdisciplinary approaches to 
     climate, biodiversity and sustainability education;

     d. the modification of learning assessments to assess whether learners acquire contextually 
     relevant knowledge, skills, values and agency to make informed decisions and take action to 
     change their communities, mitigate the climate crisis and care for the planet; and

     e. the improvement of relations between schools, communities and Indigenous groups to foster 
     intergenerational learning on future sustainability challenges and solutions.

The presentation described results from a UNESCO-sponsored cross-national study of the greening of the school curriculum in primary and secondary education. It also offered data from a new global indicator on Greening Education. Benavot concluded the presentation by discussing the potential consequences, intended and unintended, of trends in greening education.