Education for Sustainable Development in Structural Change Processes Using the Example of the Coal Phase-out in Lusatia

Within socio-economic transformation processes, the task of education is often reduced to short-term economic factors, that is, a suitable qualification profile of the local population. Transformative education should, however, be based on the broader claim that education contributes to successful transformation processes in the sense of facilitating a high and sustainable quality of life within a democratic society. In this article, we look at the transformation process in the German region of Lusatia. Coal, the region’s predominant industry, will be phased out by 2038. We examine what types of programme content might enable learners to participate in the transformation process, and discuss how different educational concepts (education for sustainable development and related approaches including transformative learning, socio-economic and civic education) could be used to develop an educational approach towards the transformation process. We derive competences that students should possess in two areas and provide recommendations for educational processes and policy.