Announcements

1) Call for Papers:

Special Issue on Reimagining Pedagogical Practices in Language Education

Guest Editors
Dr. Farah Akbar, University of Edinburgh
Dr. Soe Marlar Lwin, Singapore University of Social Sciences

The Scope
This special issue invites contributions that explore and interrogate how pedagogical practices in language education can be reimagined to respond to diverse educational realities, challenge dominant ways of thinking and prioritise classroom-based impact. We are particularly interested in work that bridges the gap between theory and practice, centres inclusive and practical approaches and draws on locally grounded knowledge systems and teaching traditions.

We welcome contributions from educators, researchers and practitioners whose work reflects context-responsive innovation and who bring forward perspectives that are often underrepresented in mainstream language education discourse.

This special issue aims to serve scholars, teacher educators, policymakers, and classroom practitioners who are committed to advancing socially just, innovative and context-responsive pedagogy. While artificial intelligence (AI) is not the main focus of this issue, we encourage authors to consider, where relevant, how digital technologies and AI are reshaping language teaching especially when these tools intersect with issues of ethics, access, power, and representation.

Topics this special issue may include (but are not limited to):

Pedagogies with Impact – practitioner-led or co-developed approaches that bring about meaningful change in classrooms, particularly in settings where visibility, representation, or resources may be limited. Submissions may focus on curriculum adaptation, learner engagement, or inclusive teaching strategies with demonstrable classroom relevance.
Connecting Theory to Practice – research that explores how theoretical ideas are interpreted, negotiated, or adapted in specific educational settings, including those influenced by digital technologies or platform-based learning. Submissions may explore how such theories are applied in context, across modalities or delivery formats, including hybrid and digitally mediated environments.
Decolonising Language Education – studies that engage critically with curriculum, assessment, or materials to challenge dominant knowledge hierarchies and centre more plural, community-rooted ways of knowing and teaching. We welcome submissions that show how curriculum design can disrupt dominant language ideologies and strengthen critical and reflective language learning.
Contextually Rooted Pedagogies – contributions that highlight language teaching practices grounded in learners’ sociocultural contexts especially those that challenge “one-size-fits-all” models. Submissions may include heritage language teaching, community literacy practices or pedagogy responsive to linguistic diversity.
Interpedagogy – contributions that explore the design and implement of interdisciplinary or interprofessional teaching and learning for a more holistic and interconnected educational experience. Submission may focus on content and language integrated learning (CLIL), collaborative teaching and learning across disciplines, and pedagogical partnership between language teachers and professionals in other domains.

Format of submissions

Empirical Research – articles based on qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods data
Practice-Based Studies – research grounded in classroom or community-based teaching
Critical Reflections – theoretically informed accounts that interrogate professional practice, positionality or policy
Autoethnographic Accounts – first-person pieces that offer insight into language education through lived experience

Submission instructions
The full-text manuscripts addressing the special issue’s focus should be submitted through the Editorial Park manuscript submission system (https://www.editorialpark.com/ijopr/login), which can also be accessed through the website (https://www.ijopr.com/). Please see the Author Guidelines and Submission Preparation Checklist carefully before preparing your manuscript.

We would like to inform you that manuscripts can be submitted in free format using Microsoft Word. However, we kindly ask that you ensure your submission complies with the APA 7th edition citation and referencing guidelines.

The Guest Editors would welcome contributions up to 9000 words, references and appendices included. Longer manuscripts will need to be approved.

NOTE: When submitting your final manuscript, please select issue type as “special issue” and “Reimagining Pedagogical Practices in Language Education”.

Deadlines for authors

Manuscript submission deadline: 5 January 2026
First review decision on manuscripts: 28 February 2026
Second review decision on manuscripts: 15 April 2026
Final version submission: 1 May 2026
Expected Publication: May 2026

2) Call for Papers:

Special Issue on Sustainable Development Goals and Education: Rethinking Teaching Practices, Curriculum, and Institutional Roles

Guest Editors

Dr. Assylbek Nurgabdeshov, Heriot-Watt University, UK

Dr. Ana Paula Fonseca, Heriot-Watt University, UK

Dr. Miles Weaver, Edinburgh Napier University, UK

Dr. Swapnesh Masrani, Heriot-Watt University, UK

Dr. Maryam Ikram, INTI International University, Malaysia

Background

Sustainability has become a defining challenge of our time. Climate change, social inequality, and technological disruption are no longer abstract forces but immediate realities that disrupt lives, economies, and institutions (Barnett-Itzhaki et al, 2025). Education sits at the center of this turbulence. Schools and universities are already affected by heatwaves, flooding, pandemics, and digital disruption, while also carrying the responsibility of equipping learners with the knowledge and competencies needed to address these challenges. These crises damage infrastructure, disrupt continuity for millions of learners, and deepen inequalities, placing education systems on the frontline of sustainability challenges—both as victims of disruption and as crucial drivers of transformation (Wells & Nieuwenhuis, 2017; Crawford & Cifuentes-Faura, 2022).

The international policy agenda has recognized education’s centrality to sustainable development. Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) commits to ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and to promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all (Nguyen et al., 2025). Target 4.7 specifies that learners should acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including through education for sustainable development (ESD), human rights, gender equality, promotion of peace, and global citizenship. UNESCO’s ESD for 2030 roadmap calls on education systems to integrate sustainability into curriculum, pedagogy, institutional governance, and community engagement (UNESCO, 2020). Yet progress is uneven. Almost half of national curriculum frameworks still omit climate change, and fewer than one in five teachers worldwide feel adequately prepared to teach sustainability. The gap between global ambitions and local realities remains stark (Omazic & Zunk, 2021). Moreover, while the SDGs provide a milestone and an inclusive framework to align social, environmental, and economic dimensions, progress often suffers from cherry-picking and symbolic compliance. Genuine transformation requires integrative, cross-disciplinary efforts rather than narrow or fragmented initiatives (Sinkovics et al., 2022).

Institutional Sustainability: Higher Education as Systems

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are pivotal in shaping sustainable futures. They are centres of knowledge creation, training grounds for future leaders, and organizational actors with significant ecological and social footprints. Universities consume vast energy, manage extensive estates, employ thousands of staff, and serve as cultural and economic anchors in their communities. Their choices on governance, operations, and curriculum therefore reverberate widely (Rodríguez et al., 2025).

Yet the integration of sustainability across HEIs remains fragmented. While many institutions have adopted policies, signed international charters, or launched green campus projects, these often remain symbolic add-ons rather than systemic transformations (Snelson-Powell et al., 2020). Environmental management such as waste, water, and energy has typically taken precedence (Barnett-Itzhaki et al, 2025), while issues of equity, well-being (Sarzhanova & Nurgabdeshov, 2025), and institutional culture receive less attention (Wells & Nieuwenhuis, 2017). The pandemic further exposed vulnerabilities, accelerating the VUCA environment, which influences skill shortages (Fonseca et al., 2024). When resources were diverted to ensure teaching continuity, many sustainability initiatives were paused or deprioritized. Progress continues to be inconsistent across various regions; certain universities are actively involved in critical pedagogy and participatory outreach initiatives, whereas others face challenges due to weak governance or limited resources (Woods et al., 2022). These disparities could influence the development of a collaborative learning ecosystem (Fonseca & Zegers, 2024; Crawford & Cifuentes-Faura, 2022).

Digital transformation represents both an enabler and a challenge within this landscape (Nurgabdeshov et al., 2025). The pandemic accelerated adoption of online learning platforms, AI tools, and virtual classrooms, while emerging technologies such as virtual and augmented reality and smart campuses promise new ways to enhance learning and reduce environmental footprints (Trevisan et al., 2023). On the one hand, digitalization can support institutional sustainability by broadening access for excluded groups, reducing travel and carbon emissions, and optimizing energy and resource management. Many initiatives emphasize tool adoption over cultural or pedagogical change, while inequalities in internet access, digital literacy, and infrastructure exacerbate existing divides. Unless aligned with governance, pedagogy, and equity goals, digital transformation may reproduce the very inequities sustainability seeks to address (García-Hernández et al., 2023; Weaver et al., 2025).

Institutional sustainability therefore requires a more holistic and integrated strategy. Universities must embed sustainability into long-term planning, governance, and digital infrastructures, linking ecological, social, and technological innovation with equity and inclusivity. Progress depends on moving beyond isolated projects to systemic adaptation, aligning missions with the SDGs, building resilience to crises, and ensuring that digital tools serve as catalysts—rather than substitutes—for genuine cultural and pedagogical transformation (Akrivou & Bradbury-Huang, 2015). Only by treating sustainability as a strategic priority on par with teaching, research, and digital innovation can HEIs fulfil their role as living laboratories of transformation and remain socially relevant in the SDG era (Slager et al., 2020; Moratis & Melissen, 2022; Beamond et al., 2024 ).

The Scope

This Special Issue seeks to deepen scholarly understanding of how sustainability redefines the ecosystem, responsibilities, and practices of education in the context of the SDGs. We consider sustainability as an integral part of the system, not as a peripheral concern, but as a central force shaping pedagogy, institutions, and business schools. Our aim is to explore how sustainability reshapes the assumptions, responsibilities, and practices of education in the era of the SDGs. We focus especially on two interconnected domains:

Institutional sustainability: how education systems and higher education institutions embed sustainability into governance, organizational culture, operations, and digital infrastructures.
Pedagogies of responsibility: how institutions and pedagogical practices can move beyond symbolic compliance to meaningfully embed the SDGs and prepare responsible leaders.

Although research on sustainability in education has expanded, it often remains fragmented, limited to isolated curriculum reforms, symbolic institutional projects, or digital initiatives that prioritize tools over systemic change. The scope and complexity of sustainability demand more holistic and interdisciplinary approaches.

We welcome contributions at multiple levels of analysis: micro (student learning and pedagogy), meso (institutional governance and strategies), and macro (national and international policy). Comparative and cross-regional studies are particularly encouraged, especially those that shed light on the role of business schools in advancing sustainability.

Exemplary Research Questions

The following questions are illustrative rather than exhaustive. They are intended to guide potential contributions, but authors are encouraged to go beyond them and propose alternative perspectives.

Institutional Sustainability

How do HEIs embed the SDGs into governance, operations, and organizational culture in ways that go beyond symbolic gestures?
In what ways can digital infrastructures and smart campuses contribute to institutional sustainability while avoiding new inequalities?
How do universities measure, evaluate, and communicate the social, ecological, and technological impacts of their sustainability practices?
What strategies help institutions build resilience so that sustainability initiatives survive crises such as pandemics, political shifts, or financial crisis?

Pedagogies of Responsibility

How can higher education institutions move beyond rhetoric to genuinely integrate the SDGs into curricula, research, and governance?
Which pedagogical methods (e.g., simulations, project-based learning, service learning) are most effective in cultivating sustainability competencies?
How do rankings, accreditation, and faculty incentives shape (or constrain) the adoption of sustainability in higher education?
In what ways can business education address critiques of Eurocentric or profit-driven models and incorporate diverse, global, and decolonial perspectives on sustainability?

Submission instructions
The full-text manuscripts addressing the special issue’s focus should be submitted through the Editorial Park manuscript submission system (https://www.editorialpark.com/ijopr/login), which can also be accessed through the website (https://www.ijopr.com/). All submissions will undergo the journal’s double-blind peer review process. Please see the Author Guidelines and Submission Preparation Checklist carefully before preparing your manuscript.

We welcome empirical, conceptual, and review papers that rigorously advance understanding of sustainability in education, with particular attention to pedagogy, institutions, and business schools in the era of the SDGs.

The Guest Editors would welcome contributions up to 9000 words, references and appendices included. Longer manuscripts will need to be approved.

The Journal of Pedagogical Research is an open-access journal; while there are no submission fees, authors may be responsible for certain costs related to publishing, and we kindly encourage prospective contributors to read the journal’s Open Access Policy or to contact the journal directly for further information.

NOTE: When submitting your final manuscript, please select issue type as “special issue” and “Sustainable Development Goals and Education”.

Deadlines for authors

Manuscript submission deadline: 10 January 2026
First review decision on manuscripts: 20 February 2026
Second review decision on manuscripts: 20 April 2026
Final version submission: 20 May 2026
Expected Publication: August 2026

Special Issue Events

To support prospective authors, the Guest Editors will host a Paper Development Workshop (PDW) on 22 October 2025 at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, with simultaneous online participation to ensure international accessibility.

Deadline for PDW submissions: 10 October 2025.
Authors whose extended abstracts or early drafts are accepted for the workshop will receive developmental feedback from the guest editors and invited senior scholars.
Participation in the PDW is encouraged but not a prerequisite for submission, nor a guarantee of acceptance.

References

Akrivou, K., & Bradbury-Huang, H. (2015). Educating integrated catalysts: Transforming business schools toward ethics and sustainability. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(2), 222-240.

Barnett-Itzhaki, Z., Tiferet, S., Etstein, Y., Gefen, I., Ravid, O., Barokas, G., ... & Levi, A. (2025, June). A Holistic Approach to Sustainability in Higher Education Institutes: Social, Economic, Educational, and Mobility Perspectives. Frontiers in Education, 10, 1588223).

Beamond, M. T., Schmitz, M., Cordova, M., Ilieva, M. V., Zhao, S., & Panina, D. (2024). Sustainability in business education: a systematic review and future research agenda. Critical perspectives on international business.

Crawford, J., & Cifuentes-Faura, J. (2022). Sustainability in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review. Sustainability, 14(3), 1879.

Fonseca, A. P., Harte, P., Hosanoo, Z. A., & Hill, E. (2024). Enterprise Education and Employability Skills: Adapting the DOTS Model to Enhance Career Development–Evidence from a Scottish International MBA Programme. In Entrepreneurship Education and Internationalisation (pp. 65-85). Routledge.

Fonseca, A. P., & Zegers, C. (2024). Collaborative Learning Ecosystems: Enhancing Communities of Practice in Digital Spaces. International Journal of Strategy and Organisational Learning, 1(2), 128.

García-Hernández, A., García-Valcárcel Muñoz-Repiso, A., Casillas-Martín, S., & Cabezas-González, M. (2022). Sustainability in digital education: A systematic review of innovative proposals. Education Sciences, 13(1), 33.

Moratis, L., & Melissen, F. (2022). Bolstering responsible management education through the sustainable development goals: Three perspectives. Management Learning, 53(2), 212-222.

Nurgabdeshov, A., Shamayleh, G., & Bensouna, I. (2025). Transforming Governance: An Integrated Framework for Digital Modernization in the Public Sector. Paper presented at 85th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management 2025, Copenhagen, Denmark. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMPROC.2025.22817abstract

Omazic, A., & Zunk, B. M. (2021). Semi-systematic literature review on sustainability and sustainable development in higher education institutions. Sustainability, 13(14), 7683.

Rodríguez, V., Ruiz-Pérez, F., Prieto-Sandoval, V., Bermeo-Losada, J. F., & Carías, J. F. (2025). Aligning sustainability management with general management in higher education institutions. Studies in Higher Education, 1-22.

Sarzhanova G, Nurgabdeshov A. Mapping psychological well-being in education: A systematic review of key dimensions and an integrative conceptual framework. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 9(3), 327-349.

Sinkovics, N., Vieira, L. M., & van Tulder, R. (2022). Working toward the sustainable development goals in earnest–critical international business perspectives on designing and implementing better interventions. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 18(4), 445-456.

Slager, R., Pouryousefi, S., Moon, J., & Schoolman, E. D. (2020). Sustainability centres and fit: How centres work to integrate sustainability within business schools. Journal of Business Ethics, 161(2), 375-391.

Snelson-Powell, A. C., Grosvold, J., & Millington, A. I. (2020). Organizational hypocrisy in business schools with sustainability commitments: The drivers of talk-action inconsistency. Journal of Business Research, 114, 408-420.

Trevisan, L. V., Eustachio, J. H. P. P., Dias, B. G., Leal Filho, W., & Pedrozo, E. Á. (2023). Digital transformation towards sustainability in higher education: state-of-the-art and future research insights. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1.

UNESCO (2020). Education for sustainable development: A roadmap. Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development A/RES/70/1, available online at 30/08/2025

Weaver, M., Fonseca, A. P., Tan, H., & Pokorna, K. (2025). Systems thinking for sustainability: shifting to a higher level of systems consciousness. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 1-14.

Wells, P., & Nieuwenhuis, P. (2017). Operationalizing deep structural sustainability in business: longitudinal immersion as extensive engaged scholarship. British Journal of Management, 28(1), 45-63.

Woods, C., Dell, K., & Carroll, B. (2022). Decolonizing the business school: Reconstructing the entrepreneurship classroom through indigenizing pedagogy and learning. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 21(1), 82-100.

Previous Special Issues

Artificial Intelligence in Education

Computational thinking and Mathematics teaching and learning

Why and how of integrated STEM education

COVID-19 & Education