¹Remiswal, ²Ulfatmi, ³Zulpadrianto

^1,2,3Universitas Islam Negeri Imam Bonjol Padang, Sumatera Barat, Indonesia

DOI : https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2026.v5i8n22

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ABSTRACT

The ecological crisis, manifested in climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, natural resource exploitation, and ecosystem degradation, has become a fundamental challenge for education. However, education systems still tend to emphasize cognitive achievement, economic competitiveness, and human-centered development. Environmental education often appears as supplementary content and has not fully connected ecological knowledge with awareness, values, and concrete action. This article aims to analyze the need for educational transformation to build ecological consciousness and to propose a conceptual framework that can serve as a foundation for the development of sustainable education. This study employs a conceptual literature review approach through an examination of scientific literature and international policy documents concerning Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), climate change education, ecological literacy, sustainability competencies, and transformative learning. The findings indicate a gap between ecological knowledge and action, limited coverage of climate change and biodiversity in curricula, low confidence among some teachers in teaching climate change, and insufficient connections between ecological education and local issues. In the Indonesian context, these challenges are reinforced by gaps in coordination between climate change policies and education policies, as well as limited local contextualization in learning materials. Based on this synthesis, the article proposes the Ecological Consciousness Transformation Framework (ECTF), consisting of six dimensions: ecological education goals, green curriculum, transformative pedagogy, ecological assessment, institutional transformation, and community-based ecological action. Educational transformation needs to shift its orientation from education about the environment toward education that develops knowledge, care, competence, agency, and action for the sustainability of life.

KEYWORDS:

educational transformation; ecological consciousness; sustainability education; climate change education; ecological literacy; transformative learning; green curriculum.

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Cite this Article: Remiswal, Ulfatmi, & Zulpadrianto. (2026). Transforming Education for Ecological Consciousness: Reimagining Education for A Sustainable Future. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE HUMANITY & MANAGEMENT RESEARCHS, 5(8), 2296-2304. https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2026.v5i8n22

VOLUME 05 ISSUE 08 AUGUST 2026