Ó Riada, Pascual, Turnhout, & Neidig (2026). From generating human capital to transformative education: Discursive struggles in Spanish education policy and openings for sustainability.
Education is considered a key leverage point for sustainability transformation. Yet, dominant human-capital-based discourses, promoted by actors such as the OECD, have long framed education in an economistic way, marginalizing the creative, critical, and transdisciplinary pedagogies required for sustainability. Using the case of Spain, we apply discourse analysis to analyse historically (1975 to the present) how human-capital-based discourses have shaped education policy and where opportunities and constraints for transformative sustainability education (TSE) emerge. The findings reveal three major periods: (1) emancipatory aspirations during Spain’s democratic transition (1975–1990), (2) consolidation of a neoliberal consensus shaped by OECD discourse (1990–2018), and (3) … Continúa leyendo Ó Riada, Pascual, Turnhout, & Neidig (2026). From generating human capital to transformative education: Discursive struggles in Spanish education policy and openings for sustainability.
