Reconfiguring Education for a Post-Growth Society: Pedagogical Pathways Toward Degrowth and Ecosocial Justice

The intensification of the global ecosocial crisis has exposed the structural incompatibility between continuous economic growth and the biophysical limits of the planet, prompting increasing interest in degrowth as a framework for ecological sustainability and social justice. Despite the growing development of degrowth theory within ecological economics and political ecology, its educational implications remain underexplored. This article examines the role of education in the transition toward post-growth societies through a critical review of the literature and a conceptual analysis informed by critical pedagogy, ecofeminism, environmental education, and degrowth scholarship. The study identifies how contemporary educational systems reproduce growth-oriented subjectivities through human capital theory, neoliberal governance, competitiveness, and productivist curricular frameworks. The analysis demonstrates that dominant models of sustainability education frequently remain embedded within the assumptions of green growth and fail to address the structural drivers of ecological degradation and social inequality. As a result, the article develops an integrated framework for a pedagogy of degrowth structured around ecosocial literacy, democratic participation, care ethics, cooperation, critical civic engagement, curriculum transformation, technological sovereignty, and commitment to the commons. The main contribution of the study lies in articulating a comprehensive educational model that connects pedagogical transformation with broader processes of post-growth social change, positioning education not merely as a tool for environmental awareness but as a strategic arena for cultivating the values, capacities, and collective agency required for ecosocial justice. The findings suggest that a transition toward sustainable and equitable societies requires a profound reorientation of educational aims, contents, institutions, and practices beyond the paradigm of economic growth.