Curriculum in Professional Practice: Navigating social responsibility, power and sustainability

This editorial introduces the seventh Curriculum in Professional Practice forum.In this issue, through three Perspectives and reflections articles, we see how social responsibility, inclusion and sustainability are navigated in curriculum development and professional practice in schools and in higher education (HE).The articles in this issue highlight the role of education not just in academic development, but in nurturing values like responsibility, empathy and critical awareness.The articles present education as a practice that engages the whole student and teacher -emotionally, socially and intellectually (hooks, 1994).While offering distinct pedagogical models and approaches as levers for transformation, the contributions emphasise the moral and political dimensions of teaching (Biesta, 2010; Freire, 1970).Authors grapple with the tensions between top-down frameworks (including rankings and curriculum requirements), and the need for bottom-up, dialogic or critically engaged practices, such as deliberate democratic spaces and pedagogical models like Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TSPR) (Hellison, 2003), and through educational approaches that foreground holistic development over narrow metrics (Noddings, 2005).Together, the articles invite us to question the difference between performative alignment with values and authentic, critical educational practice.Implicit throughout is an exploration of the kinds of conditions that can foster genuine empowerment and agency for both teachers and students within and beyond the classroom.The first article, by Stuart Evans, explores how the TPSR model (Hellison, 2003) can support Physical Education (PE) teachers in intentionally cultivating the personal and social development of children and young people.Drawing upon established research and reflective practice, Evans demonstrates how the TPSR model can be utilised as a framework that can support meaningful, holistic learning in PE.The second article, by Mujda Ameen, reports on the author's reflections when integrating South West Asia and North African (SWANA) history in secondary history curricula in England.The article invites history teachers to critically revisit existing curricula, challenging Eurocentric assumptions, and recognising the entanglements of British and SWANA histories.In so doing, it contributes to an ongoing conversation about historical knowledge and the curriculum-making responsibilities of teachers.Finally, the third article, by Sean Porter, interrogates the contradictions embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and considers how their adoption in HE can sometimes obscure, rather than illuminate, the complex realities of sustainability.Drawing on the emergence of deliberative democracy projects on university campuses, such as climate assemblies and degrowth discussions, this article proposes alternative ways of fostering critical and transformative approaches to sustainability.Porter invites readers to rethink the limits of technocratic sustainability models and consider where we can make space for pluralistic, contested and community-led visions of the future.