The UN and its initiatives in Education for Sustainable Development have affirmed citizen learning as a means of making more sustainable futures. In this paper, I use the concept of ‘spaces of orientation’ to understand education and how it contributes to citizen learning. I report on research that used transnational policy analysis and Australian case study research to show how contradictory logics slowed action on sustainability in and beyond education. Still I note how educators can and are progressing this sustainability agenda.

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