The aim of this research is to examine the concepts of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED) in policy and practice in three levels: international, national and local, with Estonia and the Estonian UNESCO school network (ASPnet) as the case study. GCED and ESD are interrelated concepts, not least in the SDG Target 4.7, but have their separate histories and advocates - the former evolved from environmental education and the latter from development education. As a result, in Estonia, they are being handled at the national level by separate ministries with their own budgets and funding mechanisms and at the school level by different subject teachers: ESD by teachers of natural sciences, GCED by teachers of social sciences. This same division could be seen until recently in the work of the Estonian ASPnet (UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network) which involves around 50 educational institutions. There were previously two separate networks: the BSP (Baltic Sea Project) network to involve schools in environmental monitoring and the ASPnet encouraging schools to tackle issues of peace, intercultural communication, and global inequalities.

UNESCO has played a key role in defining both concepts at the international level and has lately started to promote them both as transformative pedagogies leading to fulfil the SDG Target 4.7 which seeks to ensure that "all learners have the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development". Transformation again implies that we look critically at what kind of development we are supporting through education. This study will analyse the meanings given to ESD and GCED by Estonian policymakers and teachers at ASPnet schools, as well as cooperation between different subject teachers at a time when they are expected to increasingly work together to develop the skills and knowledge of learners to support a more sustainable future.

The key questions for my research are: How do the policymakers and educators at the UNESCO ASPnet schools in Estonia understand and respond to the challenge posed by Target 4.7? In what ways do the understanding of teachers and policy-makers regarding GCED and ESD differ from the understanding promoted by UNESCO? In what ways does the national curriculum converge/diverge from the principles and framing of ESD and GCED by UNESCO? What are the opportunities and challenges schools and teachers are facing in implementing Target 4.7? Does being an UNESCO ASPnet school give better opportunities to address global and sustainability issues?

A special emphasis will be in examining the integration of ESD and GCED at different levels: at the international level within UNESCO and the local level through joining the BSP and ASPnet school networks. Bringing together these somewhat different agendas promoted by different actors is a complex task. How do they intersect with each other? How they support each other? What are the conditions where they can be jointly implemented with mutually beneficial outcomes? What do they both bring to the understanding of the global challenges and in motivating young people to be responsible global citizens and take action in addressing the challenges? How has the process of uniting the BSP and ASPnet networks supported cooperation between subject teachers and a holistic implementation of GCED and ESD? Teachers, school directors, and the network administrators were interviewed to discover the attitudes of different parties to the merger and the influence it has had on teaching and learning in the ASPnet schools.

The study is inspired by the Vertical Case Study methodology developed by Leslie Bartlett and Fran Vavrus (2006, 2014). It helps in analysing the links between the national and international levels and to place local action and interpretations in a larger cultural, historical and political process. 1) The vertical dimension complements micro-level understanding with macro-level analysis as it aims to situate local action and interpretation within a broader cultural, historical, and political process. The study will examine how international policies (like SDGs) and educational ideas (GCED, ESD) have been developed and promoted by international organisations, how they have been applied in the national education policies, and their practical implementation through the ASPnet. 2) The horizontal dimension examines how similar policies unfold that are socially constructed and connected in various ways. This means comparing different schools, analysing how the same policies are implemented differently in different contexts. It also looks at the links between actors: cooperation between teachers of different subjects, different schools, ministries and other administrations, as well as organisations. 3) The emphasis on the historical, transversal comparison traces the evolution and appropriation of educational policies and practices across time and space. This means tracking the development of the concepts of GCED and ESD as they has been approved and promoted by different networks of NGOs, national or regional education officials, teachers, students, and parents. The Vertical Case Study approach uses mixed methods: qualitative data obtained from observations, interviews and discourse analysis of key policy documents as well as quantitative data from surveys (also large scale assessments like ICCS 2016 and PISA 2018). The theoretical base will look at the discussions between world culture theory (see e.g. Meyer et al, 1987) versus local variations (Anderson-Levitt, 2003; Bartlett & Vavrus, 2014). I also find the concept of "cosmopolitan nationalism" introduced by Yemini et al. (2021) useful for describing a context where schools and teachers face simultaneous and conflicting pressures to promote global citizenship and sustainable lifestyles, sustain national/local cultures, promote economic development and employment and build social cohesion amongst a society and classroom which is becoming more diverse and polarised. Cosmopolitan nationalism is a concept that reflects these various pressures. (Yemini et al, 2021)

This comparative case study will help understand how ESD and GCED have been and are currently understood and implemented by policy-makers and teachers in ASPnet schools. It also aims to analyse what makes quality GCED or ESD that is able to empower the learners and lead to transformation that is culturally appropriate and possible in a particular setting. GCED and ESD in Estonia has not been much researched before. At the same time, there is increasing interest towards the Estonian education system due to its excellent PISA results. The study will show the strong value associated with education in Estonia. However, it will also highlight the tensions between the high expectations set for education and the practical realities, as well as the contradictions between international goals for GCED and ESD and their implementation. In the academic discourse of GCED and ESD there are more critical approaches emerging, calling for critical investigation of modernisation and capitalism. In the Estonian context these critical voices are not present and the value-based transformative approach emphasises the ecological, social and moral aspects and actions to address human rights, poverty, and environmental issues. At the same time, GCED and ESD continue to be marginal topics in schools, dependent on the enthusiasm of the teachers and support from NGOs. Educators are challenged to find ways to make CGED meaningful to students and methods how to promote engaged global citizenship rather than passive knowledge of the world. Cooperation between different subject teachers continues to be difficult but networks and school management can play a crucial role in supporting it.

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