Analysing the construction of ‘sustainability’ in lower secondary school technology syllabi in Ireland

With growing societal recognition of the need to take action in order to promote more sustainable futures, school curricula have been seen as crucial vehicles through which to promote education for sustainable development. STEM subjects in particular have been targeted as pertinent areas to best promote sustainability through curriculum development initiatives. This paper aims to explore the Irish second level educational response to the growing sustainability challenge through an analysis of the recently revised Technology Education curricula. The findings from this paper challenge the uncritical and over-optimistic views of sustainability evident within the Irish context. Furthermore, it raises questions about the ability of school curricula across any jurisdiction to respond to significant global challenges while situated within an ascendant market driven, neoliberal philosophy of education.