Sustainable peace and continued development rests on our ability to collaborate effectively across generations and cultures. At a time when there are more young people on the planet than ever before, it is hard to overstate the role youth, and their education, play in working towards a better world.

Without inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong opportunities for all, countries will not succeed in achieving gender equality and breaking the cycle of poverty that is leaving millions of children, youth and adults behind. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education for peace and development.

While the 2025 International Day of Education focused on AI, this year, in 2026 – eight years after the UN proclamation – the theme of ‘The power of youth in co-creating education’ realigns the focus to the role youth can (and does) play in working towards a just and equitable world.

Advancing theoretical and empirical understanding of education and learning

UCL Press is a pioneering publisher of high-quality Open Access books and journals. Building on UCL’s global reputation for scholarly excellence, UCL Press Journals is disrupting traditional academic publishing not only by ensuring widespread dissemination of research worldwide, but also through a focused collection of serial publications on education research and learning.

The International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning is an academic response to the increased public and educational interest in learning and understanding about the wider world. The journal publishes the outcomes of educational research and current debates on development education, global learning, global education and global citizenship education. The journal’s purpose is to help advance theoretical and empirical understanding of development education and global learning through a focus on both research and reviewing policy and practice in the field.

In a recent publication, the key focus of Namrata Sharma’s article ‘Integrating planetary citizenship as a cross-curricular theme and a whole-school approach: using a value-creating approach to learning’ is to build resilience and hope through engaged relationships between learners and their natural, social and educational environments.

Additionally, in examining approaches to combat dominant power dynamics in the classroom, Emily Van Houweling’s article on ‘Decolonising development practice pedagogy: ways forward and persistent challenges in the synchronous online classroom’, explores transformative learning and co-creating knowledge.

Beyond The power of youth in co-creating education

Although the theme of this year’s world day focuses on the power of youth in co-creation in education, considering other pedagogical themes is also essential to developing a nuanced understanding of empowered education systems. Broadly, articles published in the International Journal of Social Pedagogy explore how education can tackle broader societal challenges. Additionally, Felton et al.’s article ‘Civic Action on Social Media’, published in the London Review of Education, demonstrates how fostering digital media literacy can prepare students for civic engagement in a digital age.

Other recent publications in the London Review of Education and History Education Research Journal go further by examining the obligation institutions have to decolonise their teaching practices and socially support young people: such as through publishing thematic series’ on ‘Decolonising the school curriculum’, or preparing school students to respond to climate crises and engaging with Indigenous scholarship to enhance history education.

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International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning

International Journal of Social Pedagogy

London Review of Education

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Thank you for celebrating International Day of Education with us! Explore these featured articles to learn more about the role youth can and do play in fostering a just and equitable world.

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