Education For Sustainable Development: Local Wisdom and Global Citizenship in Javanese Elementary Schools
Keywords:
cultural pedagogy, global citizenship education, Javanese culture, local wisdoms, SDGsAbstract
This paper examines the integration of Javanese local wisdom towards learning regarding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at elementary schools and focuses on five thematic dimensions: aspects of the integration of local knowledge; values of cooperation; relationships pluralism; challenges in application; as well as improvement of learning. Informed by constructivist and interpretivist paradigms, the research uses a qualitative approach with purposive sampling of 16 informants (teachers, principals, and students) from East Java. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis, and were analysed by means of thematic coding and semantic mapping in Atlasti 2025. Results show that “Implementation Challenges” was the dominant theme of focus, found in 58 coded occurrences, followed by “Integration of Local Wisdom” (51), “Learning Improvement” (46), “Cooperation Values” (43), and “Diversity Relationships” (42). Pedagogical processes, i.e., tembang dolanan, wayang narratives, and “unggah-ungguh”, were identified to be aligned with SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions). Collaboration was developed through teamwork, native games experience, and working in pairs, supporting SDGs 4.7 and 17. Specifically, 80% of the student participants showed measured improvement in intercultural sensitivity and ethical reasoning as a result of the culturally immersive learning activities. This research provides a much-needed practical framework for integrating indigenous knowledge into SDG-oriented pedagogy in the GCE field. It contributes to the development of a culturally responsive curriculum and demonstrates how local-global synthesis in the primary classroom significantly impacts learning in Southeast Asia. By working with semantic networks and Sankey diagram
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