A critical review of consumer education based on Education for Sustainable Development: comparison of home economics textbooks in Korea, the US, and Japan

This study critically examines Korean, US, and Japanese home economics textbooks (KT, UT, and JT) from an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) perspective, focusing on whether ESD is integrated coherently into educational goals and content, whether it functions as a transformative paradigm, and how ESD-related competencies, including critical thinking, problem-solving, and civic participation, are represented. It also examines tensions between transformative ESD orientations and Dominant-Conventional (D&C) approaches to consumer education. An in-depth qualitative content analysis was conducted on eight lower secondary textbooks. The findings reveal cross-national differences in ESD orientation within the consumer life unit of home economics education. Although all three countries address socio-cultural, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability, KT and UT exhibit mixed orientations in which emerging ESD perspectives coexist with elements of the D&C paradigm, suggesting incremental movement toward sustainability. In contrast, JT demonstrates a more coherent ESD-oriented approach that links consumption to systemic social and environmental transformation. While KT aligns closely with national curriculum standards, it provides limited articulation of ESD-related competencies, particularly in fostering critical thinking and civic participation; UT and JT reflect these competencies more explicitly, though to varying degrees. By identifying distinct patterns of ESD integration across policy contexts, this study proposes a cross-national typology of orientations within the consumer life domain of home economics education and positions ESD as a structural and paradigmatic transformation rather than an additive theme.