Whilst environmental education, and more recently education for sustainable development are important trends, they are not sufficient to reorient and transform education as a wholeand. This Briefing critiques the prevailing managerial and mechanistic paradigm in education, and argues that an ecological view of educational theory, practice and policy is necessary to assist the sustainability transition. The Briefing then shows how a systemic change of educational culture towards the realization of human potential and the interdependence of social, economic and ecological wellbeingcan lead to transformative learning.