Editorial Introduction: (Re)Designing Education for Better Futures: Student-Centered and Collaborative Approaches to Equity and Transformation

Abstract

In this editorial for Volume 26, Issue 1 of Current Issues in Education, we build on the editors’ previous call to slow down and imagine what can/is emerging, even amidst crisis. Against the backdrop of escalating political attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in education—particularly under the second Trump administration—we highlight how scholars and practitioners are intentionally designing education rooted in care, belonging, and justice. This issue features ten articles organized into three thematic strands: Centering Student Identity and Well-being to Improve Educational Experiences; Reimagining Support Systems: Experiences of Belonging in Higher Education; and Building Bridges: Collaborative Approaches to Educational Transformation. Collectively, these works exemplify the power of interdisciplinary, student-centered, and equity-driven research to sustain transformative educational practices in turbulent times. We argue that the future of education must be shaped not only through resistance, but through ethical, relational, and creative redesign—reflecting the futures we dare to imagine.