Education for sustainable development in the senior Earth andEnvironmental Science syllabus in Queensland, AustraliaLouisa Tomas1, Reece Mills2, Donna Rigano1 & Maryam Sandhu21College of Arts, Society & Education, James Cook University2Faculty of Education, Queensland University of TechnologyIn Queensland, Australia, a new senior Earth and Environmental Science (EES) syllabushas been approved for first implementation in 2019. Given the natural alignment betweenEES and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), this study employs documentanalysis to investigate the extent to which the intended curriculum reflects the tenets ofESD. An exploratory content analysis examined the frequency of keywords to identifyany prominent sustainability themes that might underpin the syllabus, while a curriculumkey guided a deeper analysis according to four tenets of ESD: Learning content;Pedagogy and learning environments; Societal transformation; and Learning Outcomes.These analyses found that the ESD tenets reflected in the syllabus is limited chiefly tosustainability learning content, while broader notions of ESD, like the promotion oftransformative learning, are marginalized or absent. Instead, the syllabus reflects atechnical orientation to curriculum, underpinned by a neoliberal agenda. It is argued thatthe Queensland EES syllabus represents a missed opportunity to engage students withESD. In a policy climate where achievement and accountability dominate educationaldiscourse, there is an inherent risk that ESD will fall by the wayside, given it is notprioritized in the intended curriculum. Implications for curriculum development are also