Practitioner perspectives on learning for social change through non-formal global citizenship education

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor J Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Small Individual ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
The Social

This article engages with debates about transformative learning and social change, exploring practitioner perspectives on non-formal education activities run by non-governmental organisations. The research looked at how global citizenship education practitioners met their organisation’s goals of change for social justice through educational activities. This education is sometimes criticised for promoting small individual changes in behaviour, which do not ultimately lead to the social justice to which it pertains to aim. Findings suggest that this non-formal education aims to provide information from different perspectives and generate critical reflection, often resulting in shifts in attitudes and behaviour. While the focus is often on small actions, non-formal spaces opened up by such education allow for networks to develop, which are key for more collective action and making links to social movements. Although this was rarely the focus of these organisations, it was these steps, often resulting from reflection as a group on personal actions, which carried potentially for social change.

scholarly journals Rethinking adult learning and education as global citizenship education: A conceptual model with implications for policy, practice and further research

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcella Milana ◽  
Massimiliano Tarozzi
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Citizenship Skills

This article provides a conceptual analysis of the two domains of global citizenship education and adult education and learning, along with their similarities and differences. It begins by unpacking the ambiguous and contested concept of global citizenship education and proposing a critical vision of it, within a global social justice framework. Against this backdrop, the article argues for re-conceptualizing adult education and learning as global citizenship education, instead of considering the latter to be one of the key issues of the former. Their structural link is grounded in their common epistemological nature. The domains are interlocked to the extent that both (1) promote active citizenship skills, (2) strive towards equality and social justice on a global level and (3) adopt a values-based approach and promote transformative learning. In conclusion, an original ‘Four-dimensions approach to adult education and learning as global citizenship education’ conceptual model is advanced potentially to inform policymakers, practitioners and researchers. The model is made up of four basic components of adult education and learning as global citizenship education, namely: aims and scope (what for), contents and skills (what), processes and pedagogies (how), actors and learning environments (who).

Protest songs about the Iraq War: An effective trigger for critical reflection?

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
José-María Esteve-Faubel ◽  
Tania Josephine Martin ◽  
Rosa-Pilar Esteve-Faubel
Keyword(s):  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
Education Design ◽  
The Impact

The question of developing educational policies that involve training people to be capable of critical reflection and skilled in approaching the discussion-debate binomial, with the overall goal of achieving learning which is of a transformative kind, is currently embraced by the transdisciplinary paradigm known as Global Citizenship Education. This qualitative study investigates the impact of protest or topical songs released in response to the Iraq War on a cohort of university students and explores whether these songs could be useful in Global Citizenship Education. The results of the study emphasize the value of these types of songs as triggers for transformative learning, because, independently of respective national educational policies or the possible influence of the mass and digital media, these songs were shown to tap into an underlying set of universal values, rights and attitudes among citizens that drive the need for Global Citizenship Education design and evaluation.

scholarly journals What are the critical dimensions in Ghana's senior high school social studies curriculum? Under the lens of a critical global citizenship education framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Eten Angyagre ◽  
Albert Kojo Quainoo
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
African Country ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Social Studies Curriculum ◽  
Critical Dimensions ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
School Curricula

A review of school curricula approaches to citizenship formation in a sub-Saharan African education context reveals such practice is still largely focused on a traditional social studies approach. This approach to citizenship development may be limiting in terms of potential to foster students' civic competencies for addressing social injustice associated with the impacts of globalization that impinge on local realities. Drawing on a critical global citizenship education (GCE) framework and GCE core conceptual dimensions developed by UNESCO, this study assessed the critical dimensions of the social studies curriculum for secondary education in one sub-Saharan African country. Through interviews with teachers, focus groups with students and a review of the social studies teaching syllabus, the study revealed limitations in both content and the pedagogical approach to the delivery of Ghana's current social studies curriculum for senior high schools.

scholarly journals Enacting Critical Citizenship: An Intersectional Approach to Global Citizenship Education

Societies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Maayke de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Black Feminists ◽  
Critical Interpretation

Global citizenship is a popular concept that was fully embraced by UNESCO in 2015 with a framework for Global Citizenship Education (GCE). This pedagogical guidance can be characterized as transformative since it aims to foster reflective citizens who contribute to building a more inclusive, just, and peaceful world. Thus, GCE allows educators to take a critical approach to their teaching, hereby articulating a clear social justice orientation towards citizenship education. However, recent studies indicate that most interpretations and thus implementations of GCE do not translate into a social action approach. Therefore, this article conceptualizes an intersectional approach to GCE, to make a critical approach of GCE more likely by practitioners. Intersectionality was developed by Black feminists in the US, to highlight structural oppressions and privileges on the basis of analytical categories. Intersectionality, furthermore, allows for opportunities to recognize resilience and resistance in marginalized communities. Therefore, an intersectional approach to GCE would develop sensibilities among students to understand global structures of oppression and domination on the basis of analytical categories like race, gender, and class. This knowledge would lead to an awareness of one’s own complicity and shared responsibility, resulting in deliberations and eventually political actions. The overall aim is to provide practitioners with a concrete suggestion of a critical interpretation of GCE, to show its potential as a social justice-orientated framework for educators in especially continental Europe.

Global citizenship education: A new ‘moral pedagogy’ for the 21st century?

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 506-524
Author(s):  
Sara Franch
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
International Education ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Educational Discourse ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
International Education Policy ◽  
Moral Structure

In the past two decades global citizenship education (GCE) has become established in national and international education policy. This article focuses on the emergence of GCE in the educational discourse of the Province of Trento in northern Italy and outlines how policymakers and teachers construct GCE as a pedagogical framework for schooling in the 21st century. Combining the perspectives that emerge from the scholarly literature with the findings of a qualitative study based on Constructivist and Informed Grounded Theory, the article proposes a typology of GCE ideal-types. The typology illustrates two ‘mainstream ideal-types’ of GCE (neo-liberal human capitalism and cosmopolitan humanism) and two ‘critical ideal-types’ (social-justice activism and critical counter practice). In the province studied, the dominant perspective is cosmopolitan humanism. GCE is essentially conceptualised as a ‘new moral pedagogy’ that reflects adherence and commitment to a universal moral structure based on humanistic cosmopolitan values. The author believes that critical GCE perspectives in line with social-justice activism and critical counter practice should find expression in both policies, curricula and practices. However, this is recognised as a challenge which could be partially addressed through teacher education and an alliance between academia and practice.

Reconceptualizing Geography as Democratic Global Citizenship Education

2009 ◽  
Vol 111 (11) ◽  
pp. 2647-2677
Author(s):  
William Gaudelli ◽  
Elizabeth Heilman
Keyword(s):  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Global Education ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Geography Education ◽  
Democratic Citizenship ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
The Social ◽  
Geographic Knowledge

Background Geography education typically appears in school curricula in a didactic or disciplinary manner. Yet, both the didactic and the disciplinary approach to geography education lack a serious engagement with society, politics, and power, or democratic theory. We suggest, from Dewey, that most students, the social studies, and indeed society are not well served by these approaches, particularly as we confront global challenges that demand geographic knowledge and insight. Purpose We propose that geography can and should reflect the interests of students and society and thus be what Dewey calls psychologized through a democratic vision of global citizenship education (GCE). Toward that end, we develop a typology of global education to identify those types most congruent with democratic citizenship (cosmopolitan, environmental, and critical justice) and those less congruent (disciplinary, neoliberal, and human relations). Drawing on our typology, we show how GCE can be a point of synthesis in practice, bringing together global education and reconstituted geographic knowledge. Research Design The method of this article is a secondary analysis of literature in democratic theory, global citizenship education, and geography education that synthesizes points of overlap. Conclusions Based on this analysis, we recommend that geography curriculum should be remade within a vision similar to GCE so that space and place can be socially understood.

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