Rethinking Global Citizenship Education: A Critical Perspective

Abstract

Abstract In this concluding chapter, we first consider some common obstacles to achieving the implementation of global citizenship education (GCE) identified in the different national contexts presented in the book and reiterate how different contexts call for diverse designs and operating strategies. Second, we examine why GCE has become a highly contested concept, subject to multiple interpretations and in which a wide range of conceptions and objectives coexist. Third, we present considerations for implementing GCE in educational policies and suggest operationalizing GCE within three distinct fields: (a) education for sustainable development (ESD); (b) inter/multicultural education; (c) citizenship education. We argue that this strategy could help link these fields and broaden students’ understanding of the interconnections between issues related to citizenship, democracy, participation, identity, inter/multiculturalism, global issues and sustainable development. Finally, we synthetize current research on GCE and conclude by calling for more comparative and critical research to challenge GCE’s underlying assumption of the universality of Western paradigms and worldviews to embrace multiple ways of conceiving global citizenship.

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