Global Citizenship in Education
In our increasingly interconnected world, the actions and decisions of ordinary citizen are more likely to affect others across the globe than ever before. This can be extremely beneficial but can also be extremely dangerous. Within the educational system, the concept of global citizenship education (GCE) is beginning to supersede movements such as multicultural education, peace education, human rights education and international education. Additionally, GCE rapidly incorporates references to the aforementioned movements. The concept of global citizenship has been linked with awards offered for helping humanity. Teachers are given the responsibility of being social change agents. Audrey Osler, the director of the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights Education at the University of Leeds, England affirms that “Education for living together in an interdependent world is not an optional extra, but an essential foundation”. With GCE gaining attention, scholars are investigating the field and developing perspectives. Here are a few popular perspectives:
Critical and transformative Perspective
Citizenship is defined by being a member with rights and responsibilities. Therefore GCE must encourage active involvement. Dr Michael O’Sullivan believes GCE needs to be taught from a critical and transformative perspective, whereby students are thinking feeling, and doing. GCE requires students to be politically critical and personally transformative. In this learning environment teachers provide social issues in a neutral and grade-appropriate way for students to understand, grapple with, and do something about.
Worldmindedness
Graham Pike and David Selby view GCE as having two strands Worldmindedness is the first strand which refers to understanding the world as one unified system and a responsibility to view the interests of individual nations with the overall needs of the planet in mind. The second strand is Child-centeredness, a pedagogical approach that encourages students to explore and discover on their own and addresses each learner as an individual with inimitable beliefs, experiences, and talents.
Holistic Understanding
The Holistic Understanding perspective was founded by Merry Merryfield, and focuses on understanding the self in relation to the global community. This perspective follows a curriculum that attends to human values and beliefs, global systems/issues/history, cross cultural understandings, and the development of analytical and evaluative skills.
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Famous quotes containing the words global, citizenship and/or education:
“Ours is a brand—new world of allatonceness. “Time” has ceased, “space” has vanished. We now live in a global village ... a simultaneous happening.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
“Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS—our inferior one varies with the place.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“Law without education is a dead letter. With education the needed law follows without effort and, of course, with power to execute itself; indeed, it seems to execute itself.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)