No Global Citizenship?
Do you want to have better understanding of global citizenship education?
We will lead you to a quicker and more accessible understanding of it from an academic perspective. So that we have chosen an article written by Elizabeth Barrow, and make a discussion in depth with you！
Title of the article: No Global Citizenship? Re-envisioning Global Citizenship Education In Times of Growing Nationalism
Here Elizabeth Barrow writes that this single statement delivered in a speech marking a return to candidate Trump’s isolationist and nationalistic rhetoric has alarmed international educators, “There is no global anthem. No global currency. No certificate of global citizenship. We pledge allegiance to one flag and that flag is the American flag.”
Global education has been one avenue through which educators have sought to combat isolationism and support the teaching of multiple perspectives. Global education scholars focus on the interconnectedness of the world and developing global awareness through five dimensions: perspective consciousness, “state of the planet” awareness, cross-cultural awareness, knowledge of global dynamics, awareness of human choices.
SOURCE: ELIZABETH BARROW FROM GLOBALISING CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION? A CRITIQUE OF ‘GLOBAL EDUCATION’ AND ‘CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
The aim of global education was, and still is, to combat the informal socialisation that students receive outside the classroom, particularly the media’s one-dimensional and biased coverage of world events. By promoting the five dimensions of global perspective, it is hoped that schools will help students to think critically and recognise that ‘culture affects perceptions of human affairs’. In this way, students were encouraged to seek multiple perspectives rather than succumbing to a single narrative of a particular race, ethnicity or religion. Without multiple perspectives and critical dialogue, the cycle of fear and hatred based on ignorance and misunderstanding may continue.
Schools in the United States have increasingly turned towards global citizenship education to educate students about the world and our interconnectedness, concerned about worldwide issues of ecology and global warming as well as encouraged by digital and business economies that stretched across nations and continents.
SOURCE: ELIZABETH BARROW FROM GLOBALISING CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION? A CRITIQUE OF ‘GLOBAL EDUCATION’ AND ‘CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
Global citizenship does not mean loyalty to a global government the way citizenship typically means participation in and loyalty to a country or nation-state. In an increasingly globalized world and within the United States itself, this growth and development must emphasize not only the rights and obligations arising from American citizenship but also the rights and responsibilities that arise domestically and globally from our common humanity
We recognize that teachers are increasingly restricted by standardized assessments and that supporting a curriculum of global citi- zenship in a political environment that is increasingly nationalistic and protectionist is complicated. Now, more than ever, reestablishing our common humanity is vital. The High School Journal calls upon educators, researchers, and policymakers to submit original manuscripts that explore the predicament of teaching global citizenship in a hyper patriotic and nationalistic society, and describe the ways that educators are responding to it.
SOURCE: ELIZABETH BARROW FROM GLOBALISING CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION? A CRITIQUE OF ‘GLOBAL EDUCATION’ AND ‘CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
To be a good citizen meant caring for and caring about all of humanity, both at home and abroad. We are inextricably interconnected, and building walls or isolating ourselves in the name of nationalism will not change this fact. There may not be a certificate of global citizenship but that does not mean that we cannot teach our students to be good global citizens.
Was this post helpful for you to know the reasons and importance of promoting global citizenship education?
If you are also very interested in this, you can also read more literature below:
Davies, Evans, M., & Reid, A. (2005). GLOBALISING CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION? A CRITIQUE OF ‘GLOBAL EDUCATION’ AND ‘CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION’ British Journal of Educational Studies, 53 (1), 66–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8527.2005.00284.x
Pia Mikander. (2016). Globalization as Continuing Colonialism – Critical Global Citizenship Education in an Unequal World. Journal of social science education, 15 (2), 70–79. https://doi.org/10.4119/UNIBI/jsse-v15-i2-1475
Goren, & Yemini, M. (2017). Global citizenship education redefined – A systematic review of empirical studies on global citizenship education. International Journal of Educational Research, 82, 170–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2017.02.004
Cantón, & Garcia, B. I. (2018). Global Citizenship Education. New Directions for Student Leadership, 2018 (160), 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.20307
Goren, & Yemini, M. (2017). The global citizenship education gap: Teacher perceptions of the relationship between global citizenship education and students’ socio-economic status. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, 9–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.05.009
