Dear Paul R. Carr,

You have certainly broached up a very fantastic issue.Notably, in a world full of global problems, the role of education has become more important than ever before. This mission should be addressed in all countries of the world and requires careful planning, education and cooperation as well as the provision of teacher training and classroom resources.As such, the main purpose of global citizenship is to provide a path to building  a personal of awareness off the global issues which influence one's identity and community n a globalized , multiplex social network. Consequently, the main goal of educational systems in the present day and age should be to  help learners develop global competencies which can pave the way for the students to observe themselves as a member of supra national political context threatened by dangerous cultural differences and misunderstandings.

Best regards,

R. Biria

Hello Paul, I have been digging deep into this subject. My thesis topic is about that but using Hospitality (socio antropological view) lenses. In fact, I have used Team Academy (Finland) methods to develop more team learning and it's been proving very efficient in terms of working groups with distinct views of the world. Also Deep Democracy is fantastic and I highly recommend.

Thanks for your contribution!

Cheers,

Roberta

Hello Paul

I feel that for GCE to be successful, a lot depends on the curriculum planners and developers. Aspects of Global Citizenship should be included in all areas of curriculum so that the concepts are taught and practiced by the students. Social Education is the best place for the concepts to be integrated. However, other learning areas could also be used to teach the concepts.

Best regards. 

Greetings,

Thanks for the comments, which, I believe, form part of the equation of doing GCE, that we need to have multiple voices, actors, perspectives and dialogs within a context of inclusive, dynamic and diverse representation and participation.

I think Social Studies is a key area to consider but I also think that GCE surpasses a single discipline, subject, class or content-area. The institutional culture is also fundamental to understanding how we actually do democracy and GCE.

Another concern is how to build bone fide, critical engagement, actions and conscientization, which requires, I believe, that  decision-makers and policy-makers loosen the reins of power, and lower the intensity on incessant evaluations. The outcomes need to also include social justice and robust citizenship participation, which requires creativity and cultivating such a milieu rather than including a couple of paragraphs buried in a policy document somewhere.

Reza, you also raise an excellent point about transcending individual citizenship concerns and actions to engage with the others, which distinguishes GCE from CE or from a more national-centric CE.

Best regards,

Paul

Hello Paul!

UNESCO's theme and initiative certainly touch upon a hot and even already burning problem in emerging global realities in which people, societies, states and cultures  --still deluded with "virtual" (or nonexistent) societies--  seek to legitimize, diffuse, and even impose particular, subjective, and contradictory approaches, conceptions, theories, and positions -- and even, in a exacerbated way, antagonistic and decidedly conflicting interests at various (and growing) degrees.

That said, in a very synthetic, vague and general way, an issue that concerns me both in relation to the EC and in relation to the CGE is the character of the  social and cultural neurolinguistic programming that "shapes" the conceptual, hermeneutic and behavioral structure of people in their home, within that micro-state we call family (and, according to some studies, even before birth).

Perhaps a valuable and effective Democratic GCE (and a Democratic CE or DCE) should consider that inevitable and conditioning personal cultural neurolinguistic "baggage" (which can also be a conditioning ballast) with which the person integrates into a society and coexist with it, with its inherent diversity (nationally and even more globally). To consider also the potentials and reliable ways to develop intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies within frameworks of fundamental universal principles and norms, and, if there is "room" for it, consider also a "neurolinguistic reprogramming" towards approaches, conceptions, theories and positions that are truly humanist and integrating toward differences without supremacies. in other words, effectively oriented to coexist with diversities and differences without dogmas. Otherwise, I have the suspicion that we will be splashing in an increasingly thick (and dangerous) mud of innocuous romanticism, illusions, virtualities, redemptions and baseless hopes.

What does, and what should, global citizenship look like in and through education as well as outside of education?

In practice, foreign language instruction indicates the presence of global citizenship behavior. This also means the instruction of indigenous and local languages.

At the policy-making level, the language policy embracing bi-multilingualism is a sign of the society embracing globalization.

Gudykunst and Kim (2003), Vivatananukul (2015) and Yashima (2002) suggest a desire to learn a foreign language expresses one’s willingness and motivation to learn and open to new things, and this helps one to accept cultural differences and adjust oneself in a

new cultural context.

Notes:

Metta Vivatananukul. "Perception and Intercultural Communication

between Thai Students and ASEAN People"

http://www.resjournal.kku.ac.th/social/PDF/5_3_3.pdf

Gudykunst, K., William, B., & Kim, Y. (2003). Communicating With Strangers: An

Approach to Intercultural Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Yashima, Tomoko. (2002). Willingness to Communicate in a Second Language:

The Japanese EFL Context. The Modern Language Journal, 86(1), 54-66.

What does, and what should, global citizenship look like in and through education as well as outside of education?

A really timely question Paul, thank you for putting it forward.

With current numbers of 52 million refugees globally this issue is more real than most of us are led to believe.

Being engages with a global Perception Lab for a few years now and being a counselor for a new youth Movement called Y-TOP (Youth Template of Peace.) This is very close to the bone. Many volumes can be written about it - but here is just 2  small points:

There is a tendency to first of all ignore a person's genetic, national and religious origins in face of something that is seemingly much more advance and attractive (to the liberal mind) called global citizenship. I think it is a mistake. I think the way to approach respecting (and even understanding) others is through self respect and the understanding of one's own origin. When this become a real part of one's personal development (rather than a fancy slogan,) than it would be obvious to recognize the importance of others people - of different origin - doing the same. And this is only a safe starting point.

Coming at it also from the other end - the end of the macro trends - I believe we have to ask ourselves the question: if we don't find ways to put personal, tribal, national and religious sectorial needs and demands aside - how long does this human race family got? (the danger is that some younger people are already giving up their hopes!)     

On global citizenship education (GCE), there has been a lot written in terms of theories and possible ways of designing curriculum to teach the concept(s) at different levels. In a higher education context, many colleagues have found it challenging to help students to see the relevance of the GCE given the recent Brixit and American presidential election result. My worry is that the concept will gradually become sidelined because of the influence of the popular politics and other more localised national agendas.