Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education
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Rethinking Global Citizenship Resources For New Teachers: Promoting Critical Thinking and Equity
Full text linkGlobal citizenship education, or education aiming to develop students' knowledge with transnational challenges, has become increasingly recognized as an important field internationally, requiring a particular set of pedagogical understandings and tools to facilitate its learning. Traditionally, global citizenship education resources have been developed by non-governmental organizations to aid teachers in classroom presentations and to profile issues of concern to their constituencies. Understandably, some of these resources require revision to correspond with students’ grade levels, learning styles, subject-based disciplines, and broad issues of equity. Accordingly, we have developed a guide for teacher education candidates and novice teachers based on a collaborative inquiry model that we have called a "Primer” in order to assess the compatibility, equity and adaptability of classroom-ready global citizenship education materials. Our aims were to understand how pre-service candidates made use of the Primer as a means to integrate global citizenship education topics into the regular curriculum. Based on our research that was informed by a mixed-method methodology consisting of focus groups, journal reporting, and survey data, we document teacher education candidates' experiences with the Primer. Our research of how teacher candidates make use of the Primer offers evidence that the teacher candidates' desire and ability to teach global citizenship themes through classroom-ready resources has been facilitated by utilizing the Primer
Global Citizenship in Canadian Universities: A New Framework
Full text linkThe value and importance of global learning is widely promoted and debated in the literature but, without a common language to frame this discussion, we cannot accurately assess its effectiveness or value. One term frequently used in these conversations, and extolled by universities, is the idea of global citizenship; however, there is no consistent definition of this concept. In this article, we describe the philosophical traditions surrounding the term global citizenship and explain the roots of the debate over its use. To further understand how this term is used among institutions of higher education, we investigated how select Canadian universities discuss global citizenship and identified some of the key terms used as proxies for global citizenship. By bringing together the existing academic literature, the available statistics, and a survey of mandates and practices across Canadian universities, we have developed a framework that defines a global citizen in a Canadian context. This shared framework that universities can adapt and modify to meet their own institutional needs is necessary to enhance their ability to develop the next generation of global citizens. A consistent language and vision will better shape the experiences students have, ensure the evaluation of university programs is both possible and effective, and creates common goals that can be shared among industry, government, and universities
Measuring Attitudes Toward the Rights of Indigenous People: An Index of Global Citizenship
Full text linkGlobal citizenship has emerged as a key objective of liberal education. Because the status of indigenous persons world-wide is inextricably linked to globalization and imperialism, mainstream culture students’ attitudes toward the rights of indigenous persons can be taken as an index of global citizenship. The items comprising the Measure of Attitudes Toward the Rights of Indigenous Persons (MATRIP) draw directly from the United Nations’ 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Twenty-three statements about indigenous peoples’ rights--as explicated in the UN Declaration--were transformed into Likert-type items measuring five dimensions: Preservation of Culture, Lands & Resources, Self-Governance, Restitution, and Services and Representation. Questionnaires were administered to 226 undergraduates. MATRIP measurement properties were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. Results indicate that a final scale consisting of 20 items adequately measures the hypothesized dimensions. Potential uses for the scale are discussed in the context of education abroad
Citizenship Education and Embodied ways of Knowing: What can be learned from the voices of Ghanaian youth in schooling and education?
Full text linkThis article examines Ghanaian youth voices about issues of personal and moral character development through the teachings of local embodied ways of knowing and how such ways of knowing further inform our understanding of discipline and the socialization of Ghanaian youth to become responsible citizens. We briefly explore the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of researching moral character development, the question of discipline and the relations to youth and citizenship responsibilities through youth voices. We argue youth voices show complex understandings of embodied ways of knowing relating to questions of citizenry, discipline, character, moral, and respect. The paper hence offers insights toward reforms needed in educational delivery (teaching, learning and instruction), as well as values of education to address the question of youth voice, decolonization, discipline, and embodied ways of knowing, so as to enhance the possibilities of coming to know citizenry, character, moral and community
A Habitat for Humanity and University Partnership: Enhancing on International Experiential Learning in El Salvador
Full text linkThe increase in international experiential learning (IEL hereafter) opportunities being developed by universities in the global north requires more attention both generally and with regards to specific IEL programming objectives. This paper provides observations and assessment of a case study of university-student participation in home-builds in El Salvador over the course of three years – a partnership between Habitat for Humanity and a Canadian university. The information collected is assessed relative to the key critiques and to the recommendations advocated in the IEL literature, with the intention of incorporating these critiques and recommendations in future IEL planning for this partnership, and to inform IEL work more generally. The key observations and recommendations include the need for enhanced student preparation pre and post-trip – meaning ‘critical reflection’ processes and materials on privilege and personal goals themes; on specific global south context; and enhancing on intercultural learning and awareness activities and processes e.g., more closely integrated host-community and participant relationship-building opportunities. These recommendations are seen as important for enhancing on this specific IEL program and its short-duration time-frame, while suggesting useful guideposts for IEL more generally, as its occurrence increases within the university setting
Identity Politics and Global Citizenship in Elite Athletics: Comparing Caster Semenya and Oscar Pistorius
Full text linkAt the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, Team South Africa filed behind its respective flag-bearers, track-and-field stars Caster Semenya and Oscar Pistorius. While both athletes were mired in controversy at various points in their careers, each athlete's selection as South Africa's official flag bearer reaffirmed to the team, and indicated to the international spectator community, that each of the athletes had proven themselves "ideal" to represent the nation of South Africa on the world stage.The act of naming an athlete to be a country's official flag bearer is one of many instances at mega sporting events like the Olympics and World Championships where the notion of global citizenship is at play. In the context of globalization and the Olympic games, where competition between nations is extended into the arena of sport, Olympians are heralded as the ultimate global citizens, representing both the competitive individual and the competitive state. Bridging fields of globalization, citizenship, and sporting events, the Olympic Games are a mega-event upon which highly politicized notions of race, class, sex, gender, and geographical location intersect (see Toohey 2007).How is citizenship publically negotiated, learned, regulated, and performed through the mega-event of the Olympic Games? In this comparative feminist media analysis of the cases of Caster Semenya and Oscar Pistorius, we map the ways in which categories of identity, including race, gender, and class, are mobilized in discussion of these athletes as more-or-less deserving Olympic athlete-citizens
Critical Global Citizenship and International Service Learning
Full text linkThis article is based on a case study analyzing the impact of a long-term international service learning (ISL) internship on 8 university students. Specifically, the study set out to understand how ISL can contribute to developing university students as critically engaged global citizens. A conceptual framework of Critical Global Citizenship provides the basis for the study and analysis of the data. There are 2 inter-related components of the conceptual framework used to understand critical global citizenship: Awareness/Analysis and Action/Engagement. Awareness/Analysis includes 4 dimensions: Awareness of Difference, the Self, Global Issues and Responsibility. Action/Engagement includes 3 dimensions: Self, Civic and Social Justice Action. The study aimed to understand what kinds of global citizens are constructed through ISL, and some of the variables (e.g. gender, background experience) that have an impact on these processes. There were three data sources: online intern blogs, a pre- and post-survey, and an interview following their internship. Data analysis demonstrates that while there is evidence that students shifted towards becoming global citizens, in most cases this shift did not incorporate critically, engaged forms of global citizenship, especially those related to social justice action. This international experience operated in ways to reinforce global citizenship dispositions, attitudes and actions that had already been previously formed in these students. This points to the importance of considering the intensification effect of long-term international experiences on the development of students as global citizens