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According to the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA, 2020), 2 million children attend K-12 Catholic schools in the United States. Because Catholic school systems are "among the largest and most significant" religious educational institutions (Marshall, 2018, p.185), Catholic educational leaders should be part of a dialogue to improve the quality of education. Furthermore, it is vital that these dialogues address phenomena impacting the quality of 21st century education. Among critical phenomena impacting 21st century education is globalization (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Friedman, 2005; Zhoa, 2009). In this qualitative study, phenomenological methodology was used to examine experiences and perspectives of Catholic school administrators regarding the phenomenon of globalization. Specifically, the study explored understandings of Catholic school administrators within the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia regarding globalization, global citizenship, and global competencies. Further, this study investigated current practices fostering global citizenship within the Catholic school system. Purposeful sampling of individuals who serve in administrative roles in Richmond diocesan schools, including Junior Kindergarten (JK)-8, JK-12, and 9-12 levels, was used to identify 11 participants who met study inclusion criteria. Consenting individuals were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview regarding the phenomena of interest. Upon completion, participant interviews were transcribed and coded for analysis using qualitative methods consistent with phenomenology. Themes regarding globalization, global citizenship, and global competencies within the Catholic education system were identified. The results and findings of this qualitative study, including implications for educational leaders and recommendations for future studies, were summarized. / Doctor of Education / According to the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA, 2020), 2 million children attend K-12 Catholic schools in the United States. Among religious educational systems in this country, Catholic school systems are particularly significant. Thus, Catholic educational leaders should be part of a dialogue to improve the quality of education. Globalization is a phenomenon that impacts the quality of 21st century education. In this study, the researcher explored perspectives and experiences of Catholic school administrators regarding globalization and global citizenship. This study also investigated current practices fostering global citizenship within a Catholic school system. Administrators in Richmond diocesan schools, including Junior Kindergarten (JK)-8 and 9-12 levels, participated in interviews. The researcher identified themes regarding globalization, global citizenship, and global competencies within the Catholic education system. The results and findings of this study will be used to improve the quality of Catholic education programs.

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Nunavut Inuit youths exhibit cultural resilience and leadership. However, researchers frequently neglect such assets and instead emphasize these youths’ challenges or perceived inadequacies. I conducted an intrinsic case study regarding Nunavut Inuit youths’ experiences with an experiential learning program, Northern Youth Abroad (NYA), in order to investigate participants’ growth in cross-cultural awareness, individual career goals, leadership, and global citizenship. Drawing on post-colonial theory, semi-structured interviews, archival research, and participant observation, I argue that NYA’s Nunavut Inuit participants reported significant personal growth in these four objectives. I also provide an in-depth analysis of how NYA’s Nunavut Inuit participants described and developed distinct and rich leadership styles that draw on Inuit and Euro-Canadian influences.

Nunavut Inuit youths exhibit cultural resilience and leadership. However, researchers frequently neglect such assets and instead emphasize these youths’ challenges or perceived inadequacies. I conducted an intrinsic case study regarding Nunavut Inuit youths’ experiences with an experiential learning program, Northern Youth Abroad (NYA), in order to investigate participants’ growth in cross-cultural awareness, individual career goals, leadership, and global citizenship. Drawing on post-colonial theory, semi-structured interviews, archival research, and participant observation, I argue that NYA’s Nunavut Inuit participants reported significant personal growth in these four objectives. I also provide an in-depth analysis of how NYA’s Nunavut Inuit participants described and developed distinct and rich leadership styles that draw on Inuit and Euro-Canadian influences.

Global citizenship education (GCE) has recently emerged as a dynamic approach to education capturing the interest of various stakeholders, including academics, educators and international organisations worldwide. In an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, GCE is seen as a transformative pedagogy that can empower learners to resolve growing global challenges, building a more just and sustainable world. This study explores how GCE is “transferred, translated and transformed” (Cowen, 2009a; 2009b; 2006) into contemporary national education policy and practice, through a comparison of experience between Greece and Sweden. Based on a qualitative research approach, the study first examines the discourse of international organisations, such as UNESCO, the European Union and Oxfam, in order to better understand efforts to promote GCE and its implications for teaching and learning. National education curricula on citizenship-related subjects are then analysed to identify how they address GCE, while a third level of analysis involves exploring how primary school teachers and students perceive and implement the particular concept. To this end, document analysis, interviews and focus groups have been employed as methods to gather relevant data. The findings of the study indicate that international organisations have developed a powerful GCE discourse, elements of which can be seen in national education policy and school practice, yet with different emphasis between countries as a result of diverse socio-economic, political and historical contexts. In Greece, the focus on ethnocentrism and Europeanism hinders the effective delivery of GCE, whereas in Sweden, the strong commitment to human rights and internationalism allows to integrate the concept in school practice. The predominant form of global citizenship promoted in both countries is moral cosmopolitan, while critical and postcolonial approaches to the concept do not appear to have been recognised or implemented in practice. Considering all three phases of shape-shifting educational ideas, as defined by Cowen (2006), the study concludes that although policy support for GCE is evident in international and national policy discourse, actual implementation in schools is weak.

This tri-theoretical study of globalization attempts to contribute to the limited scholarly research on global citizenship in education. Utilizing three important critical theories: neo-Marxism, gender and postcolonialist theory; this study analyzes in-depth the hidden process behind the formation of current global citizenship education. The findings reveal that it is possible to teach global citizenship education through critical civic education; however, a better understanding and application of critical theory and especially the critical sociology of space is required in current curriculums. In the absence of resources, motivation and infrastructure within school boards to implement a more state-guided critical citizenship education within their global citizenship education programs, assimilation of critical theory by teachers becomes absolutely necessary.

This tri-theoretical study of globalization attempts to contribute to the limited scholarly research on global citizenship in education. Utilizing three important critical theories: neo-Marxism, gender and postcolonialist theory; this study analyzes in-depth the hidden process behind the formation of current global citizenship education. The findings reveal that it is possible to teach global citizenship education through critical civic education; however, a better understanding and application of critical theory and especially the critical sociology of space is required in current curriculums. In the absence of resources, motivation and infrastructure within school boards to implement a more state-guided critical citizenship education within their global citizenship education programs, assimilation of critical theory by teachers becomes absolutely necessary.

The concept of global citizenship has permeated the Canadian institutional landscape in recent years. Global citizenship is presented in contested and complex ways by academics, yet non-governmental organizations present it as a well understood, inherently positive, and unproblematic concept. The purpose of this study is to explore and contextualize the concept of “engaged global citizens” within youth-focused international development programs. Through a case study analysis of the World University Service of Canada’s International Seminar program, I examine Canadian post-secondary students’ understanding of global citizenship and explore the multiplicity of factors affecting their engagement. This study relies primarily on longitudinal interview data collected with a small sample of participants over a period of five months and a point-in time interview phase conducted with a larger number of participants while they were taking part in the International Seminar in West Africa.

There is a public perception that Canada is an ideal place for cultivating global citizenship because of its culturally plural demographics and official policies of multiculturalism. Global Citizenship Education (GCE) is a growing field in Canadian education and is an explicit focus in the Alberta social studies curriculum. This thesis brings together four conversations within which multiculturalism and GCE are both related and conflated: (a) the public perceptions of Canada as a model of cultural diversity and global citizenship, (b) the scholarly discussions of GCE and multiculturalism, (c) the policy context where multiculturalism is set alongside GCE, and (d) the practical ways that the two are mutually related in curriculum and lesson documents. There are four interrelated sections to this thesis; each identifies the tensions inherent to multiculturalism, GCE, and the perceived relationship between these fields. First is a wider philosophical and theoretical framing of the topic. Second is the examination of educational research on the topic. Third is a critical discourse analysis of policy, curriculum, and lesson plan documents in the province of Alberta. Last is a synthesis of the findings from all three sections. The analysis finds that there are philosophical and ideological tensions inherent to both fields and to the relationships between them. This contributes to conceptual and ideological conflation and confusion. This finding raises some important concerns in terms of possibilities and constraints to thinking about cultural diversity and social inequities in new ways. It highlights how multicultural contexts of GCE can lead to the recreation of tensions, conflation, and ambiguity. However, the Alberta context demonstrates that a multicultural context can also open critical spaces and possibilities for GCE through engagements with tensions and complexities. Thus this thesis contributes theoretically, by presenting a framework and perspective for interrogating and critically inquiring into the relationship between the two fields. It also contributes to the policy and curriculum discussions in educational research and practice by highlighting the importance of foregrounding key tensions inherent to each field and by identifying the potential negative consequences of leaving these tensions implicit.