Global citizenship education is becoming increasingly appreciated in Ontario as an important component of formal schooling. Although all disciplinary areas have a role to play in global citizenship education, geography, which is primarily concerned with the study of people, places, and environments at home and around the world, provides an especially important context in which to foster the values and attitudes often cited as important for global citizenship. The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe how seven secondary students in the province of Ontario make meaning of global citizenship through geography education. More specifically, this study investigates the way that Grade 12 students, who had recently completed the course titled, “Canadian and World Issues: A Geographic Analysis”, conceive of the concept of global citizenship, value its importance, and experienced its values within this course. Qualitative data was collected through an analysis of the course curriculum and though interviews with seven students. The interviews revealed four themes that were most apparent in how the students conceptualized global citizenship: global awareness, belonging, caring, and commitment to action. It was revealed that the students’ personal involvement with the issues being studied helped them learn to be global citizens, as did the rich discussions of global issues they experienced in class. Careful analysis of both the students’ conceptions of global citizenship and how they experienced global citizenship in the curriculum revealed an uncritical perspective – one which emphasizes acts of charity and volunteerism rather than a commitment to social justice. In examining the participants’ perceptions of the value of global citizenship education as part of the curriculum, it was clear participants felt this was an important feature of geography education. In fact, since their perception was that they experienced global citizenship in this course exclusively, they attributed great value to the course and to geography education more generally. Overall, the findings are valuable to both teachers and teacher candidates seeking to better engage their students in global issues and equip them with global thinking strategies, and to curriculum developers wishing to effectively incorporate issues and topics concerning global citizenship within school curricula. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-30 16:23:30.774

In this qualitative study, I examine two elementary-intermediate teachers’ understandings and pedagogical practices of global citizenship education in the Ontario and British Columbia classroom contexts. Key findings reveal contrasting portrayals of global citizenship education that foreground particular themes and practices found in the literature and curriculum guidelines. One teachers’ understandings and goals highlight an environmental global justice angle whereas the other teacher focuses on critical thinking. Three broad themes appeared to underpin their pedagogical practices – child-centred learning, critical thinking, and authentic performance tasks – although each theme is portrayed in distinctive ways. Both teachers identified factors such as the departmental and school culture, a collaborative learning community, and suitable resources as either encouraging or hindering their ability to transform their preferred learning goals into practice. These findings reveal a level of ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the teacher participants’ understandings and practice, which is complicated by varying levels of support.

In this qualitative study, I examine two elementary-intermediate teachers’ understandings and pedagogical practices of global citizenship education in the Ontario and British Columbia classroom contexts. Key findings reveal contrasting portrayals of global citizenship education that foreground particular themes and practices found in the literature and curriculum guidelines. One teachers’ understandings and goals highlight an environmental global justice angle whereas the other teacher focuses on critical thinking. Three broad themes appeared to underpin their pedagogical practices – child-centred learning, critical thinking, and authentic performance tasks – although each theme is portrayed in distinctive ways. Both teachers identified factors such as the departmental and school culture, a collaborative learning community, and suitable resources as either encouraging or hindering their ability to transform their preferred learning goals into practice. These findings reveal a level of ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the teacher participants’ understandings and practice, which is complicated by varying levels of support.

Today's increasingly interconnected world creates new challenges related to the use and understanding of the concept of citizenship. The idea of a global citizenship is not new; however, in recent years there has been an evolution of increasing research leading to the expansion of interest with regard to the exploration of the concept and how it could be implemented in practice. This study attempts to deepen the understanding of the qualitatively different ways of perceiving this concept amongst a number of Indian and Nepalese young adults. The study is based on a phenomenographic research approach, where the data material was collected through semi-structured interviews. The results of the study show that global citizenship can be perceived as being related to equality, cultural diversity, global responsibility, global communication and cosmopolitan governance. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the young adults perceive themselves either only as national citizens, or as both national and global citizens. Finally, the respondents believe that formal education can contribute to the promotion of global citizenship by including the concept in the educational curriculum and by encouraging cultural exchange. The role of formal education in promoting global citizenship is also perceived to be unclear due to terminological confusion.

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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.

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.

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.