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The personal and professional development of the critical global educator

The fragmented origins of global education in the UK and the development of Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship separate from Citizenship Education mean that today the umbrella term ‘global education’ still covers a host of humanistic educations. In line with Huckle’s arguments for investment in Citizenship Studies and Bonnet’s ‘Education for Sustainable Development as a frame of mind’, this thesis adopts the acronym GCESD for Global Citizenship Education as Sustainable Development. An acknowledged challenge for GCESD in its many forms is lack of explicit philosophical and theoretical foundations, resulting in low academic status, reduced prestige and peripheral impact. Though neglected by neoliberal instrumentalist discourses, a rich tradition of mainstream philosophy and theories does exist offering integrity to a conceptualisation of a critical global educator. Critical Realist philosophy, Critical Social Theory, psycholinguistic Frame and Positioning theories, supported by cognitive and sociolinguistic research, provide insights into the inherently political nature of education; meanwhile, Critical Discourse Studies and Critical Pedagogy present strategies for analysis and application. Engestrom’s Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), centring consciousness and agency, encapsulates the synthesis. Embodying this ‘vision’, an Interview Schedule, provides critical global educators with a tool for self- and negotiated-evaluation. Analysis of eighteen semi-structured interview transcripts points to factors which determine the personal and professional development of the critical global educator. In an increasingly heteroglossic world, the thesis argues for the crucial importance of Critical Discourse Studies as educators in every discipline honestly engage the individual learner's stream of consciousness. It asserts that consistent critical global education requires education policy which develops transition coherently, from personal transmission of global citizenship through transactional professional ‘response-ability’, to transformational political justice for all.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:579698
Date January 2013
CreatorsEllis, Maureen
PublisherUniversity College London (University of London)
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttp://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10018010/

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