Discourses of Global Citizenship Education: The Influence of the Global Middle Classes

Abstract

This chapter examines the intersections between a growing "global middle class," their emplacement within national education systems, and subsequent changes within provision of education due to the emergence of this new prominent social group. We begin with an analysis of the discourses that call forth notions of global citizenship and global citizenship educationconcepts often associated with both the experiences and needs of the global middle classes. We then examine how the growing presence of global middle-class students and their families across educational contexts may be shaping the provision of education and potentially altering its intended purposes in some cases. This argument is illustrated by a M. Yemini (*)

Neoliberalism, Citizenship, and Education: A Policy Discourse Analysis

“…In fact, research suggests that, far from mitigating social inequalities in access to public provision, choice in public services exacerbates those inequalities since it privileges users already adept at positioning themselves in the role of consumers (see Adler, Petch and Tweedie 1989;Gewirtz, Ball, and Bowe 1995;Willms and Echols 1992). Moreover, as Yemini and Maxwell (2018) indicate in this edited volume, the middle classes retain the special privilege of geographical mobility due to their financial and cultural capital and therefore can transcend the limitations of space and place to seek out educational opportunities wherever they exist. Crucially, these reforms were about accommodating a model of citizenship -'active citizenship' (Kivelä 2018) or 'neoliberal citizenship' (Hindess 2002) -which enabled governments to call upon public service users to manage their own personal welfare as self-responsible, discriminating choosers: 'Without any choice, they [welfare users] are far more like the passive recipient than the active citizen so often idealised by opponents of choice' (SCPA 2005).…”