Educating teachers towards global citizenship: A comparative study in four European countries

Abstract

This article, derived from a larger EU-funded empirical research project, draws on a comparative analysis of pioneering global citizenship education (GCE) in-service primary teacher education programmes, as theorized and practised in four European countries, to explore how higher education institutions (HEIs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and participating teachers shape the development of content-based, competence-based and values-based approaches to teacher education. With reference to the multiple-site case study in Ireland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy, this article argues that, through investment, structural and institutional support and professional teacher education expertise, HEIs are, alongside NGOs and in-service teachers, pivotal actors in the collaborative development of GCE teacher education. The article concludes that successful collaborations can foster teacher agency through transformative, values-based approaches to GCE teacher education.

Global Citizenship and Analysis of Social Facts: Results of a Study with Pre-Service Teachers

“…The data show that there is little association between CGCE and levels of critical literacy. As Kim (2019) and Tarozzi and Mallon (2019) have pointed out, this may be due to the few opportunities for CGCE to be part of teacher training, nor were there any references to postcolonial discourses, which may be due to the excessive presence of the Eurocentric perspective in the training programmes for teachers of history and social sciences. The postcolonial discourse tends to be core in theoretical approaches to CGCE (Andreotti 2006) in reaction to Eurocentric discourses or those centred on economic factors, which tend to be hegemonic.…”

“…Teacher training programmes must include spaces that allow for debate on news items with a global perspective (Kim 2019;Tarozzi and Mallon 2019;Sant 2018) in order for CGCE to have a greater presence in teacher training. By doing so, teachers will better understand the global dimensions of news items (O'Meara et al 2018).…”

“…The study by Kim (2019) shows that there is little room for teaching and discussing global citizenship education and his teaching in teacher training programmes. This kind of approach motivated the study by Tarozzi and Mallon (2019) on how teacher training programmes in universities in four countries (Austria, Ireland, Italy and the Czech Republic) address GCE. This study found that the ways global citizenship education is understood and taught reflect the cultural and political contexts of each country, and that they take shape in three typologies: Content-centred, values-centred and competence-centred.…”

From Caterpillars to Butterflies: Exploring Pre-service Teachers’ Transformations While Navigating Global Citizenship Education

“…In direct response to the above calls to mainstream GCE as a possibility to educate citizens to build a more sustainable world, governments around the world have been including GCE in their education policy documents and curricula, yet with different emphasis between countries as a result of diverse socio-economic, political and historical contexts. For instance, across Europe, GCE has become increasingly popular framed by the growing displacement of people fleeing violence and environmental disaster across European borders, a rise in rightwing populism across the continent and the threat of terror and radicalization (Tarozzi and Mallon, 2019). Nonetheless, the latest reports on progress toward meeting target 4.7 have concluded that worldwide GCE levels remain low.…”

Global learning: Educational research in an emerging field

“…I call such learning 'global learning', using the definition of the Maastricht Declaration of the GENE/European Council from 2002: 'Education, that opens people's eyes and minds to the realities of the world, and awakens them to bring about a world of greater justice, equity and human rights for all ' (Maastricht Global Education Declaration, 2002;Nygard and Wegimont, 2018; see also other scholars such as Bourn, 2014Bourn, , 2018Lehtomäki, 2019;Lehtomäki et al, 2016;2017;Räsänen, 2009;Tarozzi and Mallon, 2019). This concept is seen as an umbrella concept of 'global citizenship education' (cf.…”