Education for global citizenship and sustainable development in social science textbooks

Abstract

This article reviews the state of research and data on relevant content, broadly understood as sustainable development, in social science textbooks worldwide. Specifically, it examines the extent to which these textbooks could help learners to acquire the knowledge, skills and values that are needed to meet goal 4.7 of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals: ‘By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non‐violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture's contribution to sustainable development’. It reviews relevant literature and analyses three cross‐national, longitudinal databases containing information that is coded from textbook content to assess the current state of knowledge. In addition to analysing measures concerning the environment and sustainable development, this article also focuses on areas of human rights, global citizenship, gender equality, and multiculturalism/social diversity. We find that textbook discussions of these variables have, in general, steadily increased since the middle of the 20th century. The article concludes by indicating where future research efforts are most needed, identifying geographic and substantive needs, and considering monitoring mechanisms that could encourage on‐going evaluation and monitoring of textbook content.

Trabalho digno expressando valores universais e respeitando diversidade cultural: Proposições para a intervenção

“…Nowadays, people have a global context enabling and eliciting a global identity and global citizenship. That phenomenon has been highlighted previously (e.g., Jimenez, Lerch, & Bromley, 2017;Reysen & Katzarska-Miller, 2013) and is a core concern of public policy worldwide as defined by international fora such as the United Nations. We can mention, for example, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which states the importance of global citizenship in the 4.7 goal (United Nations, 2015).…”

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

“…Each category Oxley and Morris (2013) suggest is sub-divided into particular aspects of global citizenship-covering moral, political, cultural, environmental, and other issues. As in previous typologies (Veugelers, 2011;Dill, 2013), here also the links between citizenship education and global citizenship education are reinforced through attention to global human rights (Gearon, 2016) and environmental education (Jimenez, Lerch, & Bromley, 2017).…”

Students’ perceptions of global citizenship at a local and an international school in Israel

“…Each category Oxley and Morris (2013) suggest is sub-divided into particular aspects of global citizenship-covering moral, political, cultural, environmental, and other issues. As in previous typologies (Veugelers, 2011;Dill, 2013), here also the links between citizenship education and global citizenship education are reinforced through attention to global human rights (Gearon, 2016) and environmental education (Jimenez, Lerch, & Bromley, 2017). Andreotti (2006) offers a broad conception of GCE, differentiating between soft and critical GCE.…”

“…With the student populations of both schools in this study representing similarly privileged socio-economic backgrounds, their similar opinions in this regard only serve to sharpen the supremacy of socio-economic affiliation over national identity in such matters (Jimenez, Lerch, & Bromley, 2017). While international school students are more commonly considered 'global elites' than are students at local schools, other studies have documented similarities in student perceptions at local schools catering to privileged populations and at international schools in other countries, for example in Australia, Singapore, and Canada (Doherty, 2009;Koh & Chong, 2014;Maxwell & Aggleton, 2016;Tarc & Tarc, 2015, respectively).…”