Conference Agenda

In this session scholars explore the theory and practice of global citizenship education, with a special focus on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda for sustainability. The objective of the session is to introduce new theoretical developments and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scholarly discourses in global citizenship education. The presentations debate the extent to which global citizenship should be seen as a pedagogical approach for social change, and within this promote a sense of hope, whilst being mindful of the existing global challenges to building a more just, diverse and sustainable world. In this session scholars explore several converging themes within their respective presentations:

1. An exploration of ethical and values-based perspectives that is lacking in the present discourse on education for global citizenship.
2. The idea of global citizenship as an organizing principle for rethinking the curriculum across diverse education settings.
3. An examination of existing and alternative pedagogical models and practices, including from non-western perspectives that can contribute to the intercultural dimension of education for global citizenship.

Structure of the session: Three presentations will be followed by a discussion led by an expert in the field (listed as fourth presenter).

Paper 1

Title: Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship: An Intercultural Approach

The contributions of this paper are centred around these key questions: how can education be reframed in light of the environmental crisis? How do we address teaching about sustainability and global citizenship based on alternative paradigms? This paper reflects on the double planetary crises of climate impacts and COVID-19 through a study of selected less widely known perspectives and eco-visions. Value-creating global citizenship education is developed as a pedagogical approach from a study of selected indigenous perspectives aimed to enhance the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, and beyond. The key focus of this approach is to build resilience and hope through engaged relationships between learners and their natural, social, and educational environments.

Paper 2

Title: Pedagogy of Hope for Global Social Justice

COVID-19 and the climate change crisis have re-enforced the need for education around the world to incorporate diverse perspectives that suggest social change is possible, but this means bringing in themes of global citizenship and a sense of hope. This paper will build on the author’s recently published book on education for social change and how crisis such as the global pandemic and debates around sustainability have suggested that social justice needs to have a much more central place within all educational provision. The paper will make reference to the continued importance of Paulo Freire in addressing these questions. The paper will give examples from research and practice as to how educators are starting to address these challenges.

Paper 3

Title: Creating Value at University for Social Transformation Based on Hope and Respect for Diversity

In this paper we will use as an example our work carried out at the University of Alcalá in the formation of future Early Childhood and Primary Education teachers and their ability to adapt to the diversity in their classrooms. It is essential that teachers reflect on how to create value (Makiguchi, 1989) in a classroom based on their own experience, giving meaning to their learning in an inclusive context. In our classes we use the transformative (Kegan, 2000; Hoggan, 2016) and dialogic (Wegerif et al, 2023) learning approaches to build reflective learning based on experience and reflection on experience. Through taking responsibility for their own learning, teachers are able to see themselves as potential agents for transforming reality to construct a fairer world (Hall, et al., 2021).