De-colonising global citizenship education for knowledge sharing and acceptable norms in Nigeria

Abstract

A brief history of the teaching profession is related to the development of teacher education and the institutions associated with professional teacher training in Nigeria. The study adopts a qualitative research approach with a phenomenological research design and purposively selects 18 participants from 6 Geo-political zones of Nigeria with three participants from each zone. (South-South, North-East, South-East, North-Central, South-West, and North-West). A thematic approach is used to analyse the data from a semi-structured interview. The research engaged educators on thematic approaches to global citizenship education (GCE). A pilot study conducted by the researchers made a case for the de-colonisation of GCE in Nigeria to be embedded in a Continuous Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) program, for educators and stakeholders to acquire the skills that can support them to identify and manage disparities in knowledge sharing, values, ethics and social responsibility. While recommending a national adoption of UNESCO’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in professional teaching policy and praxis, the paper argues that homegrown CPTD programmes should be a core activity in the process of de-colonising GCE.