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

Massimiliano Tarozzi,Benjamin Mallon

doi:10.18546/lre.17.2.02

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.

Highlights

Formal education has increasingly been positioned as a space for the development of global citizens who, with a deep understanding of global issues, are committed to transforming the complex and deeply unequal interconnections between individuals and societies around the world (Bryan, 2012; Davies et al, 2018)
A network of actors in the development of teacher education for global citizenship There are a range of different actors involved in the process of teacher education for global citizenship, with similarities in each of the four countries
We have shown how Global citizenship education (GCE) has received increased promotion as a means of supporting children and young people to develop their knowledge and understanding of multiple global issues

Summary

Introduction

Formal education has increasingly been positioned as a space for the development of global citizens who, with a deep understanding of global issues, are committed to transforming the complex and deeply unequal interconnections between individuals and societies around the world (Bryan, 2012; Davies et al, 2018). The concept of global citizenship has been criticized as nebulous and divorced from the realities of education within the Global South (Jooste and Heleta, 2017), imperceptive to gender relations (Tormey and Gleeson, 2012) and unobtainable for those for whom national identity, through which global identity is refracted, is insecure (O’Connor and Faas, 2012; Pashby, 2011) Scholars such as Davies (2006), Tarozzi and Torres (2016) and Shultz (2007) argue that forms of global citizenship can support a transformational agenda and the pursuit of global social justice. As elsewhere in Europe, GCE merged several themes under the same notion, or at least under the same vague umbrella term, encompassing development education, environmental education and citizenship education, and their related topics (Fricke et al, 2015; Mannion et al, 2011)

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Conclusion