Abstract
AbstractThis chapter presents the results of a qualitative investigation of the Polish national curriculum with respect to the concepts of global citizenship and sustainable development. The aim of the study was twofold: (1) to re-construct discursive conceptualisations of global citizenship and sustainable development in the Polish national curriculum and (2) to investigate whether the curriculum creates opportunities to foster global citizenship. Three subject areas of the national curriculum for secondary schools – history, citizenship education, and geography – were chosen for the analysis as each most frequently accommodates the content and goals related to Global Citizenship Education and Education for Sustainable Development. A thematic analysis was employed with the elements of Critical Discourse Analysis. The theoretical framework that informs the study is social constructivism with a critical and social justice orientation. Drawing on the results of the analysis, three main points could be argued: (a) global citizenship is almost non-existent in the curriculum; (b) Global Citizenship Education and Education for Sustainable Development are not presented as intertwining nor cross-cutting approaches; and (c) the curriculum offers no transformative potential. To conclude, the national curriculum fails to prepare students as agents having the potential to shape the future for a sustainable world but embodies the strategy of ‘global washing’.
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