2.2 Global citizenship education

Global citizenship, whereby individuals ‘embrace their social responsibility to act for the benefit of all societies, not just their own’ (United Nations, n.d.), covers multiple knowledge areas, skills, attitudes and behaviours that are relevant for addressing the climate crisis. Global citizenship education is relevant for climate crisis-related teaching in all sectors; we can all become better global citizens.

In their guidance document UNESCO (2015, p. 16) states that global citizenship education aims to enable learners to do the following:

• Develop an understanding of global governance structures, rights and responsibilities, and global issues and connections between global, national, and local systems and processes.
• Recognize and appreciate different and multiple identities, e.g., in culture, language, religion, gender and our common humanity, and develop skills for living in an increasingly diverse world.
• Develop and apply critical skills for civic literacy, e.g., critical inquiry, information technology, media literacy, critical thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, negotiation, peacebuilding, and personal and social responsibility.
• Recognize and examine beliefs and values and how they influence political and social decision-making, perceptions about social justice and civic engagement.
• Develop attitudes of care and empathy for others and the environment, and respect for diversity.
• Develop values of fairness and social justice, and skills to critically analyze inequalities based on gender, socio-economic status, culture, religion, age and other issues.
• Participate in and contribute to contemporary global issues at the local, national, and global levels as informed, engaged, responsible, and responsive global citizens.

UNESCO (2015) has developed a comprehensive, openly licensed guidance document about implementing global citizenship education – Global Citizenship Education: Topics and Learning Objectives [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . The guidance gives specific examples for primary and secondary education but is wholly relevant to other sectors.

In the following activity you’ll reflect on the ways in which you might engage students in climate crisis-related global citizenship.