Global citizenship education
The two main elements of GCE are 'global consciousness'; the moral or ethical aspect of global issues, and 'global competencies', or skills meant to enable learners to participate in changing and developing the world.
The promotion of GCE was a response by governments and NGOs to the emergence of supranational institution, regional economic blocs, and the development of information and communications technologies.
GCE addresses themes such as peace and human rights, intercultural understanding, citizenship education, respect for diversity and tolerance, and inclusiveness.
GCE aims to empower learners to engage and assume active roles, both locally and globally, as proactive contributors to a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable world.
GCE aspires to be a transformative experience, to give learners the opportunities and competencies to realize their rights and obligations to promote a better world and future.
The emergence of regional economic blocs, supra-national political institutions such as the European Union, and the advancement of ICTs, has caused governments to try to prepare national populations to be competitive in the global jobs market.
Many universities worldwide have responded to the need for a globally oriented education by sending their students to study abroad in increasing numbers, and some have announced that this will soon become a mandatory degree requirement.
The large numbers of people migrating across national borders means that the diversity of ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups, "has raised [...] complex and difficult questions about citizenship, human rights, democracy, and education".
[9] Another important pedagogical feature of GCE is learning through communicative practices outside the classroom that "harness […] the educational force of the wider culture".
[11] Another important element of the student-centered participatory nature of GCED, is that students, through their engagement with others via Social Network Services, create their own forms of global citizenship through dialogue, learning, and action.
For example, socio-emotional learning (SEL) requires understanding existing challenges in the community (cognitive) and making informed decisions (behaviour).
[15] 'Global consciousness' represents the ethical or moral dimension of global citizenship, whereas 'global competence' "features a blend of the technical-rational and the dispositional or attitudinal".
[16] Learners learn about their identities and how they are situated within multiple relationships (for example, family, friends, school, local community, country), as a basis for understanding the global dimension of citizenship.
Ethical issues (for example, relating to climate change, consumerism, economic globalisation, fair trade, migration, poverty and wealth, sustainable development, terrorism, war) are also addressed.
It aims to enable students to consider their personal role in developing their society as a global community through workshops, simulations, leadership skills training and hands-on action projects.
[16] Activate is a network of young leaders in South Africa which aims to bring about change though creative solutions to problems in society.
In one example, an Activator describes how he works in his local community to discourage young people away from joining gangs and engaging in substance abuse.
[16][22][23] Peace First, a non-profit organisation based in the United States, has a programme in which youth volunteers work with children to design and implement community projects in a participatory way.
GCE and ESD pursue the same vision: It is all about empowering learners of all ages to become proactive contributors to a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive and sustainable world.
[25] GCE and ESD help learners to develop their knowledge, skills, attitudes and values so that they can address these challenges responsibly and effectively now and in the future.
It aims to empower learners to engage and assume active roles, both locally and globally, as proactive contributors to a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable world.
[15] Dill,[31] for example, claims that "the majority of the world experiences social and communal life not in terms of isolated individuals, but as collective identities and traditions.
