Global Citizenship Education at a Crossroads: Looking at the Canadian National Youth White Paper on Global Citizenship

• In Event: Roundtable Session 40
  In Roundtable Session: Democratic Citizenship in Education SIG Paper Discussion

Abstract

There is a growing body of research, curricula initiatives, and CSO/NGO work on global citizenship education. It is included in the UN’s Post-2015 SDGs. However, there is on-going ambiguity and GCE is as an umbrella concept for other educational fields. Previous research (Pashby, 2015) identifies openings in UNESCO documents for a critical approach that spark a change from the inherited ways of teaching young people about their ethical responsibilities to others in the global community. Placing the National Youth White Paper on Global Citizenship (written by youth with input from 1000 students from across Canada) at the centre of these discussions highlights the importance of a critical approach that attends to the lived complexities and perceptions of Canadian youth.

Authors

• Karen Pashby, University of Alberta

• Lynette Anne Shultz, University of Alberta