Idealistic Discourses of Global Citizenship Education in Teacher Education Literature

• In Event: Examining Citizenship, Culture, and Community in the Social Studies

Abstract

In recent years, teacher education (TE) literature has given increasing attention to global citizenship education (GCE). In this study, we examine the discourses that tacitly shape the meanings of GCE within the contemporary academic literature on TE. After analyzing the peer-reviewed scholarship published from 2003 to 2018, we identified patterns in how GCE for TE was described and defended, beyond the differences in their conceptual frameworks. The dominant trend found is to frame GCE as a redemptive educational solution to global problems. This framing requires teachers to embrace a redemptive narrative following a model of rationality based on altruistic, hyper-rationalized, and overly romantized ideals. This civic idealistic discourse overestimates the power of GCE with problematic pedagogical implications.

Authors

• Marta Estelles Frade, University of Cantabria

• Gustavo E. Fischman, Arizona State University