Analyzing University Syllabi in Korea Through UNESCO’s Lens: Global Citizenship Education for Pre-Service Secondary Teachers

• In Event: Innovations in Pre-Service Teacher Education: Supporting Equity, Language, and Global Citizenship

Abstract

As the world becomes interconnected, global issues have emerged as shared challenges requiring collective action. In response, UNESCO promotes global citizenship education to foster active engagement among member states and adopted its first official recommendation on the topic in 2023. Through the lens of UNESCO’s Recommendation, this study examines university syllabi for secondary pre-service teachers and national teacher certification policies. Weekly topics are shaped more by national priorities and teacher training requirements than by international frameworks. Course objectives emphasize knowledge acquisition over action-oriented learning. As a result, pre-service teachers fall short of the transformative citizenship envisioned in the Recommendation. These findings offer insights to guide policymakers, higher education institutions, and educators in expanding global citizenship education within teacher preparation programs.

Author

• Yura Oh, Stanford University