Global citizen or competent individual? The struggle for active citizenship in the 21st century

Abstract

In 2014 UNESCO put out the call for young people to be ‘active citizens now’. This is a bold aim that raises several questions; what does is it mean to be an active citizen, how should they be educated, and how will we know if this aim has been achieved? The complex and varied conceptualisation of active global citizenship and global citizenship education often focus on the issue of common humanity but do not necessarily agree on what the collective aims of humanity should be. They do however often agree on a learning trajectory from knowledge to action, where global citizens are given knowledge and equipped with the ‘soft skills’ needed to take meaningful action for the common good. This study considers which knowledge, skills, attitudes, and learning experiences are advocated in the new PISA Global Competence domain, with reference to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It then looks to examine how students themselves reflect this in a secondary school in England. Two focus groups drawn from students who opted into the study were conducted. Each consisted of 12 students, 7 girls and 5 boys in year 10 aged between 14-15 years old. The findings emphasise that the connections between global citizenship and global competence are far from clear. Specific issues worthy of further investigation exposed by this study include the blurring of passivity and activity in the use of social media when interacting on topics of global significance.

Date of Award	21 Nov 2019
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Julia Paulson (Supervisor)