Best Paper Award 2018

Sara Franch’s paper “Global Citizenship Education: a new ‘moral pedagogy’ for the 21st century?” focuses on the emergence of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in the educational discourse of a province in northern Italy and outlines how policy-makers and teachers construct GCE as a pedagogical framework for schooling in the 21st century. The paper maintains that GCE is essentially conceptualised as a ‘new moral pedagogy’ that reflects adherence and commitment to a universal moral structure based on humanistic cosmopolitan values. Commonalities and differences in the way GCE is conceptualized and practiced in schools of other European countries are outlined. The paper ends underlining the role of teacher education and of an alliance between academia and practice to ensure that multiple interpretations and approaches of GCE are identified, discussed and translated into practice.

Sara Franch has completed in May 2019 her PhD in General Pedagogy, Social Pedagogy and General Education at the Faculty of Education of the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen. Her research interests include: citizenship education, global citizenship education, education for sustainable development, intercultural education, post/de-colonial engagements with education, policy analysis, curriculum analysis.