This paper presents the framework for a study in its initial phase of implementation that emerged after eight years of working with schools in an international context (Snyder, 2004; 2006). The focus of the study is on the global citizen: what it is and what it means to schools in practice. The study focus emerged after seeing that while schools are engaged in many different international partnerships, little focus is given to a pedagogy that prepares youth for global citizenship and global workforce participation. When exploring the concept of the global citizen from a theoretical perspective one sees that there is a diversity of opinion and focus ranging from citizenship to intercultural competence. Yet few if any of these reflect the whole of schooling in a global society that includes not only social development, but as well workforce capacities. Moreover, the theory about global citizenship focuses on different dimensions that that of the workforce; to what should schools focus when deciding how to prepare youth for the global age? Our work with schools engaged in international school connections, as well as our previous research suggest that there is little match between the existing theories of global citizenship and what is in focus in schools. In this exploratory study we are interested in examining the concept of the global citizen with educators to problematize the concept in relation to school development. More specifically we are interested in understanding how the concept is used in the school to inform pedagogical development and to expand the purpose and application of international partnerships for youth preparation. Do schools merely have pen pals across nations through which they can share national differences, or are students engaged in cross-cultural learning communities that help them to build skills for working together with others, as well as problem solving todays social problems across national borders with others. The former leads to friends, perhaps, while the latter leads to global citizenship development?: one could ask. Specifically, we are interested in exploring what is a global citizen for educators and students? and to what extent are the perspectives and definitions similar and different across nations. Thirdly, in what ways are schools working with the concept of the global citizen to inform the schools pedagogical and curriculum development. And finally, what are the new social roles that are emerging in the 21st century with the global citizen? The study uses several theorectical models that address aspects of global citizenship, including Deardorff (2004; 2006), Bremer (2006), Hunter, et al. (2006) INCA Theory (2004), in addition to workforce development skills and competencies idenified through international progamming and policy documents. the theories provide a framework for the exploratory study and data analysis. As well, they will be used as a backdrop in which to compare and contrast praxis with theory in an effort to refine the notion of global citizenship from a praxis perspective.

This international comparative study combines a grounded theory approach with a theoretical inventory to explore the concept of the global citizen among educators and youth engaged in developing their schools as global learning centers. Qualitative analysis will be applied as well as a statistical procedure to examine the data. Grounded theory has been chosen given the existing open nature of the question: what is a global citizen. 20 years ago, perhaps the answer to the question was more clear. With the advance of the technological knowledge society, however, changes occur rapidly and make fuzzy answers to many questions. Furthermore, the possibiltiy for differentiation across similar groups (schols) increases as the nature of globalization expands meaning and development in ways once unimaginable. To ask the question today: what is the global citizen could be phrased from the perspective of existing theory. However, we anticipate that schools will identify quite different dimensions than the ones already identified in the literature. It is with this anticipation in mind that we are interested in taking a grounded theory approach. At the same time, we are interested in using the existing models, through an inventory, to examine the extent to which they apply to schools and or corroborate what study participants say. The exploratory study is being conducted with schools engaged in a network organization who are committed to developing their schools as a global learning center. These schools have been identified because of an existing awareness about global issues, which we perceive to be important to exploring the meaning of the concept global citizen. Our previous research has shown that many schools today around the world are doing little if anything internationally. Moreover, they are unaware of the nature of the global society more than through media. Because of this we chose to use a sample of schools already engaged in dialogue and development around globalization and global citizenship. The network organization has schools from all levels, including university, participating from Sweden, Spain, China, USA, Canada, The Antilles, Singapore. There is a minimum of two schools represented from each country, and in some cases four schools. Principals from each of the schools participate in the study as well as a sample of 4 teachers (at a minimum). A group of students also participate, who are identified through their participation in a youth network for global school development. The study is conducted online using already established discussion forums in the network organization to hold online focus groups and interviews, combined with web meetings and chats to supplement the discussion threads. A combination of real time and asynchronous communication will be used as well. This data collection model was used in a previous study by Snyder (2002) and was found to be successful in engaging in deepened dialogue and interviews online. data is being collected through online interviews and focus groups, as well as an inventory and a survey about curriculum development that reflect the global citizen. The interviews and focus groups explore the concept of the global citizen to educators and students using open-ended questionning. An inventory will be adapted from the different theoretical models on the global citizen to develop a social roles inventory based on the global citizen. The inventory is based on previous work of James och James, et al. (2006) in which Havighurst's classic social roles studies were examined and re-examined to determine fit with contemporary society. Following a the social role model we will use the inventory to examine perceived global citizen role characteristics and importance across nations. The inventory will be analyzed using a univariate repeated measures and Dunn's test for multiple comparisons.

We anticipate being able to identify key characteristics of global citizenship that combined with skills and social attributes found to be important for workforce engagement in a global society. We anticipate this to be difficult given the open nature of the global condition today and rapidly changing workforce skill-base. At the same time, we anticipate being able to identify key ways in which schools are begining to address the concept of the global citizen to provide examples for what it means in practice for pedagogy. Furthermore, but conducting this study in a network of engaged schools we hope to use the data collection as a stimulus for deeper dialogue among educators and youth cross-culturally that has the potential to assist them in further developing their pedagogical practices and opening the space for intercultural learning and engagement.