Session Information
07 SES 02 A, Critical Reflections on Citizenship Education
Paper Session
Time:
2009-09-28
11:15-12:45
Room:
HG, HS 31
Chair:
Yvonne Leeman
Contribution
Globalisation has become one of the buzz words of public discourse over the past thirty years and refers to the interconnectedness of local and national phenomena and their transformation into global issues. Despite criticisms of globalisation, most people recognise that it is one of the characteristics of modern societies and that young people need to be prepared to live in an increasingly global and interconnected world where identities may need to be re-defined, and where they will have to negotiate different cultures and values,. They will also need to understand issues related to equality and power as well as justice and to solve conflicts in peaceful ways. In the context of Europe, these issues as well as political participation beyond the immediate local and national contexts, has become particularly prominent. However, global education initiatives have been criticised on the grounds that they are based on a Utopian view and are value laden, which in turn raises questions about selection of relevant values, by whom they are imposed, and the educational structures which allow learners to think critically and to negotiate understandings.
Despite these criticisms, the global dimension has come to the forefront of European educational policy since the beginning of the 21st century and within the UK, governmental interest and endorsement have been illustrated by the publication of strategic documents for example by DFID, DEA and DfES. Key concepts of the global dimension (DFID, 2005) are reflected in elements of the national curricula of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland in particular, which is emerging from conflict and is only now addressing issues such as immigration and multiculturalism, this curricular development may be seen as particularly interesting given the fragmented nature of the education system, which is highly segregated along dimensions such as religious denomination, academic achievement and gender.
Therefore the present research aimed to explore teachers’ and pupils’ understandings of the global dimension as well as teachers’ perceptions of the implementation and its challenges across the various strands of the Northern Ireland primary and post-primary school sectors.
Method
A series of semi-structured interviews was conducted with teachers directly concerned with the delivery of the global dimension in the academic year 2008/2009. Additionally, focus groups were conducted with teachers not directly involved with the global dimension and also with Year 5 and Year 9 pupils. The research involved a range of schools in order to obtain views from rural and urban, single sex and co-educational, predominantly Catholic, Protestant and religiously integrated schools. The teacher focus groups discussed perceptions of the concepts related to global education as well as practical issues of implementation and challenging aspects. Pupil focus groups discussed learning experiences and conceptual issues. All data were transcribed, analysed thematically and compared across groups.
Expected Outcomes
Conceptual understandings of the global dimension in education are explored and compared as well as perceptions of their place in schools and curricula. Practical issues related to implementation and challenges to both teachers and pupils are discussed and related to the Northern Ireland curriculum and the contexts in which it is delivered. Implications for educational policy and practice will be discussed and conclusions drawn by synthesising theoretical and empirical findings, highlighting variation in conceptualisations of the global dimension in teaching and learning and their implications for responsible citizenship and social cohesion in societies with community divisions and/or conflict. More generally, results are discussed by drawing on theories of citizenship and social cohesion to consider the discourses of identity and political participation and the ways in which teachers and pupils address, or fail to address, these issues.
References
DFID (2005) Developing the global dimension in the school curriculum. Glasgow: DFID.
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