This symposium will address the different ways and interpretations of Global Education and Global Citizenship Education around the world.

Global education and global citizenship education are educational fields open to different interpretations from education around the world to a specific pedagogical approach influenced by themes such as social justice

They have been part of the landscape of learning in Europe, North America and Australia for the past fifty years. Its main protagonists were, and in many countries remain, educational practitioners who are recognizing the need for learners to have the knowledge and skills to understand wider world issues.

While this wealth of educational material has equipped many educationalists, particularly teachers, around the world, the field has remained an area of interest primarily for enthusiastic teachers.

The dominant approach of the contributions locates their discussions on global education and global citizenship education within a values base of social justice, equity and human rights. The papers also recognise the influence of the definition of Global Education from the Council of Europe that sees the field as education that opens people’s eyes and minds to the realities of the world, and awakens them to bring about a world of greater justice, equity and human rights for all. GE is understood to encompass Development Education, Human Rights Education, Education for Sustainability, Education for Peace and Conflict Prevention and Intercultural Education; being the global dimensions of Education for Citizenship.^[1]

However the discourse has tended to be dominated by perspectives from Europe and North America and a feature of this symposium is to ensure that voices on these debates from other regions of the world are included.

This symposium will look at evidence from national strategies, policies and practices in Finland (Elina Lehtomaki and Antti Rajala) and Poland (Magdalena Kuleta-Hulboj). But in recognition of the importance of voices from other regions, there are papers looking at debates in South Africa and Tobago.

^[1] https://gene.eu/about-gene/global-education/

^[2] https://gene.eu/about-gene/global-education/

Bourn, D. (2015) Theory and Practice of Development Education, Abingdon, Routledge Bourn, D. (2020) (ed.) Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Education and Learning, London, Bloomsbury Davies, I.Ho, L-C., Kiwan,D. Peck,C. Peterson,A, Sant, E. and Waghid, Y. (2018) (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Education, London, Palgrave Forghani-Arani,N. Hartmeyer, H. O'Loughlin, E. and Wegimont, L. (2013) Global Education In Europe, Muntser, Waxmann Hartmeyer, H. and Wegimont, L. (2018) Global Education Revisted, Munster, Waxmann McAuley,J. (ed.) (2018) The State of Global Education, 2018, Dublin, GENE