Education policy-making is no longer limited to the national level, but takes place at several levels. In an increasingly globalised world, transnational networks of different actors (e.g., state actors, international organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), business actors, etc.) are influencing education policy (Ball & Junemann, 2012). These so-called policy networks address complex problems that require specialised expertise, knowledge and resources. Policy networks not only form between already established actors, but also bring in new policy actors with innovative ideas in order to build consensus and thus reduce resistance to policy reform.

However, while transnational and global policy networks have already been studied in other education policy contexts such as inclusive education (Schuster et al., 2021), the Education for All movement (Mundy & Murphy, 2001) or education in emergencies (Macpherson, 2016), transnational networks in the context of citizenship education have scarcely been researched so far (e.g., Kolleck et al., 2017). In the face of growing populist tendencies and new developments such as the climate crisis or digitalisation, providing sound citizenship education has become one of the most important challenges of current education policy. Despite urgent calls for political actors, driven by a global movement in the case of climate change, the topic is still not sufficiently addressed in national school curricula. Non-state actors such as NGOs are trying to further draw attention to the importance of citizenship education (Tarozzi, 2020). In the context of the global climate movement, it can also be observed that new actors such as young people and their organisations are becoming an integral part of public debates.

In view of this relevance of climate and citizenship education, the study of networks of different actors supporting their implementation is crucial to understand the mechanisms underlying these processes. This is particularly important given the need for collective solutions to global challenges and needs. To this end, this symposium aims to shed light on the issue by bringing together different methodological approaches, theoretical backgrounds and thematic foci in the study of transnational citizenship education networks. The first study investigates formal transnational NGO networks using qualitative document and interview data. The second study applies a network ethnography approach to examine transnational networks formed around the implementation of climate change education in the United Nations (UN) context. The third study focuses on youth participation in policy networks that have emerged around the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, drawing on document analysis and social network analysis of Twitter data. As a discussant, we will welcome a renowned expert on the transnational promotion of citizenship education. By including broader and narrower thematic foci, diverse theoretical and methodological approaches and – despite the transnational nature of the topic – perspectives from different countries, the symposium will be able to enrich the debate on transnational policy networks in the context of citizenship education and beyond.

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