This study uses Liberia as a case study to explore curriculum reform through the lens of global

citizenship education (GCED). Drawing on a qualitative process analysis, it examines how

collaborative forms of curriculum reform shaped the content and process of integrating GCED

themes into Liberian teacher education. Co-authored by contributors from Liberia and Finland, the

article provides an insider's view of how global pedagogical ideals are negotiated in local reform

processes.

A central goal of the Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Primary-level curriculum reform was to

strengthen global citizenship content within teacher education. This included integrating contents of

inclusion, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), gender equity and School-Related

Gender-Based Violence prevention (SRGBV), digital literature, and green skills into the revised

new curriculum. The article examines how collaboration in curriculum reform took shape across

different phases, and the forms of collaboration that emerged. By 'collaborative forms', we mean

negotiation, co-creation, contextualisation, and dialogue. We explore how diverse stakeholders

contributed to shaping the reform process, and how participatory practices evolved within a donor-

funded context.

This study demonstrates how Global Citizenship Education can become contextually relevant when

curriculum reform is carried out through collaborative, dialogic and locally grounded processes. In

doing so, it responds to international calls to reimagine teacher education and curriculum reform as

a collaborative and transformative process.

This study employed a qualitative process analysis (Bingham, 2025; Dumas et al., 2018) to trace how decisions related to Global Citizenship Education (GCED) emerged and evolved throughout the curriculum reform. Rather than treating the curriculum as a fixed product, the analysis focused on the temporal sequence of events, interactions and negotiations that shaped its development. The analysis will answer the question: How did collaborative approaches to curriculum reform shape the integration of global citizenship education themes in Liberian teacher education? The data consists of documents produced during the reform process, such as daily field notes written by international team, curriculum drafts, inception reports, workshop summaries and validation documents. We followed the analytical sequence outlined by Bingham (2025), in which the process is structured into distinct phases and each phase is examined in relation to its contribution to the outcome. Using this framework, we reconstructed the key stages of the curriculum reform and analysed the daily notes and decisions made at each stage. We also examined how various forms of collaboration shaped the integration of GCED content. By “collaborative forms,” we refer to dialogue, negotiation, co‑creation and contextualisation. We selected these as the analytical categories because these forms of collaboration are well‑established in prior research on participatory curriculum reform and critical global education. Dialogue is understood as a reciprocal and reflective exchange in which participants listen, question assumptions and co‑construct meaning (Freire, 1970; Andreotti, 2011). Negotiation refers to the process through which participants interpret diverse perspectives and collaboratively construct shared meanings (Rose and Myers, 2024). Contextualisation describes the adaptation of ideas and learning experiences to participants’ cultural, linguistic and social realities (Niles, 2025). Co‑creation refers to collaborative processes in which participants jointly shape learning experiences and knowledge (Omland et al., 2025; Kaminskienė et al., 2020). The collaborative nature of the methodology was integral to the analysis. Researchers and practitioners from Liberia and Finland jointly interpreted the documentary data through iterative analytical exchanges and by sharing drafts. This dialogical analytical approach enhanced the credibility of the findings by incorporating multiple perspectives and anchoring interpretations in contextual knowledge (Ansell and Gash, 2008).

The findings show that the integration of GCED emerged through a combination of agenda setting by the ministry, dialogue, negotiation, co- creation and contextualisation. Rather than representing a linear transfer of global educational frameworks into a national curriculum, the reform process was characterised by a collaborative process involving stakeholders, with an updated, contextualised curriculum emerging from this. Negotiation played a central role in translating global GCED frameworks into curriculum content that was locally accepted and validated. Through these negotiations, participants were able to reconcile global pedagogical ideals with national legislation, cultural norms, and institutional capacities. Dialogical interaction was a defining feature of the reform process. Structured workshops and validation meetings created spaces in which multiple forms of expertise were recognised and engaged with. The findings suggest that dialogue was constitutive of the reform itself, enabling iterative refinement of curriculum content across phases, rather than merely instrumental. From a theoretical perspective, these findings support dialogic approaches to educational change that emphasise the coexistence of multiple voices and perspectives (Stewart and Boggs, 2016). Rather than resolving differences through hierarchical decision-making alone, dialogicity enabled tensions to be recognised and addressed through ongoing interaction. Overall, the findings suggest that the effective integration of GCED into teacher education depends less on adopting predefined content and more on designing collaborative processes that allow for negotiation, dialogue and contextual judgement. The reform process shows that, when combined with participatory practices, institutional authority can support shared ownership of curriculum change without relinquishing national control. These insights emphasise the importance of investing in process design, such as inclusive workshops, validation mechanisms and iterative feedback loops. This study contributes to research on Global Citizenship Education and curriculum reform by demonstrating that GCED integration is shaped by collaborative, processual dynamics rather than by the implementation of policies in a linear manner.

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