In today’s highly interconnected world, it is essential that education systems prepare students with knowledge to understand complex global challenges and issues (Bourn, 2016).  Thus, Global Education (GE) has been one of the major aspects of many curricula across the world to promote values of global citizenship, sustainability, and intercultural understanding (Lantz & Davies, 2015). Attempts to incorporate and implement GE in schools converge at the intersection between curriculum, teachers, and their students, and it depends on teachers as mediators between policy frameworks and classroom realities (Biesta et al., 2014). Hence, the successful implementation of GE in schools largely depends on teachers’ competencies (including their knowledge, pedagogical skills, intercultural sensitivity, and reflective practices).

Extant literature on GCE implementation stresses teachers’ perceptions of not being well prepared to handle GCE-related issues and tending to avoid them in their classroom activities (Neins et al., 2013).  Therefore, it is important to explore teacher competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities) as not only what is required to teach and improve students’ learning, but also as the requisites to facilitate GE implementation in schools and classrooms. Against this background, this paper presents part of a doctoral research project on the intended curriculum and teacher competencies in GE implementation in secondary schools in Kenya and Germany. Focusing on teachers and teacher competencies (including three aspects: (1) knowledge of global issues, (2) pedagogical skills for engaging students in global learning, and (3) intercultural and reflective dispositions), the study aims to address three questions:

1.     How do teachers understand GCE in Kenya and Germany?

2.     What skills and dispositions do the teachers require to implement GE in their schools and classrooms?

3.     Are these competencies and understanding of GE context dependent?

This study adopts a multiple case study design (Yin, 2014) to examine how secondary school teachers understand and implement global education in different national contexts. Data collection is designed around semi-structured interviews, which aim to explore teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and classroom practices related to GE implementation. The interview protocol is guided by a thematic framework focusing on teachers’ conceptual understanding of global education, professional development experiences, and curriculum alignment to the integration of GE. Purposive sampling (Etikan, 2016) is employed to select a total of 20 secondary school teachers from six schools within the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASPnet), with three schools drawn from each country context (Kenya and Germany) and an equal representation of 10 teachers per country. UNESCO ASPnet schools were selected due to their explicit commitment to promoting global education agendas and their recognized role in advancing global citizenship, intercultural understanding, and education for sustainable development. This alignment with GE objectives makes them particularly suitable sites for investigating how teachers interpret and enact global education principles within formal schooling contexts. Although data collection has not yet commenced at the time of submission, fieldwork has been fully planned and is scheduled to take place prior to the conference. By the time of the conference, all interviews will have been conducted, and initial data analysis will be underway. This paper will present preliminary findings that highlight emerging patterns, similarities, and differences in teachers’ understandings, skills, and practices of implementing GE in Kenya and Germany. A comparative analysis of findings is intended to illuminate how differing educational systems, socio-cultural environments, and policy frameworks shape teacher competencies and the integration of GE into classroom practice. By examining teachers’ experiences across two distinct educational landscapes, the study aims to contribute to understanding how GE is understood and implemented in divergent contexts.

The study is expected to generate empirical insights into how secondary school teachers in Kenya conceptualize and implement GE in schools. First, the findings are likely to show differences in teachers’ understanding of GE ranging from broad, values-oriented interpretations (e.g., global awareness, intercultural understanding, and sustainability) to more fragmented or topic-based understandings tied to specific subjects or curricula units. This is also evident in the preliminary analysis of the secondary school curricula in both countries. In addition, while teachers in Kenya and Germany may express normative support for GE, the depth and coherence of their conceptualization and understanding are expected to differ. Secondly, teachers’ professional development experiences are expected to emerge as a key determinant of teachers’ capacity to implement GE. Teachers’ prior exposure to international programs, UNESCO-related activities, and training is expected to demonstrate stronger pedagogical confidence and intention to implement GE. Thirdly, the study is expected to identify context-specific and cross-cutting factors influencing teachers' understanding and implementation of GE. Lastly, comparative analysis is expected to highlight both commonalities and divergences in how GE is mediated, despite UNESCO ASPnet affiliation providing a shared normative framework.

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