Global citizenship education: citizenship education for globalizing societies

This text reflects the work we have been doing for many years in the area of Global Citizenship Education (GCED) in Austria. Two endeavors particularly stand out: first, the continuing Masters programme GCED at the Alps-Adriatic University (Alpen-Adria Universität) in Klagenfurt, which is a specialized course of study for educationalists, teacher trainers, NGO associates and teachers (participants may either graduate with a certificate after two years or an MA degree after three years respectively), and second, our cooperation with the Austrian UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network. This was the originally intended audience for the German version of this brochure, which constitutes the programmatic basis for our training programs. We understand GCED as a concept that is located at the interface between civic education, global education and peace education, as well as education for sustainable development and intercultural learning. Our approach is characterized by these four features:

* theoretical grounding and a particular focus on terminology in order to foster competence of judgment regarding political concepts
* investigating the historical dimension of GCED in depth in order to account for colonialism and neocolonialism
* socio-critical orientation in order to set us apart from strands of GCED that ultimately perpetuate concepts of Western hegemony
* didactic implementation that is systematic and based on appropriate theoretical work in order to avoid pragmatism

With this English edition (the section specific to the Austrian context was omitted) we wish to initiate a dialog with colleagues in the whole world and hope to engage in lively exchange.