Resources
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Global Citizenship Education in the Draft Social Studies K-6 Curriculum Year of publication: 2021 Corporate author: Alberta Council for Global Cooperation (ACGC) This document is the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation’s (ACGC) response to the Draft Social Studies K-6 Curriculum released by the Government of Alberta on March 29, 2021. ACGC conducted the analysis of the draft social studies curriculum to better understand the alignment of the draft with global citizenship education (GCE) best practices.Global citizenship is a lens through which to see the world. ACGC understands global citizenship as “an ethos” primarily concerned with fostering “a sense of belonging to the global community and common humanity” (UNESCO, 2013). This not only involves members experiencing solidarity and collective identity themselves, but also necessitates collective responsibility to take local and global action for a better world.Following the analysis, ACGC strongly recommends that the draft curriculum be rewritten to reflect international best practices in global citizenship education. There are significant gaps in the draft when held against the suggested learning outcomes of UNESCO’s guide, Global Citizenship Education: Topics and Learning Objectives. Furthermore, the Alberta government’s Guiding Framework for the Design and Development of Kindergarten to Grade 12 Provincial Curriculum released in December 2020 provides an opportunity for GCE if the draft curriculum more closely aligns with our understanding of the Guiding Framework. Ultimately, the best path forward is rewriting the draft curriculum to include cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioural learning outcomes that foster active global citizenship and prepare Alberta students to contribute to and thrive within a sustainable, interconnected world. 
The National Youth White Paper on Global Citizenship Year of publication: 2015 Corporate author: Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Research (CGCER) On March 20, 2015, over 400 students from five high schools across Canada, in partnership with the Centre for Global Citizenship Education, The Centre for Global Education and TakingITGlobal, came together to collaborate, through the use of technology, in a Virtual Town Hall to discuss the youth’s vision for Global Citizenship Education. From Alberta to Ontario, downtown Toronto to Yellowknife, the youth of Canada exchanged ideas, debated alternatives, and ultimately created a document that represents their voice on the relationship Canadians should have with the rest of the world. The Virtual Town Hall, an “archetype of grassroots democracy,” (Senator Grant Mitchell) was the culmination of over a month of online teamwork, 2000 hours of student collaboration, over 100 hours of teacher facilitation, and the passion of over 1000 youth to engage in a national conversation and have their voices heard.In the month prior to the Virtual Town Hall, student leaders, systematically chosen from each school to represent Canada’s diverse geographic and demographic population, met on a weekly basis to exchange ideas, work with and listen to experts, and create a common framework. Concurrently, the students were trained to use an arsenal of Web 2.0 tools (YouTube, Twitter, cell phone voting, Google Docs, H.323 Video Conference, discussion boards, blogs, etc.) to collaborate, build consensus, and create community regardless of time or location.Equipped with this knowledge and empowered through online technology, the student leaders facilitated a full-day virtual town hall. In the morning, 400 youth peers engaged in a dialogue with local and international experts. Following this session, the youth participated in breakout groups to address three critical questions: What are our obligations as global citizens? What are the rights and responsibilities that we have? To what extent can well-intentioned global citizenship initiatives reinforce or resist power inequities? What types of policies/practices will enable/facilitate global citizenship? The National Youth White Paper on Global Citizenship, written collaboratively by Canadian students, is the direct result of this full-day, interactive event. The evolution of the document involved equipping leaders with knowledge and technology, having those leaders facilitate a larger conversation among their peers, taking the data generated to their community at large for feedback and direction, and then synthesizing the results in the student white paper. It represents the voices of over one thousand youth, introduced to the complexities of global citizenship education, unified through the power of 21st century technology, and sharing a passion to contribute to the dialogue taking place on the future of Canada and its relationship to the rest of the world.