TakingITGlobal

Our Questions What are the barriers to learning from one another? How do existing power structures affect us? ● Am I able to assume responsibilities towards the others? How are others impacted by my actions? ● To what extent can we expect the marginalized to feel compassionate towards people who contribute to their oppression? ● Is anyone shut out of the conversation? Who are we speaking over right now? Are we listening to the right people? ● How do we create a community in which we are working towards equity? It is integral to the conversation of global citizenship that we consider these questions constantly if we want to make a change that is long-lasting. In that sense, we must become aware of how our actions are impacting the whole. Ways Forward More international collaborations between students from different parts of the world promotes compassion and relationality and supports local, national and global communities. Curricula should broaden perspectives and teach about relationality, power relations, colonial history and oppression in order to fully understand what structures our relations. Facilitators of global citizenship need to be aware (as all global citizens do) of economic, social, and political power structures and how these affect people's capacity to be involved. IV Recommendations By providing a variety of perspectives on the world, global citizenship education can be presented in a way that promotes equity. It should also be framed as something that is growing and changing. This will allow students to challenge and change the concept. We therefore make the following recommendations. Curricula Curricula must teach a global perspective in relation to principles of equity, complexity, interconnection, diversity, and community by: ● Addressing complexity and root causes of global issues to open up possibilities rather than promoting simplistic, feel-good citizenship responses. ● Exploring how different perspectives and worldviews originate, including what informs the opinions and beliefs of students themselves. ● Making transparent global power relations, colonial history and oppression in order to fully understand what structures our relations. All concepts should be introduced at an earlier age and be adapted in age-appropriate ways for students at all levels. We ask for flexible curricula that provide these same basic concepts but offers different branches depending on situation, hierarchical scales and community needs. As an example, education should introduce a variety of perspectives on global citizenship, including critiques and edits of the concept.

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