Imperialistic or cosmopolitan: forms of teaching how to engage with the world - towards a theory of critical-cosmopolitan global citizenship education

ŞEN K.

GLOBALISATION SOCIETIES AND EDUCATION, 2025 (ESCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Editorial Material
  • Publication Date: 2025
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/14767724.2025.2520953
  • Journal Name: GLOBALISATION SOCIETIES AND EDUCATION
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Eskisehir Osmangazi University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Global citizenship education (GCE) represents one of the outcomes of efforts that aim at expanding the focus of education from national to global. However, several studies identify discrepant discourses undergirding GCE efforts. This paper argues that two forms of GCE dominate the field, but only one of them deserves the title of global citizenship. After outlining the characteristics of each form, it explains why only critical-cosmopolitan GCE represents the genuine form. From a critical-cosmopolitan perspective, it concludes that GCE must be anti-neoliberal, anti-colonialist, and anti-civilisationist partly because these ideologies are anathema to the central civic values of equality and freedom.