The Future of Education

Global Citizenship Education (GCE) has been applied across the K-16 education landscape (Martin et. al., 2012; Fanghanel, J., & Cousin, 2012; Schattle, 2008; Goulah, J., & Ito, T. 2012; Hartung, 2015; Lyons, 2012), most in the same space as multicultural education (Garri, 2000; Torres, 1998, Reimers & Chung, 2016) and social studies classes (Garri, 2000; Rapoport, 2009, 2013). An issue, however, Goren & Yemini (2016) found was application of GCE in schools has been less successful for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Secondly, examinations of American social studies standards, textbooks and curriculum materials reveal they are all too centered on the American viewpoint (Walstrom and Clarken, 1992; California History-Social Science). The International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum allows teachers and students the option to concentrate in regions of their interest (International Baccalaureate Curriculum: History, 2017). Thirdly, studies reveal teachers’ unwillingness to teach global themes, as they lack pre-service training (Iverson & James, 2010); confidence and experience (Rapoport, 2009, 2010, 2013); cross-cultural competence (Keengwe, 2010) and interest (Castro, Field, Bauml & Morowski, 2012). In a mixed-methods qualitative approach, this study observed and compared two teachers (Emerson, Fretz & Shaw, 2011) one teaching the International Baccalaureate HL history and one teaching world history (following California Framework content standards) over a six-week period from January to March 2018 at socioeconomically disadvantaged high school in California, where over 90% of the students receive free or reduced lunches. This study evaluated and compared teacher agency/choice on how they negotiate their teaching within mandated curriculum standards and to see how they represented more national or global and multicultural perspectives. Modified three-part interviews (Seidman, 2009) interviews were conducted to understand teacher pre-service training, ongoing professional development and perspectives on teaching. The findings from this study could build on existing research on pre-service teacher preparation and continual professional development training on global citizenship education.

Keywords: Global Citizenship Education (GCE), social studies curriculum, history, multicultural education;