ORIGINAL RESEARCH

published: 12 May 2022

doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.867113

Critical Global Citizenship Education:

A Study on Secondary School
Students
Gustavo González-Valencia* , Mariona Massip Sabater and
Antoni Santisteban Fernández
Department of Language, Literature, and Social Studies Didactics, Grup de Recerca en Didàctica de les Ciéncies Socials
(GREDICS), Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

This article describes a study conducted in Catalonia (Spain) that examines the
dimensions of global citizenship education (GCE) that emerge when secondary school
students analyse images taken from the digital platforms of the mainstream media. We
followed a mixed methodology for the research. To analyse the data, we employed
content analysis, in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show
that students in the final year of compulsory secondary education (aged 15–16) have
great difficulty with analysing the information and images contained in media from a
global citizenship perspective. While students tend to adopt a perspective of social
responsibility, they do not have the tools necessary for critical interpretation of social
Edited by:
Pilar Rivero, facts and problems; they are still less able to formulate arguments or make decisions
University of Zaragoza, Spain relating to actions within the parameters of social justice.
Reviewed by:
Ramón Martínez-Medina, Keywords: global citizenship education, critical citizenship, social studies education, secondary education,
controversial issues
University of Córdoba, Spain
Silvia García Ceballos,
University of Zaragoza, Spain
*Correspondence:
INTRODUCTION
Gustavo González-Valencia
gustavo.gonzales@uab.cat
Since the winter of 2020, people around the whole world have experienced how their lives have been
conditioned because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This context has clearly demonstrated struggles
Specialty section: and interrelations between local and global situations: such a planetary problem, experienced in
This article was submitted to very personal circumstances.
Teacher Education, Inequalities, indeed, have increased and become unsustainable both on local and global scales:
a section of the journal on the local, people have remained attached to personal situations, marked by gender, economic,
Frontiers in Education social, and age unevenness. In the global, unfair inequities among countries and regions emerged
Received: 31 January 2022 explicitly when referring to health care and vaccination opportunities. Virus transmission knows
Accepted: 18 March 2022 no borders, but health policies do.
Published: 12 May 2022
The pandemic context has also given rise to major reflections about citizenship: struggles
Citation: between freedom and social control policies, social commitment, rights and responsibilities, public
González-Valencia G, services, and national and global political agreements. In addition, facing increasing discriminatory
Massip Sabater M and
narratives along with racist hate acts and speeches (Griergson, 2020; Joubin, 2020; Nhiem and
Santisteban Fernández A (2022)
Critical Global Citizenship Education:
Morstatter, 2021) have become a social and political core problem, which again raise the question
A Study on Secondary School of whether we are all global citizens, or only some of us are global citizens (Dower, 2008).
Students. Front. Educ. 7:867113. These social challenges are not new, but they have intensified during the recent global situation.
doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.867113 There is increasing awareness among citizens that there are local and global problems which affect

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González-Valencia et al. Frame of Global Citizenship Education

their daily lives, and that those problems are increasingly inter- politics; this has brought about increased poverty, inequality,
related. This awareness on the part of citizens is a consequence of and pollution, among other things, across the world. In
the economic, political, and cultural globalisation that has been contrast with the negative effects of globalisation, however,
taking place over the last three decades (Pak, 2013). According to there has been the emergence and growth of international
Castells (2005), the effects of globalisation have been amplified charitable organisations, such as Save the Children, Oxfam,
by information technologies, not least the internet, which has Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Transparency
contributed to creating a world that is ever more connected. The International, and Greenpeace. These are supranational bodies
media have a direct influence on how society and participation that work with the idea of global citizenship and open up new
are understood. The ability to read those media critically is crucial avenues for action at the international level.
for education (Santisteban and González-Valencia, 2013). For Tully (2014), when we try to connect citizenship with
A range of interpretations of the globalisation process have globalisation:
been produced. Four distinct approaches can be taken from
analysis of the theoretical frameworks constructed by Sklair We are already thrown into this remarkably complex inherited
(1999); Spring (2004), and Torres (2015): neoliberalism, global field of contested languages, activities, institutions, processes, and
culture, global systems and post-colonialist interpretations. For the environments in which they take place. This conjoint field is
the problematisation of global citizenship: the way that formerly
her part, Shultz (2007) talks about three perspectives: neoliberal,
disparate activities, institutions and processes have been gathered
radical and transformationalist. Those diverse interpretations of together under the rubric of “global citizenship,” become the
globalisation are related to different ways of understanding the site of contestation in practice and formulated as a problem in
world, social relationships or citizenship itself, which can also research, policy and theory, and to which diverse solutions are
be translated into teaching on or research into global citizenship presented and debated (p. 4).
education (Stromquist, 2009).
Globalisation has led to the concept of citizenship being Social, cultural, political, and economic changes “hold special
called into question if it is considered to be associated with significance in educational settings, where preparing students for
the schema of the nation-state. Gun Chung and Park (2016) a global world has come to play an important role in citizenship
reviewed the theoretical frameworks developed by Kymlicka education” (Szelényi and Rhoads, 2007, p. 25). Schools and
and Norman (1994); Faulks (2000), Janoski and Gran (2009); teachers should consider the new setting because, according to
Delanty (1997), Arthur et al. (2008); Reysen and Katzarska- Felices et al. (2016, p. 236), they have the task of equipping
Miller (2013), and Tully (2014) to demonstrate that citizenship people with the ability to interpret the reality that surrounds
goes beyond legal recognition, since possession of an official them, to engage with global problems and to play their part
document certifying that a person is a “citizen” does not in building a better, more democratic future. The goal is for
mean that this individual accepts the rights and responsibilities students to develop “the skills, values and attitudes that enable
associated with that recognition. Citizenship goes beyond legal citizens to lead healthy and fulfilled lives, make informed
recognition and should be associated with the values of a decisions, and respond to local and global challenges through
person seeking to improve coexistence within a community. As education for sustainable development and global citizenship
such, citizenship is linked to the right to participation in order education, as well as human rights education” (UNESCO,
to improve the society surrounding you because, as Cortina 2018, p. 1).
argues, citizens are those who try to construct a functioning Although the concept of citizenship is associated with the
polis, striving for the common good through their political nation-state, new forms of citizenship are growing in the face of
participation (2009, p. 48). globalisation, such as planetary citizenship (Sant et al., 2018a).
According to Rauner (1999) and Delanty (1997), citizenship “This means that new forms of education need to be developed.
can be constructed in relation to national and post-national It is unlikely that new forms of education will be achieved by
models, such as the supranational, the international, the global attempting to bolt very different formulations together” (Davies
and the virtual. Citizenship can also be understood as worldwide et al., 2005, p. 83).
or global/local (glocal) (Bromley, 2009). We share the view of In the light of this situation, education, and particularly
Osler and Starkey (2003) that consideration must also be given social sciences instruction, must contribute to the understanding
to state-level citizenship, in other words, local, regional and, in of these new citizenships and the new forms of participation
some cases, national. Borders have played a very important role (Goren and Yemini, 2017; Goren et al., 2019). Critical global
in the reconfiguration of the citizenship concept, both when citizenship education (CGCE) fosters greater understanding of
they are opened for the free movement of goods and capital, the interrelationships between citizenship, politics, democracy
and when they are opened or closed for crossing by people and the globalisation process, and of the consequences of
or certain groups. Supranational government bodies have also political, economic, cultural, social, and environmental decisions
played a crucial role and have been increasing their influence that impact on people’s lives (O’Meara et al., 2018; Bruce et al.,
over people’s lives through agreements between states (OECD, 2019), emphasising the ethics of participating for the common
European Union, NAFTA, Pacific Alliance, Mercosur, etc.). good and social justice (Akkari and Maleq, 2020). In that context,
There has also been a less positive side to the advance this paper seeks to answer the following question: do secondary
of the globalisation process in the last three decades, in school students apply the various dimensions of CGCE when
which economics becomes central to everything, to the cost of analysing social facts or problems?

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FRAME OF GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP all humanity and the global community at large (UNESCO,
2018, p. 2).
EDUCATION
The UNESCO’s definition, an institution that is part of the
Global Citizenship Education (GCE) has emerged from global governance framework, emphasises aspects closer to the
reflections on citizenship in relation to the global world and psychology of learning and, to a lesser extent, to the political
the challenges of globalisation and its implications for the dimension or post-colonialist discourses (Oxley and Morris,
field of education (Kerr, 1999). Since education, citizenship, 2013). An approach close to a critical dimension of GCE is
and globalisation are core concepts in GCE, all of them that of Reysen and Katzarska-Miller (2013), for whom GCE is
complex issues, and there exist a wide multiplicity of visions, understood:
interpretations, objectives and conceptions of education for
global citizenship (Sant et al., 2018a; Akkari and Maleq, 2020; as awareness, caring and embracing cultural diversity while
González-Valencia et al., 2020; Sant and González Valencia, promoting social justice and sustainability, coupled with a sense
of responsibility to act. Prior theory and research suggest that
2018). As Sant et al. (2018a, p. 21) explain: “Since there are
being aware of one’s connection with others in the world (global
different views on globalisation, citizenship and education, the
awareness) and embedded in settings that value global citizenship
views on GCE are, probably, even more diverse.” (normative environment) lead to greater identification with global
As such a contested and diffuse term, Sant et al. (2018a) citizens (i.e., prosocial values and behaviours) (p. 858).
argue that it would be understandable if it lost meaning and use.
However, its use is not only maintained, but consolidated and This definition puts aspects such as social justice, diversity
increased. The literature on education for global citizenship has and awareness at the centre of its approaches; essential aspects
an extensive corpus, which has increased remarkably over the in a critical approach: a Critical Global Citizenship Education
last decade (González-Valencia et al., 2020). All of these studies (CGCE). Although it is true that there are a large number of
agree on the importance of including global citizenship education definitions of CGCE, some authors such as Stromquist (2009);
in social studies programmes. Some authors claim new study Dill (2013), and Pak (2013) suggest that despite the lack of
perspectives; for example, those who do not deny that there are consensus, it is necessary to develop a greater global awareness
alternative ways of doing GCE, such as the existence of peoples among citizens. Following in the line of Dill (2013, p. 50):
and nations beyond the concept of the state (Avery, 2004). The global consciousness element of global citizenship (. . .)
Within the great diversity of approaches, two major trends creates lofty moral expectations: it consists of an awareness of
are revealed in considering education for global citizenship (Dill, other perspectives, a single humanity as the primary level of
2013; Akkari and Maleq, 2020). The first is instrumental, geared community, and a moral conscience to act for the good of the
to the acquisition of competences to be successfully developed world. The global citizen in this discourse is a moral ideal, a vision
in the globalised world, with a significant influence on neoliberal of a person who thinks and acts about the world in specific ways: as
visions. The second is a critical trend (see Section Critical Global a universal community without boundaries whose members care
Citizenship Education) which includes attention to different for each other and the planet.
perspectives, awareness of being part of a global community and UNESCO definitions leave these aspects aside or at a
ethics to act for the common good, change and social justice secondary level. Along these lines, Tawil (2013, p. 5), states that:
(Akkari and Maleq, 2020). Nancy (2007) explains this duality
from the choice between globalisation, on the one hand, and the In “softer” approaches, the starting point for global dimensions
creation of the world, on the other. They are understood from an of citizenship education is of a more moral variety based on
exclusive dichotomy, as “one implies the exclusion of the other” the notion of a common humanity and a global or world ethic.
In more “critical” approaches, the ethical starting point is the
(Sant et al., 2018a, p. 14).
concept of social justice as farmed by the international normative
instruments of human rights.
Critical Global Citizenship Education Our research assumed the goal of Oxley and Morris (2013) on
A definition that serves as a general framework to understand CGCE:
global citizenship is that proposed by UNESCO (2018), which
Our goal is to develop a typology that includes both normative
states that it refers to the sense of belonging to a broader
and empirically grounded conceptions of GC in terms of their
community and to a common humanity, where there is
ideological underpinnings (. . .). It is thus intended as a device to
political, economic, and social and cultural interdependence, in explore the critical features of a construct that is understood in
interconnection with the local, national and world levels. This diverse ways and is changing overtime” (p. 305).
institution defines GCE as:
Critical global citizenship education requires critical literacy
to identify the ideological dimension of social problems and
Essentially, GCE addresses three core conceptual dimensions of
learning: for education to be transformative, knowledge (cognitive their stories, on a local and global scale, as well as making
domain) must touch the heart (socio-emotional domain) and turn invisibilised people and groups visible (Santisteban et al., 2016).
into action to bring about positive change (behavioural domain). It is necessary for CGCE to be accompanied by the teaching of
This framework emphasises an education that fulfils individual plurality, by the understanding that there are people and groups
and national aspirations and thus ensures the well-being of with different ways of thinking, with different ideologies and

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interests. CGCE sets out from the imperative that people and which are about ’international awareness’ or being a more
peoples have to learn to live together, within ethnic, cultural and rounded person (p. 6).
religious diversity (UNESCO, 2018). Social studies must serve to
teach us to organise ourselves locally and globally, to solve social Can CGCE be a possible answer to what Sant et al. (2018a,
conflicts and build a future together. p. 14) wondered: “Will global citizenship be part of a creating
The project also took as reference points the approaches world for all or will it serve a more destructive project of mono-
of Oxley and Morris (2013) who consider that there is a economic, mono-cultural and mono-political engagement that
direct relationship between global citizenship, cosmopolitan serves only a small elite?” In this case, it is essential to reflect
citizenship, and advocacy types. Cosmopolitan citizenship on the challenges and commitments implied in social studies
is specified in: political global citizenship, moral global education to achieve it.
citizenship, economic global citizenship, and cultural global
citizenship. For its part, advocacy types are specified in: social Critical Global Citizenship Education in
global citizenship, critical global citizenship, environmental Social Studies
citizenship, and spiritual global citizenship. Along these lines Despite the reviewed literature, there are authors who consider
we find the proposal of the project “Putting the World that the term is still very broad and difficult to specify for
into World-Class Education” (Department for Education and teaching (Tawil, 2013), since it does not include an identifiable
Skills, 2004), in which it is proposed that in order to area of educational theory or practice (Myers, 2006). In this
work on the global dimension in students the following sense, Grossman (2017) considers that GCE would be related
aspects should be considered: Citizenship, Social Justice, to different perspectives, such as multicultural education, peace
Sustainable development, Diversity, Values, and perceptions and education, environmental/sustainable education, human rights
Interdependence, Instilling a global dimension into the learning education and development education. These realities raise the
experience of all children and young people. need to define in our research what we understand by GCE.
From the perspective raised, CGCE is a type of education In the review of the global citizenship frameworks, Stromquist
that seeks to train citizens who recognise, understand social (2009) and Tully (2014) identify three types of approaches: social,
problems and are willing to think and act globally. This political and economic. For Oxley and Morris (2013) there are
perspective transcends the nation-state and is oriented to social, political, economic, cultural, environmental, and moral
the search for the highest moral imperatives (Cortina, 2009); perspectives. These interpretations are made from the theory of
that is, to the construction of social justice on a global world culture, social and critical citizenship, and world systems
scale (Davies, 2006; Torres, 2017; Sant et al., 2018b). On framed in post-colonialist theories of globalisation (Andreotti,
the other hand, faced with social problems, people have to 2006). That is why they have been especially focussed on in Social
analyse the historical, geographical, political, legal, sociological, Studies Education.
anthropological, economic, and legal aspects, so that GCE In the literature review on GCE and CGCE in social studies,
serves to “Empower individuals: to reflect critically on the there are studies that analyse their purposes (Bruce et al.,
legacies and processes of their cultures and contexts, to imagine 2019), the evaluation of proposals or methodologies for teaching
different futures and to take responsibility for their decisions and (O’Meara et al., 2018), the influence of global education to train
actions”(Andreotti, 2006, p. 169). In this perspective we identify global citizens (Larsen and Searle, 2017); the importance of
ourselves with the idea of an education for critical citizenship educating in the plural concept of identities and a global identity
(Andreotti, 2006; Tully, 2014). (Santisteban and González-Monfort, 2019); GCE from teaching
For Scheunpflug and Asbrand (2006) GCE oriented to social history (Metzger and Harris, 2018; Santisteban et al., 2018) and
justice is considered an appropriate framework to analyse heritage education (González-Valencia et al., 2020).
educational proposals, because it includes the central concepts The teaching of social sciences, geography and history,
of global citizenship and, in turn, those related to other aspects from a critical and interdisciplinary perspective, helps people
of education for the critical citizenship. This conception of GCE understand and participate in the solution of social problems.
echoes one of the roots of GCE theoretical framework which is These problems are increasingly global and affect differently
Freirean pedagogy (Scheunpflug and Asbrand, 2006). Because depending on which people and groups (Torres, 2009; Pagès
as Freire puts it: “For a more equitable and just society, at the and Santisteban, 2014; Anguera et al., 2018). Ultimately, it
heart of the development educational objectives, people must be is about understanding the relationship between citizenship
able to critically reflect on the world, challenge assumptions that and globalisation (Rapoport, 2009). Different social sciences
create oppression and reconstruct understanding based on this contribute essential elements to CGCE, which we summarise
collaborative inquiry” (Freire, 1970, p. 53). below (Figure 1):
The CGCE must have as its final objective the commitment
to social justice and not only have international awareness, • History shows the different ways of periodising
according to Davies (2006): history and temporal concepts such as simultaneity or
contemporaneity.
What seems to happen with global citizenship education is a • Geography helps to understand the interdependence
confirmation of the direct concern with social justice and not between the different territorial scales and to defend
just the more minimalist interpretations of global education sustainability throughout the planet.

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FIGURE 1 | Social sciences contribution to critical global citizenship education.

• Political science reflects on local, national and interrogating the premise that the world has one history is a good
international power, and transnational organisations way to start.” (Fillafer, 2017, p. 37)
in defence of democracy. Rüsen (2004), for example, understands that historiographical
• The economy interprets exchanges at the local and ethnocentrism is characterised by an asymmetric assessment,
global level, and imbalances in the distribution of theological continuity and centralised perspective, and proposes
resources and wealth. to address it through a “culture of recognition” (2004, p. 118)
• Sociology helps us to understand the structure and focussed on (1) normative equality; (2) the reconstruction
functioning of societies and their interrelationships at the of concepts from contingency and discontinuity, and (3)
local and global level. the multiperspective and polycentric approaches to historical
• Anthropology interprets the processes of cultural experience. Fontana (2013) left some indications for the
construction and identities in contexts of diversity. construction of a global approach on “people’s history”:
• The ethical and social justice aspects offer the necessary
tools to identify injustices, as central themes of the social 1) To abandon the narrative form and opt for a polyphonic
sciences. account through life histories from choosing “the sufficient
number of the high and low, large and small voices
of history to articulate them in a more meaningful
Social studies education on a global scale is an obvious and chorus” (2013, p. 192).
yet unresolved challenge. It has been thought about for decades, 2) To learn from concrete events and not from pre-
for example from history education, as the teaching of history established solutions.
has traditionally been linked to the monolithic views of national 3) To abandon linearity, which should allow “not only to
history. Some attempts have been made to adopt multicultural overcome Eurocentrism, but also determinism” (2013,
approaches to world history projections. In these, however, p. 195).
there are some dangers and resistance (Kocka, 2012; Brett and
Guyer, 2021), such as the need for some minority groups to Guldi and Armitage (2016) understand that the great
maintain identity spaces (Sabzalian, 2019). Currently, diversity challenge of building historical knowledge is to regain the public
and multiperspectivity seem to be core concepts for history mission with future projection, from recovering experiences
education from global perspectives (Fontana, 2013; Kropman and alternative models that serve as inspiration to imagining a
et al., 2021), attending Fillafer’s consideration: “If we want to possible alternative future. They consider it essential to apply
dislodge the structuring assumptions connected with globality, transnational and transtemporal perspectives. This would be

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achieved through (3) the articulation of the micro- and the sociohistorical facts are analysed from the interaction of different
macro-visions, through (4) the construction of macro-narratives sciences or disciplines.
that respond to current problems.
Proposals from decolonial perspectives raise the issue of
epistemological deconstruction on which academic historical MATERIALS AND METHODS
knowledge has been based (Massip, 2021). De Oliveira (2018)
proposes questioning all epistemological bases of the discipline Understanding the interaction between CGCE and the
from the silences of the gender at intersection with the ethnic and curriculum takes as reference the approaches of various
social class. Also, Alderete (2018) opts for the deconstruction of authors (Andreotti, 2006; Shultz, 2007; Oxley and Morris, 2013)
some basic premises of academic history, such as the conception and provides a teleological and conceptual structure for data
of historical time. He argues that “the experiential recovery analysis. This structure results from the assumption that social
of sub-altered sectors” cannot be given from a conception of facts are analysed from the interaction of different sciences or
historical time “which attributes such as linearity, homogeneity disciplines, with which causal or multi-causal explanations can
and monoculture come directly from European philosophy” (p. be built (O’Meara et al., 2018). This enables the research team to
141). He stands for (1) questioning the hegemonic notion of time, keep track of the different dimensions of GCE in the responses of
showing different ways to live and understand, and to (2) altering the research participants.
the micro- and macro-scales so that we can deal with atypical The study is comprehensive. The information has been
issues and obtain a general picture of historical realities, including obtained from students in the final year of compulsory secondary
non-hegemonic realities. education (Ministerio de Educación and Cultura y Deporte
Renner (2009) also proposes “connecting the curriculum with [MECD], 2015), which corresponds to an age between 15–
personal and local histories,” which relates to the importance 16 years (n = 253), from educational centres in Catalonia (Spain)
of starting from recent history and explaining the experiences in the 2018–2019 academic year. Regarding the educational stages
of oppressed people, their experiences, emotions, etc; (2) to which GCE has been directed, Reynolds (2015), in a review
Participating from school in situations where action can be taken of 1,110 articles on global citizenship and global education,
for social justice, and (3) favouring such participation outside points out that 46% are higher education studies, 33% from
the school centre. Ross (2018) also emphasises this (1) political secondary school, 17% from primary education, and 3% from
participation from school. At content level, it raises the need (2) early childhood education. These data indicate that more research
to address issues such as power, imperialism, marginalisation or is needed in non-university educational stages, bringing the
exploitation from critical thinking. Finally, (3) emphasising the research closer to what happens in school classrooms and clearly
agency from intentional actions. Santisteban et al. (2018), insist linking research and innovation.
on the need for The collection of information has been carried out by means
of a questionnaire in which students are presented with a series
1) the teacher being free to project global visions of the topics of cases, based on the theoretical framework, which they must
treated from independent decision-making; analyse and on which they must express their opinions. The
2) breaking with national, nationalist and Eurocentric central case, which explicitly represents the relationship between
approaches, understanding that “global subdivision, we the local and the global, is a photograph of the G20 meeting taken
argument, is uncomfortable the antithesis of national on 7 July 2017 in the city of Hamburg, Germany (Figure 2).
consciousness” (p. 461), and that Eurocentric approaches The case, according to Santisteban (2019), corresponds to a
to school history are what make most of the population controversial issue, since it presents the international leaders
excluded; at the same time that it makes evident a series of cultural
3) being based on the histories of humanity as a whole: conventions, the lack of diversity, the invisibility of people or
“History Education for Global Expire shall look at the groups and the gender imbalance.
histories of the whole humanity and challenge any The study is positioned on the methodological principles of
narratives of Western Supremacy” (p. 461); quantitative content analysis and a qualitative and quantitative
3) the content being selected from relevant social problems. interpretation of the data is carried out. Descriptive and
The proposal in the solo article by Pagès (2019) goes inferential statistical analyses of the students’ texts are carried out,
in the same direction: (1) to break with nationalist and and the appearance-absence and textual density of the theoretical
Eurocentric approaches, and (2) to stem from relevant attributes of the proposed conceptual model (Krippendorff, 1990;
social problems. In this case, however, it adds an interesting Bardin, 2002).
nuance as regards the concept of relevant social problems, The data obtained have been transcribed and organised
which is mentioned in many proposals, but which often in a matrix for analysis (Miles et al., 2014). A thematic
does not specify just what type of problem is referred to. coding has been carried out (Flick, 2004; Schreier, 2014). The
In this proposal by Pagès (2019), they would be specified as codes are defined based on the theoretical approach presented:
common human problems. temporality, territories, politics/democracy/ideology, economies,
social structures, cultural practices, ethics, and social justice. In
The current study places the emphasis on problem-based the analysis of the responses, it is identified whether or not the
projection on global perspectives, and the assumption that reference to the dimensions of the model appears, whether the

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presence is classified with a point, its absence with zero, in the 1. Students oriented to the description of the facts, who
case of appearing more than one reference to the same code, and mention 1 or 2 codes.
the number of occasions that it does. This allows us to identify 2. Interpretation-oriented students with a certain social
the frequency in which the dimensions of GCE appears. commitment, who mention 3 or 4 codes in their story.
With the results of the thematic coding, people are classified 3. Students oriented to critical appraisal and mention four or
on a scale of three levels, which correspond to what the project more codes and propose social actions.
assumes as levels of literacy. This is understood as “the ability to
read between the lines and go beyond them; that is, to identify
the socio-historical, ideological background and the intentions RESULTS
behind the books, images, videos or the media” (Castellví et al.,
2019, p. 25). Similar scales have been used by Bruce et al. (2019) The questionnaire was answered by 171 students in the 4th year
in their work. The scale proposed in the research is: of compulsory education (15–16 years), from seven secondary

FIGURE 2 | Central image on research instrument: G20 meeting, July 2017.

FIGURE 3 | Descriptive, interpretive, and critical answers.

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schools in Catalonia, all of them in the city of Barcelona and TABLE 1 | Analysing codes.
its metropolitan area. In the first phase of the analysis, the
Codes No %
students’ responses are read and placed in one of the three
proposed levels of analysis: focussed on description, oriented Social structures 118 44.7
toward interpretation or with a critical perspective. The results Politics, democracy, and ideology 96 36.4
show that in the case presented, the majority (61.4%) are Ethics and social justice 20 7.6
located at the level of description, there being almost twice the Cultural practices 16 6.1
number of students with an interpretive orientation in their Economic aspects 7 2.7
answers (33.3%). The critical level is only present in 1.1% of The spaces of the facts 5 1.9
the total. This information shows that the group of participants Temporality of the events 2 0.8
identifies the factual characteristics of the image, without actually Total 264 100.0
reading beyond what is evident, without taking into account the
possible readings of the implicit meaning at the political, cultural,
economic level, etc. account that each student response could refer to different
When analysing the data by educational institution, it is codes (Table 1).
found that the descriptive level is the highest in six of the seven The coding of the responses shows that the dimension
institutions (Figure 3). In two of them, the difference between the “social structures” and “democracy, politics and ideology” are
descriptive and the interpretive levels was 63.6 points, the highest the ones with the highest incidence (81.1%). This shows that the
difference in all the institutions. In general, the dispersion of the descriptive level is characterised by relating these two dimensions
data is wide and ranges between 7.1 and 63.6 points of difference. which, on the other hand, are also central dimensions in critical
In the institution where the interpretive level is the highest, there citizenship education. At this point in the analysis, a possible
is a difference of 29.4 points from the descriptive one. Only two relationship emerged between the critical level and the ethics and
institutions have critical levels, but the values do not exceed 8%. social justice dimension (Figure 4). In the educational institution
These data reflect a significant weight of the descriptive level in that obtained the highest score on the interpretive level, its
the student responses. students focus on aspects related to social structures and ethics
The students’ responses have been processed through content and social justice. This last dimension is also the majority in
analysis with two analytical procedures. The first is a process one of the institutes that stands out at the critical level. For
of coding the responses. The second is the identification of the these reasons, it seems that students at the interpretive and
words that appear most frequently. The first process consists critical levels are more likely to take into account aspects of
of reading the responses and assigning one or more codes social structures and social justice. The responses of the other
(political power, ways of dressing, annually, male power, strong school that achieved better results at the critical level focus
economies, inequality, gender, Germany, injustice, etc.), and on the dimensions of politics and democracy, social structures,
each one of these codes is associated in one of the dimensions and the economy.
of the CGCE (temporality, spaces, politics/democracy/ideology, These results can help in the construction of educational
economies, social structures, cultural practices, ethics, and social proposals for critical citizenship. In fact, this is what Andreotti
justice). In this phase, 264 codes were identified, taking into (2006) suggests, considering that critical citizenship education

70,0
62,1
60,0

50,0

40,0 35,1

30,0

20,0

10,0
1,1
0,0
Descrip�ve Interpre�ve Cri�cal
62,1 35,1 1,1

FIGURE 4 | Percentage of descriptive, interpretive, and critical answers, per school.

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González-Valencia et al. Frame of Global Citizenship Education

must be oriented to the values that promote critical analysis “This image when looking at it generates a lot of injustice to me
of societies and social justice. If we make a general balance, when I see that in the countries of the world only three or four
according to the data obtained as a whole, we can suggest that women govern as presidents and the other 25–30 are men.”
the interpretive and critical levels require an increasingly complex The analysis shows us that, although the descriptive level is
outlook, which includes significant references to a maximum the majority in the responses, the students manage to identify
number of dimensions of GCE and, especially, to the defence that the photograph reflects the inequality between men and
of social justice. women in political decision-making, where women are always
To identify the words that appear more frequently, the in the minority. Identifying this situation in the image, which is
TermoStat software has been applied to carry out a lexicographic evident, can be interpreted as a first level of analysis, but that does
analysis of the response corpus. As a result of this analysis, we not go beyond the obvious, which is that it does not reflect what
observe that the word that appears most frequently is “woman,” causes this situation or what consequences are derived from this
which occurs 113 times, in 100 responses out of a total of 171; that marginalisation of women. Nor does it take into account that in
is, 58.5% of the responses used this word explicitly. It is followed these central spheres of power, decisions can be made against the
by the word “man” that appears 85 times. When the words injustices suffered by women in the world. Getting to establish
“woman” and “man” appear together, it is always to indicate the this type of relationship is what could give more quality to the
low presence of women in the photograph and, especially, the lack students’ stories, to go beyond the obvious or factual.
of women in the organs of representation or political power, as Given these results, we ask ourselves: what should characterise
reflected in the image. These are the comments of two students: an education for critical global citizenship? The results offer us
“Both society and the government have to start accepting that as some revelations; for example, that students approaching the
women we also know about politics... In this image you can see responses from the critical level prioritise ethical and social
that the rulers of most countries are men, and I think this should justice implications in their analyses. It seems clear that the
change over time since women increasingly make themselves critical level demands a critical citizen consciousness in the face of
heard more and at least there are representatives, not like in the social problems, and requires capacities to identify inequalities or
past when you were not allowed to govern as a woman.” social injustices, and also that students are capable of proposing
“Only one woman appears in the entire meeting. I observe that alternatives to these problems. We have obtained information
there are only four women, and the one that stands out the most that we find useful to make advances in critical global citizenship
since she is in the middle and wearing a distinctive colour is education and, in this sense, the dimensions described can help
Angela Merkel, all the rest of the people are men.” us to think about new educational proposals.
The responses reflect an analysis from the gender perspective,
which is very significant in sociological terms, because it shows DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
that the new generations identify, from a global perspective, the
existence of inequalities between men and women in all political The theoretical perspective that frames the research is critical
and social settings and, in a specific way, in the organisms or global citizenship education (CGCE) (Oxley and Morris, 2013;
institutions of representation and power in the world. However, Davies et al., 2018), which places the education of people to
these results contrast with the high presence of responses identify and act at the centre of teaching against injustices on a
that are located at a descriptive level, without looking deeper global level. To this end, it is necessary to identify the ideological
into the causes or consequences of the invisibility of women and hegemonic dimensions of the events or social problems,
in certain areas. in order to work for global social justice (Sant et al., 2018b).
In secondary education institutions in which the critical level In this process, progress must be made in improving critical
is reached, even if it is a minority, the codes with the greatest literacy, developing cognitive skills in the critical interpretation
presence are those of gender inequality (41/68) and that of male of information, but also to intervene in society and produce
power, which has just confirmed the importance of the references social changes as global citizens (Curley et al., 2018). It is
to the situation of women within the set of responses. These about orientating students’ work toward a global transformative
references focus on pointing out the existence of inequalities that change, as O’Connor and Zeichner (2011) state.
are reflected in the social structure. In the students’ responses there are very few references to
This pattern of responses is common to all secondary elements that we could relate, directly or indirectly, to post-
education institutions in which we have carried out research; colonial discourses. This may be due to the excessive presence
therefore, it can be noted that there is a significant number of of the Eurocentric perspective in the history and social sciences
responses that indicate the need to give more prominence to curriculum. Post-colonial discourse is in the centre of the
women in the social structure, politics and democracy. This is theoretical approaches of GCCC (Davids, 2018), as a response
also associated with the idea that the greater the presence and to the Eurocentric discourses, which are often hegemonic. It is
participation of women the more social justice there will be. important to make teaching proposals about the consequences
“It seems to me a macho image, because only th
of globalisation in different parts of the world (Andreotti, 2006;
Oxley and Morris, 2013).
ree women appear in it and I at least understand by that that The analysis shows that the students establish some
only men should govern and it does not seem fair to me.” relationships between the global and local scale, as demonstrated

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González-Valencia et al. Frame of Global Citizenship Education

by Goren and Yemini (2017) or Çolak et al. (2019), in their critical reading of the media from GCE (Tawil, 2013; Culver and
research. But this relationship, according to our results, remains Kerr, 2014; Pathak-Shelat, 2018; Kim, 2019).
in the statement of some dimensions of GCE to describe the On the other hand, more specific training of teachers at
facts or social problems, but only a small minority is capable of university or in their professional development, on the content of
establishing the interdependence between territorial scales. The GCE is necessary (Howe, 2012; Larsen and Searle, 2017; O’Meara
two research works cited agree on the need to educate on the et al., 2018; Sant, 2018; Tarozzi and Mallon, 2019). In this last
implications of being a global citizen. aspect, we have to accept that without a teacher capable of
Our findings showed, in terms of literacy, that the majority teaching CGCE in secondary education, any type of educational
of students are located at the descriptive level of social facts, change is impossible, which is why a new training in citizenship
although they are aware of the negative elements of some aspects education is essential (Yang et al., 2017), and that education
of globalisation or of the social facts analysed, making mention contemplates historical, geographical, political, economic, socio-
of aspects such as inequality, injustice, marginalisation, poverty, anthropological aspects and an ethical and social justice approach
exploitation, etc., which coincides with the results of the works (González-Valencia, 2013; González-Valencia and Santisteban,
of Torres (2015). The interpretative level accounts for almost half 2016).
of the descriptive level, and the critical level is only slightly more The data show that ethics and social justice are two dimensions
than 1%, although in two centres it is between 7 and 8%. that are present at the critical level. This data is very important
The textual dimension suggests that students place at the for thinking about educational proposals; for example, from the
centre of their stories firstly social structures, then politics, study of controversial issues, social problems or existing social
democracy and ideology, and at a greater distance, ethics and issues on a local-global scale, as proposed by Davies et al. (2005);
social justice, and somewhat less cultural practices. The absence Davies (2006), and Santisteban (2019), from critical pedagogy, as
of references to temporality and territorial context is striking. an alternative to teaching social sciences, history, geography and
The allusions to economic aspects were also scarce. This last new proposals for education for citizenship.
aspect is surprising in the analysis of a fact that refers precisely We know that the concept of education for global citizenship
to economic power. But the results are consistent with what is has different readings and meanings in each region of the world,
stated by Goren and Yemini (2017) in their research. We also as shown by studies on the representations of students and
agree in this sense with authors such as Hedtke (2018), who teachers from different continents or countries (Davies et al.,
considers an economic education essential to understand the 2018). In Europe, for example, young people know and value
logic of globalisation and sustainability, and to make decisions human rights as an essential good for the development of
from a critical and social justice perspective. humanity, but there are important differences between countries
The students who are located at the critical level have in on what citizenship education should be and how it should be
common that in their answers they made reference to aspects practiced and how it should be understood. In Catalonia our
associated with social structures and, especially, with ethics and students show their commitment to social justice, but they lack
social justice. This last dimension is the essential difference critical literacy tools to move on to responsible social action.
between those who were at the critical level and those who were It seems that this situation could be common to many other
not. These dimensions appear explicitly in the approaches of countries and that it would be necessary to work together, as
Andreotti (2006); Davies (2006), Oxley and Morris (2013); Sant stated for example by Lee (2015), for Asian countries.
(2018), and Sant et al. (2018b), who coincide in pointing out The results obtained in this research lead us to subscribe to the
the importance of an education for social justice in CGCE, with reflection of Merryfield and Subedi (2001):
explicit attention to this dimension.
Let us remember the question that guided the research: Do In the new millennium, even a multicultural American centric
curriculum will be inadequate. For no matter whether Americans
secondary school students apply the CGCE dimensions when
choose to ignore or reject the realities of globalisation, they
analysing events or social problems? These findings lead us to will increasingly be affected by the world’s human diversity,
ask ourselves a new question: What and how should we educate the acceleration of inequities from economic, ecological and
students in the complexity of the various dimensions of CGCE in technological dependence, and the repercussions of global
the analysis of facts or social problems? It is necessary to create imperialism, human conflict, poverty, and injustice. If we are to
more proposals and materials that facilitate the work of teachers educate young Americans for effective citizenship in today’s global
to address CGCE, we need educational intervention proposals, age, the social studies curriculum must go beyond European
especially from the teaching of social sciences, which address the or American constructions of knowledge and also teach the
different dimensions raised. experiences, knowledge, and perspectives of diverse peoples in
The data show that there is a certain global citizen awareness Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. A world-centred
global education removes the nationalistic filters that only allow
and a certain social commitment, given the fundamental
students to see events, ideas, and issues through the lens of
problems that globalisation can pose, but the levels of critical
their country’s national interests and government policy. It also
literacy are very low, coinciding on this point with the study challenges colonialist assumptions of superiority and manifest
by Delacruz (2019). We also agree with this author that young destiny (p. 277–278).
people are digital natives, but they need explicit work to train
critical thinking. The causes of these needs detected may be, We also agree with other authors, such as Girard and
among others, the lack of practical teaching proposals aimed at McArthur, 2018, who propose a teaching of history that sets

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González-Valencia et al. Frame of Global Citizenship Education

aside Eurocentric approaches and that is an instrument at the DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
service of social change. They propose that young people be
helped to develop a global historical consciousness. On the other The raw data supporting the conclusions of this
hand, the foundations of a national identity do not contradict the article will be made available by the authors, without
acceptance of belonging to a global citizenship, as also shown by undue reservation.
various studies on identities and global citizenship (Sant et al.,
2015; Leek, 2016).
In short, we propose a CGCE to educate people with the ETHICS STATEMENT
skills to identify injustices and inequalities in the world, and
act accordingly, which are part of a citizenry that Banks (2008) Ethics aspects are under good practices guidelines from
calls “transformative citizenship,” based on an education that: University Autonomous of Barcelona agreement (Consejo de
“helps students to develop reflective cultural, national, regional, Gobierno, el 30 de enero de 2013). Written informed consent to
and global identifications and to acquire the knowledge and skills participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal
needed to promote social justice in communities, nations, and the guardian/next of kin.
world” (p. 137).
Will this global world be a host home for everyone, or
the disputed land? (Garcés, 2018). The results of our research, AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
contrasted with other international studies, lead us to consider
that education for critical global citizenship can be defined All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual
with new criteria and dimensions, with special emphasis on the contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
teaching of social sciences, based on research that we are aware
of. Perhaps the time has come to rethink our goals, experiences
and innovations as researchers, teachers and students, as global ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
citizens, committed to education for social justice, to make sure
this global world will be a host home for everyone. This research is part of the project PID2019-107383RB-I00.

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Navarro-Medina (Hershey PA: IGI Global), 551–567. Publisher’s Note: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors
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Citizenship Education,” in The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Copyright © 2022 González-Valencia, Massip Sabater and Santisteban Fernández.
Education, eds I. Davies, L.-C. Ho, D. Kiwan, C. Peck, A. Peterson, E. Sant, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
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Frontiers in Education | www.frontiersin.org 13 May 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 867113