Pedagogy framework for Global Citizenship: teachers’ tool for supporting global competence

In rage and love, without
which there is no hope,
in dialogue, it is possible
to remake the world.

Paolo Freire 1994

Making the world sustainably a tiny bit better place for everyone is what essentially sparked the BeGlobal project to create the Pedagogy Framework for Global Citizenship. It was co-created with the participation of all partner institutions: Universidad Católica del Maule (Chile), Universidad de la Santísima Concepción (Chile), Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Diós (Colombia), Fundación Universitaria Juan N. Corpas (Colombia) and Université Côte d’Azur (France). The aim of the pedagogy framework is to serve as a practical tool for trainers both within the BeGlobal project and beyond: it supports the trainers’ work in facilitating the students’ learning on global citizenship.

BeGlobal, Be in Dialogue

Educating people to become global citizens in different places and within different cultural canvases is one of the tasks we decided to tackle while working on global competence and pedagogy to support it. How is one to do that when diversity in pedagogical practises and local circumstances vary significantly? In dialogue, says Paolo Freire and in hope, we can and will recreate the globe (Freire 1994). So, to create hope and to provide the trainers a sash for pedagogy to strengthen global competence, we at Haaga-Helia’s vocational teacher education facilitated a process of co-thinking in global citizenship pedagogy to create the pedagogical framework for Global Citizenship.

Global Citizenship Education

Global citizenship is the umbrella term for social, political, environmental, and economic actions of globally minded individuals and communities on a worldwide scale. The term can refer to the belief that individuals are members of multiple, diverse, local and non- local networks rather than single actors affecting isolated societies. This aspect is not specific knowledge that can be learned at once, and traditional learning methods are not enough to achieve competences (knowledge, skills, attitudes) in Global citizenship and internationalization.

Economically, environmentally, socially and politically, we are linked to other people on the planet as never before. With the transformations that the world has gone through in the past decades – expansion of digital technology, international travel and migration, economic crises, conflicts, and environmental degradation – how we work, teach and learn has to change, too. UNESCO promotes global citizenship education to help learners understand the world around them and work together to fix the big problems that affect everyone, no matter where they are from (Unesco 2024).

Global Citizenship Education (GCED) is about teaching and learning to become these global citizens who live together peacefully on one planet.

Developing the Framework

In our initial expectations The BeGlobal Pedagogy Framework for Global Citizenship (PFGC) would serve as a backbone for the project development in general and would also guide all the participants during the project implementation as well as beyond its completion. As a teachers’ tool it also has longevity beyond the project implementation for trainers in Global Competence to come.

The following questions guided us during the co-creation process:

• What is our common understanding of a pedagogy framework?
• What key elements should be included in the context of the BeGlobal project?
• What structure and format should be chosen to ensure accessibility and a user-friendly framework?
• How to make it a collaborative process within the BeGlobal community of practice?
• What are the core values and processes upon which the pedagogy is build?

For a shared understanding of global citizenship pedagogy and to answer together to all questions a set of encounters and a variety of facilitation methods were implemented. We applied a design approach for the co-creation. We gathered ideas on sticky notes. We drew and painted images on global citizenship. We played games about cultural differences. We threw rumbled paper balls containing local issues of concern to the participants. We danced. We laughed. We snag. With a Global Goals application, we searched for possibilities for individual and communal local civic action.

The BeGlobal Pedagogy Framework for Global Citizenship had already some preconditions stated in the project proposal: constructive alignment and learning design approach, gamification and serious games, inclusion, equity and inclusion, sustainability. However, when initiating the process for co-creation we also realized the importance of hope in accomplishing a sustainable pedagogical approach for Global Citizenship development. Thus, Freirean thought on hope and education became an integral part of the framework. “Hope is rooted in men’s incompletion, from which they move out in constant search—a search which can be carried out only in communion with others.”, says Freire (1972, 91). It is this kind of active and interactive search the BeGlobal Pedagogy Framework for Global Citizenship and especially the process of co-creating it represents to us.

Between every version of the framework, we launched into lengthy conversations about the key values and concepts of the framework and its implications. By fostering diversity and encouraging versatile approaches a shared vision was discovered and an enriching dialogue sustained. As a result, we reached a shared understanding and a framework for the pedagogy in global competence.

The Pedagogy for Global Citizenship framework PGCF

A pedagogical framework refers to an integrated set of philosophical considerations, teaching preferences, and learning values that inform and motivate instructors in designing and facilitating a learning experience. It guides educators in making purposeful decisions about how to structure learning environments, select teaching methods, and engage with students. Essentially, it provides a conceptual foundation for effective teaching and learning practices. (Starr-Glass 2016.)

In the context of education, a pedagogical framework encompasses principles, strategies, and approaches that guide educators in their instructional design, classroom management, and assessment practices. It helps create a coherent and intentional learning environment that supports student growth and achievement. It is designed to support teachers/trainers in the delivery of quality teaching/training that will improve student learning and competence development. (Koç & Goodell 2018.)

The BeGlobal PGCF has the shape of a globe and looks a bit like a dart board (Picture 1). The aim of the learning process the framework tools is to facilitate Global Citizenship, hence, the centre of the framework is the bull’s eye. Clicking the button leads to a material on Global Citizenship.

Picture 1: BeGlobal: Pedagogy for Global Citizenship Framework (PGCF)

The PGCF has a layered structure:

• The outer layer names of the values that frame the BeGlobal Pedagogy for Global Citizenship Framework. Behind each of the values there is a PDF-link to an additional material. These values frame everything else within the framework and are the guidelines for the trainings where PGCF is used as a basis. The values: Hope, equity, inclusion and sustainability can also be seen as goal for trainings, since there is still a lot to be done in order to make the world a good place for everyone.
• The next layer describes the concrete actions within the Global Citizenship Training. They are both actions of the trainer and learning outcomes for the students. The layer contains four verbs that describe both what the trainer is expected to do in the trainings and the competence outcomes for the students while in the training and after the training. Both the trainee and the trainer will engage and be engaged, understand and be facilitated to understand better, investigate and be able to take appropriate action, and participate in diverse interactions when it comes to shared local and global issues.
• In the third layer: Global, Local, Community, both the learning of global competence, and global citizenship in civil action happen. All learning happens within a community. In the context of Global Citizenship this community is inevitably both the local and global community. In the PGCF there is a layer representing this communal dimension within which is the learning process and the desired competences in Global Citizenship.
• The three pieces of the puzzle in the inner part of the framework give the constructive alignment structure of the Global Citizenship training. Behind the three pieces, there is additional material for the trainer. This layer of the PGCF includes the three constructive alignment pedagogy stages that create a learning experience for the student and align the trainers process of designing, maintaining and assessing it (see e.g. Biggs & Tang 2003). In the PGCF the learning outcomes are in reference to the Global Competence Framework, where the four drops name the four main learning outcomes hoped to be achieved: knowledge, values, attitudes and skills in Global Citizenship (OECD 2018).

The learning activities piece contains a template for creating pedagogical script and a concise material on gamification pedagogy. The Toolkit for Internationalization@home experiences will be added later while the BeGlobal project proceeds. Assessment is connected both to learning outcomes and learning activities. It is needed for constant re-evaluation of the adequacy of the pedagogical choices made by the trainer. The assessment piece of the puzzle introduces a Global Competence Assessment Rubric and a self-evaluation and feedback template.

A successful pedagogical process for Global Citizenship enhances both the trainees’ and the trainers’ global competence in a co-designed dialogical learning experience. Promoting global competence both locally and globally is the core target of the BeGlobal Pedagogy for Global Citizenship Framework.

The framework is explained on the following video.

Future considerations

The digital tools used for gamification are developing fast and the global and local issues faced by all nation are worryingly increasing, so the framework’s sustainability as a trainers’ tool is constantly challenged. However, the pedagogical core remains valid.

The BeGlobal Pedagogical framework for Global Citizenship will be used as a guideline for providing BeGlobal Global Citizenship training in the next years to come in the project. Hopefully, it will have value for trainers of Global competence also in the long term. Co-creating it within a global community has been a stimulating learning experience. We will put the framework into action during the BeGlobal training week in November 2024 at Haaga-Helia.

The next steps of capacitating global competences in the partner countries will be implementing the pedagogy framework in constructing a Training for Global Citizenship, creating serious games for learning global competences and providing the trainers with a toolkit of innovative internationalization@home experiences. Educating global citizens in a constantly changing world is an ongoing endeavour that requires relentless re-assessment, openness to incessant dialogue and resilience in building hope for all Global Citizens.

Hence there is a
need for a kind of
education in hope.

Paolo Freire 1994

Picture: Shutterstock