Preparing for life in the global village: producing global citizen subjects in UK schools

Abstract

This paper adds to a growing body of literature which views global citizenship education as part of a broader social and cultural process of subjectivity production. Rather than focus on global citizenship in relation to pedagogy or curriculum content, as much of the previous research literature has done, this paper examines it in relation to the practice of travel. Drawing on data generated in ethnographic fieldwork in two UK schools, the paper explores the way in which the young people in these settings used travel to position themselves as successful, mobile, global citizen subjects. The paper argues that these subjectivities were negotiated as part of a dynamic process: one which took place across multiple spaces, in a myriad of different relationships, and in the deployment of a number of different power relations. The paper concludes with some thoughts about the practice of school travel and how it might effectively be focused upon in future research.

Keywords:

• global citizenship education
• subjectivity
• social class
• schooling
• travel
• global citizenship

Notes

1. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the term sixth-form is sometimes used to refer to the final two years of secondary education.

2. ISC refers to the Independent School’s Council which accounts for approximately 1200 of independent schools in the UK.

3. ‘Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents’ is a British reality television programme which follows groups of young people as they holiday abroad.