Abstract
We apply semi-structured interviews to conceptualise perceptions of global citizenship among teachers at an international school and teachers at a local public school in Israel, revealing discrepancies between theory and practice in global citizenship education (GCE). We find that teachers perceive global citizenship differently along three major axes: boundaries of global citizenship, practical aspects of GCE, and through the effect of Israel’s context. This study offers a comparative perspective that discerns the differing impacts of school context and student background on teacher perceptions at different kinds of schools and highlights the importance of teacher agency in GCE.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Teachers who declared themselves previously unfamiliar with the term were told that global citizenship is a perception of identity as belonging to the broader world, usually alongside national identities. The interviewer explained that this perception could involve global problem solving, issues of mobility, human rights and other issues; teachers were instructed to regard this definition loosely to enable them to incorporate their own conceptions.