Value-Creating Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Development

Strategies and Approaches

Namrata Sharma

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9783030580612
• eBook ISBN:
  9783030580629
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Comparative Education

This volume brings together marginalized perspectives and communities into the mainstream discourse on education for sustainable development and global citizenship. Building on her earlier work, Sharma uses non-western perspectives to  challenge dominant agendas and the underlying Western worldview in the UNESCO led discourse on global citizenship education. Chapters develop the theoretical framework around the three domains of learning within the global citizenship education conceptual dimensions of UNESCO--the cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral--and offer practical insights for educators. Value-creating global citizenship education is offered as a pedagogical approach to education for sustainable development and global citizenship in addition to and complementing other approaches mentioned within the recent UNESCO guidelines. 

© The Author(s) 2020

N. SharmaValue-Creating Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable DevelopmentPalgrave Studies in Global Citizenship Education and Democracyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58062-9_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction: A Commitment to Sustainable Development Through Intercultural Perspectives

Namrata Sharma¹

(1)

Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Abstract

This chapter introduces the main arguments of this book that develops suggestions for the practice of value-creating global citizenship education as a pedagogical approach for sustainable development. One of the six themes proposed for this approach is used as the framework for discussions in this chapter: a commitment to sustainable development through intercultural perspectives. The arguments are situated within the discourse on the UNESCO-led initiatives of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCE), and their interrelated domains of learning—cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral. This chapter engages with the cognitive dimension of learning to know and offers strategies to strengthen an intercultural approach to curriculum toward and beyond the 2030 Agenda that can be infused or incorporated within formal, non-formal, and informal education settings.

Keywords

Education for sustainable developmentGlobal citizenship educationLearning to knowSokaSustainable development goals

End Abstract

Introduction

Some of the urgent concerns for education in the twenty-first century include climate change, outbreak of a global pandemic, technological explosion, migration, and the politics of narrow nationalism. As a response to some of these issues, in September 2015, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted at the 70th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly with active participation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Of these goals, SDG 4 aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (UN 2015). Target 4.7 of SDG 4 addresses Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and related approaches such as Global Citizenship Education (GCED or GCE) to foster global citizens who can meet the current challenges of our time. The aim of target 4.7 is, “by 2030, ensure all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and culture’s contribution to sustainable development” (ibid.). The UN has recognized ESD as an integral element of SDG 4 on education and a key enabler of all the other SDGs (UNESCO 2019).

Value -creating global citizenship education has been proposed as a pedagogical approach through my previous book (Sharma 2018) that engaged with debates centered on global citizenship education. This new work expands the discussions to include education for sustainable development and global citizenship and develops strategies and approaches for policy and praxis. The arguments are located within the discourse on ESD and GCE. This approach can be used not just for ESD and GCE praxis but also across formal, non-formal, and informal learning, promoting education for citizenship and sustainable development.

My long-term studies conducted across India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States engage with Soka or value-creating education developed by the Japanese educators, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871–1944), Josei Toda (1900–1958), and Daisaku Ikeda (b. 1928). Through a comparative lens, I have examined the confluences in their ideas with other thinkers, including Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi alias Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948). Gandhi is well known as the political leader who galvanized millions of people to be involved in the non-violent satyagraha (lit. truth-force) movement for India’s independence from the British regime. He is less known for his educational work, for example, his proposals for Nai Talim (lit. “new education,” also known as the Wardha Scheme of Education). There are several reasons as to why Gandhi’s ideas were largely disregarded after his death, including the differences in political judgments between him and his successor, the first prime minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) (Sharma 1999: 31–34, 2008: 57–71).

Makiguchi , Toda, and Ikeda’s efforts for peace, culture, and education are now starting to be recognized worldwide, for example, through Ikeda’s annual peace proposals that are often directed to various UN-led initiatives. Ikeda is the founder of several institutions that include 15 Soka kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, a women’s college, and universities in seven countries across Asia and the Americas. Makiguchi, Toda, and Ikeda are also the leaders of the lay Buddhist organization, the Soka Gakkai. Members of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) across 192 countries and territories have provided support to UN-led and local needs-based efforts to build a peaceful and sustainable world.

My engagement with the abovementioned thinkers (Sharma 2008, 2018) argues that their ideas and proposals can make a substantial contribution to the discourse on education for citizenship. For example, there are lessons that can be learned from their strategies, behaviors, and beliefs as leaders of one of the largest mass movements in the recent history of their respective nations, who have also had a sustained influence abroad. An examination of their lives also suggests that there are often political implications from acting based on one’s values, such as world peace for the Soka progenitors and non-violence for Gandhi. As discussed previously (ibid.), contradictions and paradoxes often emerge when one takes action in real-world politics, and there are merits in studying about these and other controversial issues within the classroom. In fostering citizens to act based on their values, needs, and perceptions, education for global citizenship can learn lessons from people across Western and non-Western diasporas who have been embroiled in their own socio-political realities. My work contributes to a values-based perspective and approach that is lacking in the present discourse on GCE (see Waghid 2018 for a Southern African values-based discussion of GCE).

Further, the arguments of this book are also framed to develop an intercultural approach to curricula for education for sustainable development and global citizenship. This can facilitate what Gaudelli (2009) calls a “dialogic bent” within the curriculum so that students encounter multiple worldviews within classroom processes. To help contextualize the proposals being made through this study, the next section provides a brief summary of the emerging discourse in this field.¹

Examining ESD and GCE Through a Values-Based Lens

Several scholarships in the field of GCE have challenged the Western-dominated agendas and an underlying Western worldview (Andreotti 2006, 2011; Andreotti and de Souza 2012; Bowden 2003; Calhoun 2002; Dill 2013; Gaudelli 2016; Jooste and Heleta 2017; Merryfield 2009; Tarozzi and Torres 2016; Torres 2017). The variety of analyses includes postcolonial critiques, studies on the existing pedagogical assumptions within GCE, the relevance of alternative paradigms for praxis, and the need for multicultural curriculum.

The focus of my work has been to contribute to the intercultural dimension of education within formal, non-formal, and informal education. My argument is that curricula must be non-centric across education settings within nation-states that aim to foster global citizens. That is, an endeavor must be made to include the knowledge of not only the dominant groups within national, regional, and global societies, but also the subordinate and minority groups. There must also be an attempt to include the cultures and values of less widely known perspectives in the practice of education. This is necessary for a variety of reasons. For exa...

Table of contents

• Palgrave Studies in Global Citizenship Education and Democracy
• Value-Creating Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Development
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• List of Figures
• About the Author
• 1. Introduction: A Commitment to Sustainable Development Through Intercultural Perspectives
• 2. Value-Creating Global Citizenship Education: A Pedagogical Approach
• 3. An Awareness of Climate Change as Planetary Citizens
• 4. A Commitment to Reflective, Dialogic, and Transformative Learning
• 5. An Understanding of Peace and Non-violence as Being Central to the Human Rights Agenda
• 6. Culminating Lessons, Moving Forward
• 7. Conclusion: A Belief in the Value-Creating Capacity for Social and Self-Actualization, Uncertainty, and Change
• Conceptual Toolbox
• Select Annotated Bibliography for Further Reading
• Indian and Japanese Glossary
• Index1