Abstract

Globalization has a profound effect on the mission and goals of education worldwide. One of its most visible manifestations is the worldwide endorsement of the idea of “education for global citizenship,” which has been enthusiastically supported by national governments, politicians, and policy-makers across different nations. What is the role of international schools in implementing the idea of “education for global citizenship”? How do these schools attempt to create a culturally unbiased global curriculum when the adopted models have been developed by Western societies and at the very least are replete with (Western) cultural values, traditions, and biases? Drawing on findings from a recently published book, Globalizing Minds (2014), this presentation will attempt to answer some of these questions, revealing how culture and politics intertwine with schooling and curriculum as parents, administrators, teachers, and students of different backgrounds and interests negotiate definitions of self and each other in constructing knowledge in particular contexts. The goal is to examine the complexity of factors that drive the worldwide demand for “education for global citizenship” and de-construct the contested nature of “global citizenship” by examining how the phenomenon is understood, interpreted, and modified in different cultural settings.