Reflexive Pedagogy and Perspective Consciousness in Global Citizenship Education

This chapter discusses teaching strategies designed to help students develop an open-minded and critically self-reflective worldview. By attending to the perceptual dimension of global citizenship education, students and instructors begin the important work of reflecting on the deeper influences that consciously or unconsciously influence one’s global perspective. Research suggests that these goals are best achieved through cross-cultural learning experiences that involve people of different backgrounds. The cross-cultural learning experiences discussed in this chapter include meeting with local residents who moved to the United States within the last decade and who now send their children to the schools that students enrolled in teacher education courses would teach in. Additionally, technology was used to connect graduate students seeking their teaching license in the United States with graduate students and teachers in Durban, South Africa as part of an ongoing reflection on how one develops perspective consciousness. The learning activities described below align with the tenets of global education because they are not specific to one discipline or content area but rather focus on ways to develop habits of mind, perspective consciousness, cross-cultural learning opportunities, and a sense of responsibility as aspiring educators that are applicable across the sciences, arts, and humanities.