Chapter 2: RE- and Decontextualizing Global Citizenship Education: Systematic Analysis of the Scholarship in the Field

The global increase of the incorporation of Global Citizenship Education (GCE)-related contents in education systems and teacher education in recent decades (Bamber et al., 2016; Gaudelli, 2016) has generated scholarship, both empirical and theoretical (Goren & Yemini, 2017a). An explanation for the rise in GCE internationally is often described as a response to economic, social, and political changes that have made countries more interconnected with enhanced international mobility (Gaudelli, 2016). Globalization is claimed to contribute to more diverse societies that consequently require engagement with broader, more inclusive conceptions of citizenship (Banks, 2017; Davies et al., 2018).

One area understudied in the GCE scholarship is teacher education. Teachers may be the most influential agents of GCE, determining both the ways and the extent to which it is implemented in classrooms (Goren & Yemini, 2016; Schweisfurth, 2006). Professional development programs aimed at fostering global citizenship (GC) among teachers and preparing them for teaching GCE have been shown to positively impact teachers’ predispositions towards these fields and their understanding of them (Appleyard & McLean, 2011). Our systematic review analyzed the academic literature on GCE and teacher education between 2006 and 2017 in order to understand how teacher education scholars are theorizing and researching the presence of GCE in teacher education programs. This review enables readers to see how the foci of GCE in teacher education have evolved over the past decade, what issues are central in the related academic discourse, and which have been omitted over time or have been largely ignored. The review reveals what issues are considered global under the umbrella of GCE, what strategies and pedagogies are associated with the teaching of global issues in this context, and highlights the increase over time in portrayals of teachers as the most central agent in exposing students to global issues.