What does research on teachers and global citizenship education say? A literature review

Abstract

This article reports on a scoping review (Arksey and O'Malley, 2005) of the thematic focuses, methodologies, theoretical approaches and results of empirical research on global citizenship education (GCE) and teachers. For this purpose, 29 "open access" articles were considered from the databases consulted that met the inclusion criteria determined for the study, which were examined using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The main results allow us to propose five types of studies according to the samples of their participants (practicing teachers, teachers in training, various educational actors including teachers, teacher trainers and expert teachers). It is also possible to note a tendency in the thematic to focus on teachers' understanding, perception and significance of GCE, with fewer studies investigating teaching practices and application of this approach. In addition, a methodological tendency is identified that privileges the qualitative paradigm and the case study design. It is concluded that the conceptual category of GCE does not generate a broad consensus among the teachers investigated, externalizing criticisms regarding the Western and universalist view that it proposes.