High school students’ perceptions of global citizenship in central public high schools: Implications for teacher educators

Abstract

© 2019, Editura Lumen. All rights reserved. Global citizenship is persistent in the realm of education in the US, as well as in the 21st century, as global issues must be included within the requirements of the dimensions of global citizenship in high school curriculum. This paper describes the results from the Global Citizenship Survey to assess the extent of American high school students’ perception of global citizenship. A total 110 students completed measures and 34 students answered open-ended questions regarding global citizenship in spring 2017. The results of this study indicated the importance of global citizenship to raise cultural awareness and a deeper sense of cultural empathy, responsibilities of global issues, and imperatives to become a global citizen for diverse societies. This study offers the components of global citizenship that must be included in the high school curriculum and identifies the need for teachers to cover global issues in the their classes that would encourage and enable students to be open-minded and appreciative of each culture for its differences in today’s globalized world. Additionally, because the world is changing, schools should prepare students to think critically about global issues using an inquiry-based curriculum.