Global Citizenship Education: A pedagogy of peace, coexistence, acceptance and prosperity in Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Keeping in view the present socioeconomic conditions of Sindh, Pakistan and the existing quality of teaching in Government schools, this article justifies the use of global citizenship education as a transformative pedagogy. The paper justifies the use of critical global citizenship education to prepare the learners' identities at the intersection of local, national and global. Moreover, this paper suggests the use of Blackmore’s(2016) pedagogical framework for Global citizenship education which implies that the learners use critical thinking, dialogue and reflection. This framework includes the dimensions of critical thinking, dialogue, reflection, and responsible being/action. The components of the suggested frameworks have practical relevance in the context of developing learners' identities. Wherein, critical thinking is about knowing our assumptions and assessing their accuracy, dialogue is a prerequisite for critical thinking because it allows learners to engage with others having different opinions and reflection is considered a regular exercise for all ordinary people. Transformative pedagogies create conditions for developing identities of teachers and students in relation to one another, where knowledge is constructed in the participation of educators and learners, and the process of identity formation is like "being-in-becoming” (Farren, 2016, p193).  The paper suggests that developing learners' identities assigns teachers a critical role, where teachers facilitate interpretation of the concepts of GCE and its practices; hence, it becomes crucial to explore how teachers conceptualise GCE, what pedagogies they use and provide the learners with the opportunities to use critical thinking, dialogue, and reflection.