WHAT IS GCE

Global Citizenship Education enables people to understand the world they live in and their place in it. In our globalised world, where the local and the global are intertwined, our consciousness needs to be global too.

Global Citizenship Education goes beyond transmitting knowledge from educators to learners. It is about understanding the world, how it works and how we can impact it. It supports people of all ages to critically examine the systems underpinning global and local injustices and inequalities.

Rather than looking at issues like climate injustice, inequality, and human rights violations as isolated challenges, it encourages learners to explore their historical roots and systemic drivers. 

Through creative, participatory, and transformative approaches, Global Citizenship Education supports individuals and communities to reflect on how their values, choices, and positions are shaped by, and in turn shape these systems - and how they can act to transform them. 

It engages learners in a process of interaction, reflection and action that equips them with the knowledge, values, skills and confidence needed to become active global citizens in today’s world. A core aspect of GCE is promoting meaningful individual and collective action for change.

“A lifelong educational process, which aims to increase public awareness and understanding of the rapidly changing, inter-dependent and unequal world in which we live. By challenging stereotypes and encouraging independent thinking, GCE helps people to critially explore how global justice issues interlink with their everyday lives and how they can act to build a better world.” Irish Aid

“Education that enables people to reflect critically on the world and their place in it; to open their eyes, hearts, and minds to the reality of the world at local and global level. It involves imagination and hope, respect for human rights and diversity, inclusion, and a decent life for all, now and into the future.” European Declaration on Global Education to 2050

Why is Global Citizenship Education needed?

We live in an interdependent world, facing global challenges such as the climate crisis, war, human rights violations, systemic inequality, systemic injustice, racism, and poverty. We are at a critical juncture, where we are trying to deal with multiple interconnected crises both at a global level and a national level.  These crises require citizens who understand their roots and drivers, who have critical media literacy, who can imagine, design and propose solutions, who will take collective action in their communities, places of learning, work and worship, and who will advocate for the policy changes needed. 



Global Citizenship Education gives people a supported, structured way to engage with these challenges in an interactive, reflective environment that helps them determine what steps they can take to change things for the better. It builds civic trust, participation, and resilience and can help people move from a state of overwhelm to empowered action. It acts as an antidote to disinformation, racism and polarisation, by equipping people with the knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence needed to navigate today’s complex world.