On Bildung and the role of teachers in fostering global citizens

Abstract

The importance of educating global citizens, citizens whose mindset or ‘gaze’ is global rather than national or parochial, has been widely recognized. Despite this, critics have argued that the emphasis on fostering ‘skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values’ reveals the neo-liberal underpinnings of global citizenship education. I argue that this overlooks the transformative nature of global citizenship education, and, drawing on recent work in the intersection between transformative education and Bildung, maintain that educating for global citizenship may be understood as a form of global Bildung in which the professional plays a key role.