Local and Global Identities in Different Educational Contexts

Abstract

The broad and abundant discourse on globalization of education that has become inevitable in recent decades (Stromquist & Monkman, 2014) has revealed that the notion of citizenship, as depicted within classrooms worldwide, has recently shifted from a focus on construction of unitary national identity to presentation (at least in theory) of cosmopolitan ideas, including protection of universal human rights and the rights of marginalized groups such as religious and ethnic minorities and women (Bromley, 2009). One of the declared goals of internationalization in edu-cation is development on a personal level of certain competencies, percep-tions and skills that will facilitate survival and success in our global and dynamic world (Yemini, 2016). In particular, while teachers were formerly entrusted mainly with the responsibility of promoting nationalistic values in students, a greater number of schools today are adopting a cosmo-politan narrative, together with a focus on global citizenship, aimed at preparing students for highly globalized higher education, global compe-tition, global problem-solving and the changing nature of modern society Parts of this chapter were published in: Goren H. & Yemini, M. (2016). Global Citizenship Education in context: Teacher perceptions at an international school and a local Israeli school Compare (Ahead of print) and in Yemini, M. & Furstenberg, S. (2016). Students' local and global identities in different educational contexts: Perceptions of global citizenship at a local and an international school in Israel (Submitted).