From education for democratic citizenship to the global citizenship education: On the necessity for a paradigm shift

Abstract

The article analyses and compares two main concepts in the field of civic education: education for democratic citizenship (EDC), prevailing in European discourse, and global citizenship education (GCE), dominant in international organisations like UNESCO. The concepts and their content are presented and analysed, and the need for the shift to the GCE is illustrated by some global tendencies and serious challenges of the global world. The responsibility to include GCE into the European concept of civic education is pointed out, as well as the challenges GCE is facing within the policy and implementation of the global agenda, SDG 4 and Education 2030.