Demands on and of Citizenship and Schooling:“Belonging” and “Diversity” in the Global Imperative

Abstract

Educational theory and practice are contending with a sense that it is imperative to take-up “the global” in schools so as to promote a sense of global responsibility and global consciousness. A review of contemporary academic literature reveals particular tensions marking the mutually reinforcing relationships between citizenship, diversity, and schooling. A main theme of this paper is the increasingly complex notion of “belonging” integral to democratic citizenship and the related questions of inclusion and exclusion inherent to citizenship and schooling. By demonstrating that, despite particular paradoxes, citizenship continues to be called on as an ideal through which to push for social justice on local and global levels, the paper contends that a great deal is demanded of citizenship and citizenship education. This paper argues for a new, flexible theory of citizenship that interrogates the assumptions on which a “neutral” notion of citizenship is based. In examining what is demanded of citizenship, the paper looks at what demands must be made of a notion of citizenship. The paper ends with a strong consideration of global citizenship education as an educational response to the global imperative.