Education

Education is an important resource for encouraging young people to expand their knowledge of the world around them and to develop their skills as global citizens. Global citizenship not only requires knowledge and understanding, but also involved and responsible actions.


What knowledge does a global citizen need?
The required knowledge can be divided into three general themes:
1. Knowledge of the world and one’s own surroundings.
2. Knowledge of international cooperation.
3. Knowledge of today’s global challenges.

Which skills does a global citizen need?
In order to apply this knowledge in practice, a global citizen must also have the following skills:
1. Ability to think critically and to form an opinion.
2. Ability to cooperate and to work to solve problems.
3. International/intercultural attitude and value orientation.
4. Positive self-image and respect for oneself and others.
5. Involvement and sense of responsibility.

From citizenship to global citizenship
The knowledge and skills described above can easily be implemented in education. The increased policy focus on citizenship education offers an excellent opportunity for global citizenship education. Since 1 February 2006, schools have been required to pay special attention to citizenship and social integration in their curriculum. Schools are free to decide how they wish to do so.

The desired results of education are recorded in ‘core goals’ for elementary education and for the lower classes of secondary education. Many core goals are tied to citizenship and social integration – and therefore also to global citizenship.

Read an overview of the goals most related to global citizenship, or download the Education Inspectorate’s ‘Active Citizenship and Social Integration Supervision Framework’.