Teaching global equity and justice issues through a critical lens

The global challenges facing the world today have never been more pressing. Problems such as migration, climate change, unequal power and the growing gaps between the rich and poor are often referred to as ‘global equity and justice issues’. Although all humans are accountable when it comes to addressing these issues, not everyone has equal responsibility for their causes and solutions. Intricate ethical questions about how and who should deal with common but differentiated responsibilities for the future of the globe all need answering. Schools have an important role to play in preparing students to engage responsibly with global equity and justice issues. This project aims to both empirically investigate the challenges that teachers face when addressing these issues in their classrooms and identify how this work can be developed and supported. The purpose is to develop a reflexive and responsive pedagogy that is rooted in teaching practice, educational science and postcolonial theory. The results will contribute valuable empirical knowledge about preparing young people to engage with equity and justice issues and supporting them in their development of a critical and ethical stance on the same. By applying postcolonial theory, the project also aims to contribute theoretically by showing that education cannot just be conceived as the transmission of a predefined body of knowledge, but that its historical, social and political aspects also need to be considered.