Unpacking the Call to Action in Early Years Education: Teaching Global Citizenship Through a Critical Lens

Oct 15, 2026

Unpacking the Call to Action in Early Years Education examines how Global Citizenship Education and Human Rights Education should be approached in early childhood settings. Drawing on classroom practice shaped by school, divisional, and provincial mandates, it highlights gaps in holistic citizenship resources and calls for a more vibrant discourse on placing social justice resources in early years. The text defines key terms, reviews mandates, evaluates past practices, and proposes improved teaching praxis grounded in critical reflection and informed action.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Conceptualizing Key Terms

Global Citizenship

Tensions in Terminology

Unpacking the Call to Action in Early Years Education: Teaching Global Citizenship Through a Critical Lens Lynn Nicol Abstract Global Citizenship Education in its noblest terms is a commitment made by educators to provide students with opportunities to situate themselves as citizens within a global community. This article addresses the lay of the land for global citizenship and Human Rights Education in early years spaces. Drawing upon the context of a classroom teacher’s experience educating through school-based, divisional, and provincial mandates, this article addresses the dearth of resources for holistic citizenship education in early years classrooms. The discussion is intended to emphasize the need for a vibrant discourse on the placement of social justice resources in early years education. Take every penny you have set aside in aid for Tanzania and spend it explaining to people the facts and causes of poverty. (Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania, as cited in The Inter-Council Network, 2015, “Good Practices”) It is a normal human impulse to want to help those caught in the wake of natural and human-constructed disasters. Compassion impels us to act, which “binds us together as human beings”(Nutt, 2011, p. 123) . However, when responsive acts of humanity are not interconnected with accurate knowledge of the locale-specific economic, political, and social systems at work, there is a cost attached to the urge to do good (Nutt, 2011) . When people act without an awareness of the full context of those charitable acts, they risk perpetuating the very issues that they are attempting to address. To construct an informed praxis, teachers must acquire a theoretical basis in order to equip students with the widest possible scope for each one’s role in bringing about social justice. Such an approach requires that teachers first probe for meaning in the discourse around Global Citizenship Education (GCE) . Educators have divisional, provincial, national, and international mandates to teach students human rights; it is through the space of actual classroom practice, then, that a critical lens is applied in the body of this text. This article articulates key terms, reviews the mandate of GCE in early years’ spaces, assesses past practices, and synthesizes opportunities for improved praxis to apply in early years education. Conceptualizing Key Terms We underscore the political implications of education for democracy and suggest that the narrow and often ideologically conservative conceptions of citizenship embedded in many current efforts at teaching for democracy reflects [sic] not arbitrary choices but rather political choices with political consequences. (Westheimer & Kahne, 2003, p. 47) The ideological framework from which teachers work when establishing their own GCE theory and pedagogy affects the learning experiences that they offer to their students. These experiences, in turn, will shape the actions that students take when they seek opportunities to help others. Therefore, it is necessary for educators to understand the potential action-oriented responses associated with various terms utilized in the field of global citizenship and rightsbased instruction. Unpacking the diverse terminology in the debate surrounding GCE is a complex process fraught with tension. As the field has developed in recent years, new theories have become available that enable educators to transform educational programming moving forward. Sorting out the terms, content, and purpose of some of the diverse perspectives on GCE is a helpful way to begin. Global Citizenship Educators in Manitoba must frame their practice within the context of the provincial government’s terminology. Social studies teaching is constructed with citizenship as a foundational concept in which global citizenship is identified as “an ethos motivated by concern for humanity, society, the planet and the future and is activated by self-empowerment”(Man

FAQs

What problem does the article identify in early years global citizenship education?

It points to a lack of resources for holistic citizenship education in early years classrooms and argues for stronger, more vibrant discourse on social justice resources in these settings.

How does the article relate global citizenship to teachers’ mandates and classroom practice?

It notes that educators operate within divisional, provincial, national, and international mandates for teaching human rights, and it emphasizes that critical practice emerges through actual classroom implementation.

Why does the article emphasize a critical lens when unpacking global citizenship concepts?

Because the terminology and ideological frameworks used by educators shape students’ learning experiences and the action-oriented responses those students later take, requiring critical reflection on power, rights, and equity.

Oct 15, 2026

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