In the USA, Global Citizenship Education (GCE) has primarily focused on the higher education space over the last 20 years. However, GCE has expanded to include K-12 education, particularly in the last decade. Formal schooling is a formidable time for students, especially as they begin to think about themselves in relation to others. In the U.S. context, there has been growth of GCE across various states and cities such as Illinois, Utah, North Carolina, and in this case, Washington D.C.
Washington, D.C. is a dynamic cosmopolitan context for the study of GCE. It is notably diverse along racial, ethnic, and social class dimensions, and is inclusive of many different migrant populations from a wide array of backgrounds. In recent years, the city has experienced increased gentrification with higher proportions of White upper-middle class young professionals moving to the city. These various groups include diplomats, NGOs, and foreign companies situating their employees within the city, and along with them, their families. Many youths coming from upper-middle to upper-class expatriate families already experience and have access to social (and other forms of) capital.
DC Public Schools (DCPS) acknowledges itself as an “increasingly diverse international community” (DCPS, 2023). Some examples of the ways that they have enacted programming to reflect the diversity of the DC community is through various initiatives, including the Embassy Adoption programs and Model UN simulations; teacher professional development opportunities; short-term global travel programs in middle and high schools; and global education partners in the classrooms and service learning. On the curricular level, DCPS offers 8 IB programmes (7 schools, 3,700 students) and three global studies schools. At the center of these initiatives is a quest for equitable access to GCE, given the persistent educational inequalities present within the DCPS context. In sum, gentrification, development, and migration make it a city experiencing rapid changes, prioritizing the need to understand youth understandings of GCE more relevant than ever. As a team member located in the D.C. site of the project, we will focus on youth activism related to GCE.
