Presenter: Nicki L. Gerstner
Date and Time: Wednesday October 18th, 7-8pm (please note the earlier start time)
Title: Global Citizenship Education in Korean Higher Education: moving beyond transformative calls to praxes
Abstract: As the call for higher education to produce global citizens becomes increasingly necessary in our cross-culturally interconnected world, it is important and relevant to continuously and critically question what kind of global citizens institutions of higher education are fostering. Many higher education institutions and educators are expected to produce or develop global citizens through higher education pedagogies, practices, and praxis. Yet the practice of developing global citizens in the current higher education ecosystem does not promote civic responsibility and duty of global citizenry; rather it promotes global citizenship for the neoliberal agenda and citizens as a marketable commodity (Agartan & Hartwiger, 2021; Giroux, 2010). Global citizenship and global citizenship education have been studied extensively; however, the positioning and practice within higher education as a transformative possibility toward social justice is under-examined. Furthermore, Korea positions itself as a leader of global citizenship education and for this reason it is an important issue to examine global citizenship education’s positioning and practice within the Korean higher education context—from which the authors write. This study examines the conceptualization of global citizenship education in higher education through a theoretical analysis of literature; using the lens of Nancy Fraser’s (2005) 3 Rs model for social justice in relation to the common core values of conscientious action, equitable relationships, and social justice to analyze what type of citizens institutions of higher education are creating (Agartan & Hartwiger, 2021; Arshad-Ayaz & Naseem, 2021). There are three guiding questions: What type of global citizen do higher education institutions aim to create through global citizenship education? Does global citizenship education in Korean higher education work toward social justice? What are the key pedagogical approaches for social justice oriented global citizenship education in higher education? This paper illustrates how global citizenship education in higher education constructs citizenry and offers transformative pedagogical possibilities. The findings could further contribute to generating better practices and theorizations for transformative possibilities in higher education.
Keywords: global citizenship education, transformative pedagogy, and social justice in higher education
Presenter Bio: Nicki L. Gerstner is a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Program: Global Education Cooperation in the College of Education and research assistant in the Education, Conflict and Peace Lab at Seoul National University. She currently works in the English Department at Seoul Cyber University. Her research interests include global citizenship education for sustainable development, cosmopolitanism, partnerships toward peacebuilding, and decolonial practices for transformative education and pedagogies. She received her Master’s of Education in Global Studies in Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Nicki will be presenting research carried out by her, Euna Lim, and Mary Abura, the latter of which will be presenting at our November symposium. This is a really great chance to delve more deeply into one area of education that is pertinent to many of us, so please don't miss the chance to join us!
As usual, our registration form is here: https://forms.gle/MKyAhhSBRRqhH6zF9
See you on the 18th!
