Reimagining global citizenship education: Decolonial dialogues across Australia, Colombia and Mexico

Abstract

This article presents a comparative analysis of global citizenship education (GCE) in three national contexts: Australia, Colombia and Mexico. The systematic examination of these contexts contributes to understanding GCE through a critical and decolonial lens. The comparative study analyses national education policy discourse as a starting point for systematising experiences. It engages in an epistemic dialogue between the Global South (specifically Latin America/Abya Yala), represented by Colombia and Mexico, and the Global North, represented by Australia. Despite Australias predominantly Global North-oriented education policy, the study also examines student mobilisations and discusses issues such as Indigenous rights and planetary responsibility. These dialogues open avenues for alternative visions, rooted in critical interculturality and planetary care. Methodologically, the study draws on Stephen Balls heuristic approach to analyse education policy through a poststructuralist sociological lens, considering policy context and the influence of policy as discourse. The investigation identifies official pedagogical discourse across the three nations and examines references to GCE and its interpretations in texts, including policy documents and teacher training programmes. It also shares advancements, opportunities, challenges and policy insights in relation to GCE within each national context. The article argues for a plurality of perspectives on GCE and for recognising alternative conceptualisations beyond neoliberal approaches, which are based in epistemologies of the Global North and the capitalist global order.