Education for Global Citizenship: The Cosmopolitan and the Patriotic

Education for global citizenship is an ambitious goal. One of its ambitions lies in expectations that future global citizens will make sense of and reconcile complex, competing values and purposes. At the heart of the values and purposes of education for global citizenship lies a tension between a cosmopolitan imperative and what future role — if any — there might be for patriotism. Can both be accommodated in the conceptual underpinnings and the practices of citizenship education, especially in efforts to promote understanding and solidarity between citizens of rich and poor countries? This article considers recent competing arguments for a qualified place for both patriotism and cosmopolitanism. Reflecting on the example of global citizenship education in the Scotland Malawi Partnership, the author proposes an approach to educating for global citizenship that locates the cosmopolitan as educationally fundamental.