Global Citizenship Toolkit

Global Citizenship Toolkit
Global Citizenship Toolkit
Toolkit collated by Dr Harriet Marshall
What Does Global Citizenship Education Mean?
Global citizenship education (GCED) can be interpreted in slightly different ways, but in the UK, there are a variety of texts, policies, projects and resources to explore depending upon the angle you are interested in approaching GCED from.
For example, GCED and global learning have been used as umbrella terms for a large range of global learning specialisms from education for sustainable development and environmental education, to peace and human rights education, international and intercultural education. Key international frameworks guiding global learning include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Agenda (17 goals for a more just and sustainable world signed by 193 UN member states) and the World Programme for Human Rights Education amongst others.
At a national level the policy has a long and complex past where we have had recommendations on embedding a global dimension and, most recently, recommendation for Sustainability and Climate change education.
Amongst all this, an oft quoted definition comes from Oxfam who have produced excellent guides around global citizenship education:
Education for global citizenship is a framework to equip learners for critical and active engagement with the challenges and opportunities of life in a fast-changing and interdependent world. It is transformative, developing the knowledge and understanding, skills, values and attitudes that learners need both to participate fully in a globalised society and economy, and to secure a more just, secure and sustainable world than the one they have inherited. (Oxfam, Education for Global Citizenship, p5)
And increasingly Sustainable Development Goal 4, target 7 (known as 4.7) is being referenced:
4.7: By 2030 ensure all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.
Global citizenship education is regularly accompanied by pedagogical theories linked to transformative learning, postcolonialism, critical pedagogy, problem-based learning, futures thinking, values based learning, and participatory and experiential methodologies. Concepts such as power, control, sustainable development, cultural capital, equality and social justice are regularly at the heart of resources and projects.
Global Citizenship Education Resources, Recommendations and Further Reading
As education for and about social justice is a fundamental part of most quality global citizenship education resources or recommendations, it may not be surprising to learn that the charity and NGO sector are very active in supporting schools, teachers and young people with global citizenship and sustainable development education projects. From local Development Education Centres and organisation collaborations around SDG 4.7 such as Our Shared World, to national awards like UNICEF’s Right’s Respecting School Awards or the British Council’s International School Award, to organic international projects like #TeachSDGs and innovatory global citizenship teaching tools like Lyfta. With this in mind, below can only ever be a small sample of the resources out there and luckily a global dimension portal exists to help us discover more! There is also a growing body of research and theory around global learning practice both nationally (see the International Journal for Development Education and Global Learning) and there are a variety of postgraduate options for researching in this field further (e.g. see IOE’s Global Learning MA).
The Diverse Educators’ Global Citizenship Toolkit
- Question Sequence 1: What is the world like and how is it changing? What skills, knowledge and values do young people need to thrive in this world? Are we currently adequately supporting the development of these in schools?
- Question Sequence 2: Is there a difference between sustainable development education and global citizenship education? If so, does it matter? Why? What global learning terminology do you think is most appropriate and why?
- Question Sequence 3 (when reviewing GCED resources, programmes or activities): Whose global citizenship ideal is the most powerful here? Is this ‘critical’ global citizenship? How is global social justice understood?
How can we include more human and nature perspectives in our curriculum and why is it important to do so?
How can we measure the impact of global citizenship education activities?
How can we make global citizenship education embedded across whole school curriculum and practice?
What are the biggest obstacles to quality GCED?
Articles
International Journal of Educational Development, Volume 81.
Mina Chiba, Manca Sustarsic, Sara Perriton, D. Brent Edwards, (2021) Investigating effective teaching and learning for sustainable development and global citizenship: Implications from a systematic review of the literature.
Blogs
Books
GENE (2020). Global Education and Climate Change: Looking at Climate Education through the lens of global education Global Education and Climate Change
Oliveira Andreotti & Menezes de Souza (eds 2014). Postcolonial Perspectives on Global Citizenship Education
Wiksten, S (Ed) 2021. Centering Global Citizenship Education in the Public Sphere: International Enactments of GCED for Social Justice and Common Good (Critical Global Citizenship Education)
Resources
Videos
Life Lessons

Life Lessons
Life Lessons create open and empathetic whole school cultures.
We do this by supporting teachers to deliver evidence based relationships, sex and health education that fosters respectful peer to peer relations between pupils.
Our peer led, video based approach gives young people and teachers the tools to be able to have the most important conversations in the classroom. See here for a sample video.
Our impact so far:
- 85% of pupils like using the format of Life Lessons
- 80% of teachers felt it helped open up discussion and debate within the classroom
- 95% of schools would recommend Life Lessons to another school
In 2024 we partnered with NSPCC to develop and deliver a Whole-School Approach to Framework to Relationships and Sex Education. In 2024 we were also awarded funding from Oak to develop RSHE resources.
We won the Fair Education Alliance Innovation in Education award in 2021 and the Fair Education Alliance Innovation Scaling Award 2023-2024.
Partners with NSPCC to curate a Whole-School Approach Framework to Sex and Relationships Education.
Diverse History UK

Diverse History UK
Diverse History UK provide educational consultancy and resource production services to address diversification of school curricula. We strive to ensure that history departments are truly diverse and amplify marginalised histories. The belief that the education sector can do so much to challenge prejudices and misconceptions through teaching marginalised histories, inspired us to set up Diverse History UK. We are driven by the knowledge that a diverse education for all children can help to challenge damaging prejudices and stereotypes, benefiting our pupils and our whole society both academically and pastorally.
We feel strongly that as educators we have a responsibility to ensure Britain’s diverse society is reflected in our curricula. We are passionate about the implementation of curricula that amplify marginalised histories in order to promote a happier and more harmonious society. As well as focusing on diverse content, we are also passionate about teaching students to engage with historiography in order to hone their academic skills from KS2 onwards.
We know from experience that it is possible to include a truly diverse curriculum which explores lesser-told narratives from around the globe, all within the constraints of the National Curriculum. Diverse History UK wants to help schools to move away from single story narratives and towards teaching more inclusive and honest global histories.
We are a female and LGBTQ+ owned business. All of our team are DBS checked.
We specialise in the research of marginalised histories,. In particular on LGBTQ+ history, 19th Century asylums and African colonialism.
Focused Minds Education Group

Focused Minds Education Group
Focused Minds Education Group offers asset-based, trauma-informed, equity focused practices, resources, services and products worldwide. Our primary focus is to facilitate impactful and engaging personal and professional learning opportunities that promote growth, resiliency and wellness in adolescents and adults. Our interactive and reflective workshops and resources focus on how to use literacy to build skills and heal.
Is Your School An A.S.S.E.T.? is an educational resource for secondary educators. To further the knowledge base and increase understanding of trauma-informed practices and multi-tiered intervention frameworks at the secondary level (6-12), Focused Minds Education Group created A.S.S.E.T. professional learning system and workbook. The primary focus is to provide educators with ready-to-use strategies and a targeted approach to equity, excellence, and cultural responsiveness.
Association for Science Education

Association for Science Education
The Association for Science Education (ASE) is an active membership body that has been supporting all those involved in science education from pre-school to higher education for over 100 years; members include teachers, technicians, tutors and advisers. We are a Registered Charity with a Royal Charter, owned by our members and independent of government. We seek to create a powerful voice for science education professionals in order to make a positive and influential difference to the teaching and learning of science throughout the UK and further afield.
We are leading a national project called Inclusion in Schools because we recognise the importance of improving the education experience for all young people regardless of circumstance. This is a whole school project that goes beyond the science classroom. It aims to support state-funded secondary schools in England to address barriers to inclusion that can affect the subject choices students make. The pandemic has undone a lot of good work when it comes to inclusion and closing the gap, so this work is particularly important at this time and together we can make real change happen.
Kids of Colour

Kids of Colour
Kids of Colour is a project for young people of colour to explore ‘race’, identity and culture, founded in Manchester by Roxy Legane in 2018. Kids of Colour create spaces to challenge the racism that affects young people and their communities; building collective resistance and solidarity.
Our work with young people of colour involves running regular youth spaces where young people meet others, discuss and explore experiences, learn about their own and local histories – and have fun! We elevate young people’s experiences via our online platforms and at our community events and offer opportunities throughout the year for young people to celebrate and learn about their identities, cultures and histories – this happens through our free books scheme ‘The Bookshelf’, our Summer School and ad-hoc local trips/ events.
We work to inform society on the diverse experiences belonging to young people of colour and challenge the racialized, dehumanising narratives that uphold negative stereotypes. In our work we advocate for young people and actively challenge racism experienced by young people and families, mostly focussed on areas of education and policing. We create opportunities for the public to learn from young people, encouraging young and adult allies to reflect on the individual and systemic changes needed in society that they must be a part of implementing. This happens through our Introductory Anti-Racist Practise workshops with youth workers and educators, public community events and lead discussion based workshops with mixed groups of young people across Greater Manchester.
We co-lead a community campaign with the Northern Police Monitoring Project called No Police In Schools. In 2020 we launched our report Decriminalise the Classroom: A Community Response to Police in Greater Manchester’s Schools. The report includes research conducted across Greater Manchester, collating experiences from young people, youth workers, educators, teachers and wider members of the community.
The Anne Frank Trust

The Anne Frank Trust
The Anne Frank Trust is an education charity that empowers 10-15 year olds to challenge all forms of prejudice, inspired by the life and work of Anne Frank. Our work uniquely combines Holocaust education, peer education and youth empowerment to create lasting positive changes in young people’s behaviours and attitudes towards others. Anne Frank’s life and diary are uniquely powerful as a catalyst for this learning and reflection about prejudice and are at the heart of everything we do. Our vision is a society free from prejudice and we believe young people are the key to achieving this.
Based on our peer education model we have two core in school programmes- History for Today where a group of students are trained to become peer guides with a physical exhibition and our Voices for Equality programme where a group of young people are supported to become voices for equality in their school community. As part of both programmes we also run full class workshops based on different themes including Anti- Semitism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Gender Expectations, Transphobia and Ableism.
Our Head Office is based in London with delivery staff currently based in London, West Midlands, Yorkshire, North East England, North West England and Scotland.
At the Anne Frank Trust we have an excellent track record of independent evaluation of or programmes. Our long standing partnership working with social psychologists at the University of Kent and our latest impact report ‘Just Being Human’ provide powerful and continuing evidence of the impact of our education programmes on young people’s attitudes, knowledge, empathy and confidence to challenge prejudice. In the year 2020-21 92.5% of the young people we worked with showed progress in their attitudes towards at least one social group different to themselves. We also found that 70.7% of young people worked with made significant progress in their knowledge of prejudice and the harm it can cause.
TWICE

TWICE (Teaching with Inclusion and Culture Embedded)
Teaching With Inclusion & Culture Embedded (TWICE®) is a professional development workshop designed by Estelle Baroung Hughes and Estelle Bougna Fomeju, two Cameroonian educators and researchers. This online or in-person training focuses on culturally-inclusive teaching. It is particularly tailored for international schools.
- Our training uses community-building approaches;
- We support you in decolonizing the curriculum;
- Our offer is scalable from a 1-hour introduction to an 8-hour full course;
- We are fluent in French and English and offer monolingual or bilingual sessions.
- We also offer individual coaching to educators and school leaders on implementing impactful culturally inclusive strategies.
We nurture cultural literacy and self-reflection when assisting international schools in their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work. Hence our motto: think TWICE when it comes to culture and teaching.
In 2 years, we have trained over 300 educators based in Africa, Europe and Asia and who teach in primary, middle, or secondary international schools.
Africa Learning International

Africa Learning International
Africa Learning International (ALI) is an NGO dedicated to supporting quality education on the African continent. The fourth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG4) is, therefore, our focus. ALI is making a difference in Africa by:
- Providing culturally responsive teacher professional development
- Creating multicultural libraries for teachers
- Sharing educational resources between Afgrican teachers and teachers from the rest of the world
- Organising conferences and teachers collaborative exchanges for cross-inspiration
We co-created the TWICE course (Teaching With Inclusion of Culture Embedded) with the organisation Tissi Consulting Check: www.tissiconsulting.com/twice
Our HR Training

Our HR Training
Our HR Training
Our Training Offer
We support HR Directors, HR teams and HR administrators in shaping the DEI thread within a people management strategy for a school or trust.
We can deliver face to face and virtually, for HR conferences, trust training events and individual teams.
We will support you on your journey to develop confidence and competence in shaping inclusive policies and practices from attraction, to recruitment, through talent management to retention.
- Developing an understanding of key DEI concepts and language
- Reflecting on our own identities and lived experience
- Exploring our individual and collective power, privilege and blind spots
- Considering levels of belonging and psychological safety in the workplace
- Creating a DEI infrastructure to distribute the leadership
- Reviewing policies and practices for inclusion
- Disrupting how we recruit and retain staff
- Focusing on inclusion over diversity to build cultural intelligence
- BSME
- COBIS
- Optimus Education
- Herts for Learning
- OTSA
- Haringey Learning Partnership
- Djanogly Trust
- Summit Learning Trust
- King Edward’s Foundation
- ATT
- ILTT
The delivery was excellent, the content thorough and the presenter very knowledgeable about many areas.
Matthew Clarke, Headteacher
Hannah was so engaging and easy to listen to. Excellent content delivered in an excellent way. Would absolutely recommend this training. Our staff were fully engaged for the full session.
Molly Terry, HR and Compliance, St Mary’s School