Global Citizenship Education Toolkit for Inclusive Youth Work

Aims of the tool

The aims of the ACCESS Project and the Global Citizenship Education (GCE) approach it promotes focus on transformation, inclusion, and the development of essential competencies for young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Aims of the ACCESS Project:

The ACCESS Project was founded by three not-for-profit organizations to address the difficulty many young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, face in accessing topics related to global citizenship. The project’s central aim is to engage youth workers who work with young people with fewer opportunities on the issues of Global citizenship and European citizenship.

The partners hope to transform the landscape of GCE by ensuring these critical educational opportunities reach all individuals. This involves educating youth workers on global educational methods through several mechanisms, including a pan-European e-learning platform, the design of a new GCE tool, an info booklet on international mobility, and a transnational workshop where youth workers can share experiences. The target group for these educational efforts includes young people aged 16–30 with fewer opportunities, such as those not in education, employment, or training (NEETs), young people with disabilities, and those with experiences in the care system.

The ACCESS handbook aims to outline the theoretical knowledge regarding inclusivity and GCE, highlight techniques and strategies for utilizing GCE methods with young people from marginalized backgrounds, and provide activity and game suggestions for youth workers.

Aims of Global Citizenship Education (GCE):

The fundamental aim of GCE is to change people’s attitudes and behavior so that they can contribute individually and collectively to building a world that is fairer, more united, and sustainable. GCE aims to make people aware that they are part of a global community that transcends national borders, promoting values such as respect for human rights and democracy, respect for diversity, and awareness of climate change.

The GCE process encourages civic commitment through a three-step cycle: informing people about major issues, initiating reflection and critical thinking to help them understand their position as citizens, and urging them to take action to implement change, such as overcoming preconceived ideas and prejudices. GCE is considered a lever against discrimination and inequality, seeking to reduce inequality and ensure everyone can participate in discussions and has the means to do so.

Aims for Young People with Fewer Opportunities:

The project views providing GCE to young people with fewer opportunities as a matter of fairness, social justice, and equality. These individuals often benefit less from globalization while suffering its negative consequences, making it imperative they are exposed to the transformative learning GCE offers.

Engaging this group in GCE means investing in their learning and development of competencies that will help them navigate the world in a better and independent way, potentially even helping them in the job market. GCE seeks to develop crucial personal competencies, which are often vital for young people whose vulnerabilities relate to their identity. These competencies include:
* Sense of identity and self-esteem.
* Self-awareness and reflection.
* Confidence and sense of own worth and pride.

GCE also takes a rights-based approach, aiming to make young people aware of their human rights and the ways to protect them. Furthermore, it seeks to develop the competence to take action, including the ability to take the initiative, engage others, and foster the belief that change is possible. This motivation and confidence to act is particularly important for people who might lack the belief that change is feasible.

Aims of Specific Activities:

The games included in the toolkit also have specific educational aims:
* "Riding for Rights" promotes awareness of gender-based inequality.
* "Feeding the World" aims for players to create a food supply system that ensures everyone has enough food to eat, educating them on global food supply chain challenges like corruption and natural disasters.
* "The Fishing Game" or "Fishing for the Future" aims for participants to model the overexploitation of a common resource and explore cooperative and competitive strategies related to sustainable fishing.
* "Play Inn" aims to promote the social inclusion of migrants and refugees.

Description of the tool

The Global Citizenship Education (GCE) approach, as promoted by the ACCESS Project, is designed to achieve specific learning outcomes across cognitive, social, and personal domains, particularly for young people with fewer opportunities. This educational framework aims for transformation, civic commitment, and the development of competencies useful in both everyday life and the future job market.
Core GCE Learning Outcomes
The GCE process is structured around three steps—To Inform, To Understand, and To Act—which directly relate to the desired learning outcomes:
1. To Inform (Knowledge and Critical Understanding):
◦ Understanding major issues: Learners gain knowledge of global issues such as climate change, democracy, human rights, the environment, and health.
◦ Understanding others: Learners gain an understanding of others' culture, skills, lifestyles, and communication codes.
◦ Valuing diversity and living together: The process aims to value the richness of the planet and the importance of living together.
◦ Understanding interdependence and exclusion: Learners grasp the mechanisms of interdependence and exclusion for the purpose of building a fairer world.
2. To Understand (Reflection and Critical Thinking):
◦ Critical analysis: Learners are encouraged to initiate reflection and critical thinking.
◦ Awareness of position: They become aware of their position as a citizen on a local and then global scale.
◦ Taking responsibility: Learners develop the ability to take responsibility.
◦ Rights awareness: They gain knowledge and critical understanding of human rights, including awareness of their rights and the ways to protect them.
3. To Act (Behavioral Change and Civic Commitment):
◦ Changing behavior: Learners are motivated to change their behavior, open up to others, and become more tolerant.
◦ Overcoming prejudice: The process encourages overcoming preconceived ideas and prejudices.
◦ Reducing inequality: GCE activities aim to help reduce inequality and discrimination.
◦ Encouraging action: Learners develop the motivation and confidence to take action to implement change. This includes developing the competence to take the initiative, engage others, and fostering the belief that change is possible.
Specified Competencies for Learners
GCE specifically seeks to develop competencies across four categories: knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes. Many of these are considered "horizontal" competencies, useful across a wide variety of situations and work settings.
1. Self-Related Competencies (Crucial for Vulnerable Young People):
For young people with fewer opportunities, whose vulnerabilities are often intertwined with their identity, GCE concentrates on facilitating self-exploration and self-acceptance. Learning outcomes include the development of:
• Sense of identity and self-esteem.
• Self-awareness and reflection.
• Knowledge and critical understanding of the self.
• Ability to describe own identity.
• Confidence and a sense of own worth and pride.
2. Transversal Skills and Attitudes:
These competencies are essential for navigating complex everyday life and are highly valued for future jobs:
• Analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Cooperation and conflict-resolution skills.
• Openness and civic-mindedness.
• Creativity.
• Valuing diversity.
• Communication and intercultural communication.
• Patience and persistence.
• Courage (understood as the ability to control fears).
• Empathy.