Global Citizenship Education in and for Israel

Processes of globalisation, driven and enhanced by global organisations and agencies, have contributed to an increased interest in global citizenship education (GCE). This can be attributed to (and at the same time-is manifested in) the inclusion of GCE in UNESCO’s sustainable development goals, and its subsequent measurement through the OECD’s PISA in 2018. GCE has many applications and meanings, but it generally refers to educational policies and curricula aimed at preparing or encouraging pupils to partake, compete, and thrive in global society or help to solve global problems. In Israel, the intractable conflict and the highly diverse population have led to a divided education system that is very nationalistic; however, the nation has high aspirations in terms of its role in the global economy and its place in a global society. Thus, with regards to GCE, Israel is caught between its will to internationalise and its sectarian nature. This creates an interesting case through which to examine GCE, with a particular focus on the extent to which approaches and understandings of GCE within Israel differ from those devised by scholars with different contexts in mind. In this thesis, through interviews with teachers from different sectors and geographic areas, focus groups with pupils, and a documentary analysis of an official course produced by the Israeli MFA and MOE and additional sources, I explore the distinct meanings attributed to GCE across and within different groups in Israel. I argue that the extent and ways that different populations relate to it are informed by notions of peripherality across three levels- geographic, national, and social. The differential meanings of GCE that arise from my analysis based on this framework suggest that the discourses and tests produced and promoted by global organisations are neither relevant in global terms (i.e., global north/south) nor between or within countries