Call for Inclusion: A Study of Global Citizenship Education and the SES Achievement Gap in Chinese Higher Education Institutions
Abstract
With China’s increasingly active role in the global arena, both government officials and educators acknowledge the necessity of education that promotes global citizenship. This study examines nine university students’ learning experiences of global citizenship at Chinese higher educational institutions; this study also focuses particularly on the impact of socioeconomic status in this educational model. I employed an indigenous Confucian framework adapted by Li (2010) to conceptualize the individual learning process. Li’s theory enabled me to better understand and interpret how Chinese university students perceive and participate in global citizenship education and identify gaps within this process. This qualitative case study collected data through semi-structured interviews with nine Chinese university students. The findings reveal that the impact of the students’ respective socioeconomic status on the global citizenship learning process was twofold: educational resources disparities and attitudinal differences. The findings also reveal some current limitations in Chinese global citizenship education. To this end, this study provides potential implications for policy-makers, educators, students, as well as future researchers.