Global Citizenship Education and Scout Movement Curriculum in Egypt: Perspectives from Scouts and Scout Leaders
Abstract
This study investigated Scouting’s contribution, as a non-formal educational movement, in educating global citizens. To address the research questions, I used a mixed-methods case study design, which necessitated the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data concurrently using varied data sources (surveys, interviews, and the senior scout curriculum document). The study explored the Egyptian scouts and scout leaders’ perspectives of global citizenship and their views on the potential of the Arab senior scout curriculum (2011) to contribute to the development of 15-17 years old scouts as global citizens. In addition, I assessed the extent to which the curriculum encompasses critical global citizenship education perspectives.
This exploration was guided by a conceptual framework of global citizenship education that incorporated three dimensions—Global Awareness, Global Competence and Character, and Global Engagement and Action. This framework was informed by conceptualizations such as Andreotti’s (2006) global citizenship education, Larsen’s (2014) critical global citizenship, and the global citizenship theoretical model developed by Morais and Ogden (2011).
The findings demonstrate that participants’ understanding of citizenship in general, and global citizenship in particular largely conforms with the soft (non-critical) approach to conceptualizing and exercising citizenship. Participants generally believe that scouts’ participation in the senior scout curriculum-related activities contributes to their development as global citizens. However, scout leaders voiced concerns about the senior scout curriculum content and related activities being insufficient, in its current state, to develop scouts as global citizens. The analysis of the curriculum document revealed a paucity of global focus in the curriculum’s educational objectives and activities and the absence of most of the critical pedagogy perspectives. The findings suggest that scouts and scout leaders in Egypt have an ambitious conception of global citizenship and they believe that Scouting is a viable vehicle to educate global citizens. Nevertheless, in reality, the scout curriculum and practices in the Egyptian Scouting context do not offer opportunities for the development of critical forms of global citizenship education.
This study advances the scholarly knowledge about the Scout Movement and informs global scout curriculum developers and policy makers of opportunities for engaging scouts as active global citizens.