RICERCA

Global Civic Education. Transforming global citizenship education into practice through civic education (GloCivEd)

"Global Civic Education. Transforming global citizenship education into practice through civic education" (GloCivEd) is a research project of relevant national interest (PRIN-2022) coordinated by Massimiliano Tarozzi (Principal Investigator), full professor at the University of Bologna and holder of the UNESCO Chair in Global Citizenship Education. The project has a twofold objective on the one hand, to understand how global policies promoting Education for Global Citizenship (GCED) are incorporated in the educational policies of Italian schools and how they contribute to the construction of the notion of (GCED); on the other hand, and starting from the knowledge acquired, to investigate if and how GCED issues are integrated within school institutions and formal education in secondary schools through Civic Education, a compulsory school subject recently introduced in Italian schools with Law 92/2019.

The project comprises three main areas. Each area will contribute to the overall aim through specific objectives:

  • Conceptual Policy Analysis (University of Bologna):
    • Examine academic conceptualisations and definitions of GCED;
    • Examine global, regional and national policies framing the implementation of GCED in Italian schools through Law 92/2019.
  • Teacher analysis (University of Foggia)
    • To investigate the beliefs, representations and readiness of secondary school teachers towards GCED through the teaching of Civic Education;
    • Analysing how teachers incorporated GCED topics into the framework of Civic Education.
  • Student analysis (University of RomaTre):
    • To investigate whether and how students experienced and learned about GCED topics through Civic Education;
    • Investigating how GCED themes and approaches influenced students' civic engagement.

 

Specifically, the University of Bologna and the research unit led by prof. Massimiliano Tarozzi will be in charge of: the overall management and implementation of GloCivEd as well as the realisation and maintenance of the dedicated website; the conceptualisation of GCED in academic policies and literature; examining the policy framework for the implementation of GCED in schools; participating in the survey on cognitive, social and emotional and behavioural learning of upper secondary school students through GCED conducted by the research unit of the University of RomaTre; and coordinating activities related to the dissemination of research results.

The national research group can count on a solid network of academic cooperation recently established within the framework of the activities of the UNESCO Chair on Global Citizenship Education in Higher Education. Moreover, the University of Bologna will avail itself of the collaboration of the International Research Centre for Global and Comparative Policy Studies on Adult Education and Learning, directed by Prof. Milana of the University of Verona; as well as of the collaboration with Prof. Alessio Surian of the University of Padua (expert in teaching methodologies and assessment), which will also allow the research to be conducted in the North East of Italy.

 

The project will last 24 months.