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Global Education in Europe RevisitedStrategies and Structures Policy, Practice and Challenges

Edited byHelmuth Hartmeyer and Liam Wegimont

Erziehungswissenschaft undWeltgesellschaft

© Waxmann Verlag GmbH. For private use only.

Erziehungswissenschaft und Weltgesellschaft

edited by

Gregor Lang-Wojtasik (Weingarten) Barbara Asbrand (Frankfurt) Helmuth Hartmeyer (Wien)

Volume 9


Helmuth Hartmeyer Liam Wegimont (Eds.)

Global Education in Europe Revisited

Strategies and Structures Policy, Practice and Challenges

Waxmann 2016Münster • New York


This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Helmuth Hartmeyer and Liam Wegimont and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

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Contents

Introduction and Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Global Education in Europe: European Policy DevelopmentGrowing Access in Europe for Global Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Helmuth Hartmeyer, Liam Wegimont

Global Education in European Countries: National Strategy Development

Overview: Strategy Development in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Developing and Implementing a National Strategy for Global Learning in Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Helmuth Hartmeyer

A National Strategy for Global Development Education in the Czech RepublicAn Initiative from Below Meeting Development from Above . . . . . . . . . . . 37Petra Skalická, Lenka Sobotová (revised by Zuzana Hlavickova)

A Portuguese Strategy for Development EducationFrom Recent Experience to New Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Luísa Teotónio Pereira

Global Education in European Countries: National Structures

GENE Overview of National Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Jean-Marie Krier

Global Education in Belgium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Dirk Bocken

Germany: Global Education for a Sustainable Future for Everybody . . . . . 81Anita Reddy


Global Education in Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Janina Moryc, Patrycja Szewczyk

Global Learning in Education Systems

Overview: Moving from “Targeting” to Integration, Coordination, Engagement and Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Short History of Global Education in Finland From the Perspective of a Curriculum Developer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Liisa Jääskeläinen

The DICE Project in IrelandDevelopment Education and Intercultural Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Maeve Martin, Aoife Titley, Siobhán Sleeman

Sustainable Implementation of Global Awareness in Educational Systems A Dutch Contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Frans van den Boom, Jos Zuylen

The Global School in Sweden Educating Schools for Global Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Victoria Palmgren

Pan-European Perspectives in Global Education – Differing Stakeholders and Sectors

Overview: Shifting European Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

NGOs in Global EducationFrom Promoting Aid towards Global Citizen Empowerment for Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Johannes Krause


Developing a Research Culture for Global Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Doug Bourn

Progress and Development through the European Global Education Peer Review Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Eddie O’Loughlin (revised by Helmuth Hartmeyer)

Global Education in Europe – Challenges in Practice, Policy and Theory

Overview: Practice, Policy and Theoretical Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Whose Reality Counts?On Southern Perspectives in Global Education in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . 187John Y. Jones, Arnfinn Nygaard

Global Education and Social ChangeThe Imperative to Engage with Different Discourses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199Vanessa Andreotti

What Do We Know about Global Learning and What Do We Need to Find Out?A Summary of Empirical Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Annette Scheunpflug, Rainer Mehren

Global EducationParadigm Shifts, Policy Contexts, Conceptual Challenges and a new Model of Global Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Liam Wegimont

Global Education in EuropeLooking Back, Looking Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243Liam Wegimont, Helmuth Hartmeyer

Notes on the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249



Introduction and Acknowledgements

GENE – Global Education Network Europe – is the network of Ministries and Agencies or coordinating bodies with national responsibility for Global Educa-tion in Europe. The key focus of GENE is sharing policy learning between GENE participants, resulting in increased quality of Global Education.

GENE shares such policy learning through a number of mechanisms which include networking through regular Roundtables; supporting the development of Quality National Strategies in Global Education; the European Global Edu-cation Peer Review Process and through policy research. This sharing of policy learning in GENE Roundtables began 15 years ago with just six Ministries and Agencies from six countries; this has grown to over 45 Ministries and Agencies sharing policy learning from over 25 countries, and continues to grow.1

Global Education in Europe has travelled an exciting and diverse path over the past decades. The first all-European Congress on Global Education in Maastricht in the Netherlands in 2002 brought together key actors and funding agencies from Europe and beyond and took stock of the conceptual and stra-tegic realities and challenges in this field. It produced a final document – the Maastricht Declaration on Global Education – which became the starting point for activities at national level, such as the development of national strategies for Global Education and the establishment and expansion of lines of funding for it. In a number of countries the cooperation of Ministries of Foreign Affairs, or Ministries of Development Cooperation with Ministries of Education, and Min-istries of the Environment have begun to develop or have strengthened. Civil society organisations have continued to play a decisive role in political lobbying and in innovative work on the ground.

The Maastricht Congress not only re-inforced activities at local and national level, but also provided motivation for increased international cooperation. Na-tional ministries, agencies and other support and coordination structures have come together in GENE to share experiences and to learn from each other. Reg-ular roundtables, peer reviews and national reports, bi-lateral processes, policy learning and research have provided a framework for mutual support and learn-ing and for the dissemination of outcomes based on good practice and newer methodologies of effective Global Education.

1 For an overview of the early development of the GENE network, see Wegimont, L: Networking to Improve Global Education in Europe. In: ZEP June 2004.



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GENE uses the definition of Global Education as defined in the Maastricht Declaration: “Global Education is education that opens people’s eyes and minds to the realities of the world, and awakens them to bring about a world of great-er justice, equity and human rights for all. Global Education is understood to encompass Development Education, Human Rights Education, Education for Sustainability, Education for Peace and Conflict Prevention and Intercultural Education; [these] being the global dimensions of Education for Citizenship.”

Ten years after Maastricht, representatives of 30 European countries came together in The Hague in 2012 to take stock of progress in the field and to decide on future collaboration.

In recent years, GENE has developed and strengthened its cooperation with the European Commission, which has supported GENE’s work through an ex-tended cooperation agreement since 2015.

With this book, now marking fifteen years of GENE work, the challenges of contemporary Global Education are portrayed. Key issues are confronted, using case studies from different countries, and pan-European analyses. Current and future challenges for the field are outlined.

We describe the journey taken together in Europe and highlight the most relevant conferences and seminars in the 15 years since Maastricht. Case studies from single countries reflect the development of strategies for Global Education, in an ever increasing number of countries.

In the next section of the book, the necessity for appropriate structures for Global Education is described. Again, examples of individual countries serve this purpose.

A third section examines a number of case studies related to various dimen-sions of Global Education in education systems – in initial teacher education, in curriculum reform, and in whole-school approaches.

Along with sections that highlight case studies from individual countries, there is also pan-European reflection from the perspective of differing stake-holders – describing changing approaches from NGOs, Europe-wide quality en-hancement through peer reviews, and the need for the development of a culture of research.

We conclude with reflections on the importance of Southern perspectives, of diverse perspectives in the relationship between education and social change, on essentials in research, and on conceptual and policy challenges.

This book, which is firmly based on its first edition in 2013, was made possi-ble by the committed work of all GENE participants, who contributed directly



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or indirectly to the texts, and by the network of academics which has been estab-lished throughout the years.

Note, however, the views expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of GENE and its participants. Neither do they reflect the views of the European Union, which kindly assisted the produc-tion of this book.

Helmuth HartmeyerLiam WegimontAutumn 2016



Global Education in Europe: European Policy DevelopmentGrowing Access in Europe for Global Education1

Helmuth Hartmeyer, Liam Wegimont

1. Introduction

As long as there have been efforts to educate people about justice issues, and to relate people’s particular concerns to more global concerns involving humanity as a whole, there have also been concerns about doing it better, about reaching more people, about quality, about improvement. While these efforts have exist-ed, and been reflected on for millennia, the specific efforts of Development and Global Education have a more recent, if not unrelated history. Some would chart these histories to the 1960s and 1970s, with the advent of development discourse and critical reflection on development practice.

During the 1980s and 1990s, some NGDOs and indeed some governments strongly supported the work of development education, information and aware-ness raising. At the same time many involved in these efforts – at both NGDO and government levels – would have struggled to ensure that these issues re-mained visible as pertinent to the development agenda, and would have strug-gled to ensure adequate budgets and political support. Policy frameworks, while slowly growing, remained weak.

In the mid to late 1990s, work in a number of European countries, led in some instances by NGDOs, in others by governments, in some by intermediary agencies or educational institutions, led to increased recognition of the need for strengthened policy frameworks, political commitment and funding for Global Education. Since the late 1990s, many European countries have seen the work of Global Education2 move from the periphery, to a more central role in develop-ment discourse, practice, policy and funding.

1 This article is based on a similar article in the previous edition of GENE (ed): GE in Europe, 2013: 11–20.

2 This article, and GENE generally, uses the term “Global Education”. The definition of Global Education used is taken from the Maastricht Declaration on Global Ed-ucation (explained elsewhere in this book). GENE also pays particular attention to



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The early years of the new Millennium saw increased political will in Europe in relation to global development, and some political support for the Millenni-um Development Goals (MDGs). This added political impetus to the argument that there can be little achievement of particular development goals without an informed and critically aware public in countries in Europe. This, along with strategic work by Global and development education advocates, has led to a strengthened policy climate, at both national and international level. Together with this growth in centrality, mainstreaming and policy support frameworks, comes a growing emphasis on quality, on improvement and on evaluation, var-iously understood. A number of Congresses and Conferences since the turn of the century made significant strides towards stronger policy frameworks and support for these areas at national and international level, and twinned the need for more Global Education, with the need for better practice, improved quality, and greater visibility of effect. Meanwhile, in more recent years, and since the publication of the last edition of this volume, a number of further trends have been in evidence

• Recognition of the imperative of Global Education within global initiatives around access to, and quality of, education per se.

• Recognition of the necessity of Global Education to broader international af-fairs, foreign policy, global policy and development agendas.

• Recognition of the urgency of strengthened Global Education in the context of contemporary challenges; coupled with

• growing recognition of the more long-term centrality of Global Education, critically understood, within education policy, research, and reform.

The main achievements in the aforementioned Conferences and their outcomes in relation to Global Education are outlined below, while the emerging trends of recent years are detailed in a later chapter3.

2. Europe-wide Global Education Congress (Maastricht 2002)

The “European Congress on Global Education to 2015”, was convened in Novem-ber 2002 in Maastricht. It was organised by the North-South Centre of the Coun-

Development Education, and welcomes the use of particular national terms and recognises both the evolution of terminology and the emergence of other terms.

3 See later in this book: Wegimont, L on Paradigm shift and conceptual challenges.


Global Education in Europe: European Policy Development

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cil of Europe in close co-operation with a number of key agencies and ministries, and others. These included the NCDO (National Committee for International Co-operation and Sustainable Development, the Netherlands); the Government of Luxembourg; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway; the Dutch inter-min-isterial programme “Learning for Sustainability”; the German Ministry for Eco-nomic Co-operation and Development (BMZ); and ECDPM (European Centre for Development Policy Management).4

The Maastricht Congress drew on the political impetuses of the need for pub-lic support for the Millennium Development Goals, and the possibilities inherent in the World Summit on Sustainable Development and its subsequent Decade of Education for Sustainable Development to focus attention on the potential and promise of Global Education. Drawing together governments, civil society, parliamentarians and local and regional representatives from across Europe, and involving a modest Southern participation, the Congress led to the Maastricht Declaration on Improving and Increasing Global Education in Europe to 2015. This Congress was something of a milestone in the growth of Global Education in Europe in that it:

• Drew attention to the political necessity of support for Global Education as a prerequisite for critical public engagement with global development and sustainability issues;

• focused commitment on European and national strategies, providing space for national actors to begin the process of development of national strategies, including strategies for improvement, quality and evaluation;

• called for the establishment of a European Peer Review system for Global Education;

• called for increased funding to Global Education.

The Maastricht Declaration was significant in relation to a policy framework for Global Education in that it firmly embedded the notion of the right to quality Global Education for all citizens as a benchmark for progress in the achievement of Global Education. Increased provision was linked to improved provision. A rights-based, universalist approach to Global Education was wedded to issues of quality, improvement and evaluation.

4 The Congress was supported by among others, the Swedish MFA, the OECD Devel-opment Centre and Austrian Development Co-operation.



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3. Conference “Learning for a Global Society” (London 2003)

The focus of the international conference “Learning for a Global Society” in Lon-don on 23–25 September 2003 was on the topic “Learning for a Global Society – Evaluation and Quality in Global Education”. The conference was a common event of GENE, the German development agency InWEnt5 and the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. Some 120 persons from about 35 countries at-tended, among them also some from developing countries and some from Japan, the United States and Australia.

The conference provided participants with the opportunity to explore cur-rent expert discourse and policy on topics such as:

• The national and international policy contexts for evaluation in Global Ed-ucation

• The MDGs and evaluation in Global Education• Learning through evaluation• Global Learning, public opinion, public awareness and campaigning• Innovative practices in evaluation in Global Education• Southern involvement in evaluation of Global Education in Europe.

4. European Conference on Public Awareness and Development Education, “Education for North-South Solidarity” (Brussels 2005)

On the initiative and invitation of the Belgian MFA and the European Com-mission, a Europe-wide conference “European Conference on Public Awareness and Development Education for North-South Solidarity” was held in Brussels in May 2005. It had two main objectives: on the one hand, to strengthen the conviction and necessity of Development Education in the ten countries which had joined the EU on 1 May 2004, and on the other hand to improve the content and financial framework for the working area (as it was mentioned in the title of the conference).

Bringing together a wide range of national administrations, national and international organisations, and civil society representatives, and building on a previous resolution of the Development Ministers of the European Union, the

5 This sector in Germany has undergone structural changes in recent years. It is now Engagement Global, Germany (along with BMZ) that participates in GENE.



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Conference focused on the fact that, in the words of the final conclusions docu-ment of the Conference –

“effective development education and awareness raising are essential conditions to mobilise support to reach … targets … such as the MDGS and ODA targets”.

The Conference focused on a number of issues crucial to the increase and im-provement of public awareness-raising on development issues, Development and Global Education, including:

• The need for coherent national strategies, and for coherence between nation-al and European strategies;

• The need to integrate these perspectives across policy fields, including edu-cation;

• The need to ensure adequate resources for these areas, including target-setting.

A key focus of the recommendations of the Conference was the issue of quality and effectiveness in the areas under consideration. The Conference concluded that:

“As part of the overall need to raise … quality and efficiency, best practices should be actively encouraged and supported, particularly between Member states but also internationally. Ongoing coordination and cooperation, learning from past expe-riences at the widest possible level is therefore essential to ensure coherence and maximise effectiveness.”

The Brussels Conference participants also agreed that:

“Building on existing experiences, increased efforts have to be made to improve monitoring and evaluation of development education and awareness raising ac-tivities in order to systematically enhance their overall relevance, efficiency and effectiveness.”

5. The Helsinki Conference on European Development Education (2006) – The European Consensus on Development: The contribution of Development Education and Awareness Raising (2007)

The Helsinki Conference, convened under the auspices of the Finnish presiden-cy of the EU in June 2006, again put Global Education at the very centre of the



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development agenda. It was symbolically important that Finland chose to launch its presidency in the field of development cooperation with a Conference on development education and awareness-raising. It built on what the final declara-tion of the Conference described as

“the growing political commitment and strengthened policy in the field of devel-opment education and awareness-raising, at European and national level, inter alia, through the Development Education Resolution of the EU Council of Development Ministers (2001), the Maastricht Declaration (2002), the Palermo Process (2003), the Brussels Conference (2005) and the European Consensus on Development (2005).”

Participants from national ministries, agencies, EU institutions, European civil society, international organizations, local and regional authorities, and research institutes, ensured attention was given to a number of issues considered politi-cally crucial to the fields of global and development education and information. First among them was the issue of quality and effectiveness.

Following this conference a European multistakeholder steering group on development education was established, which involved a range of stakeholders – including from international, state and civil society organisations. This steer-ing group developed a Consensus document on Development Education which outlined objectives, principles, target groups, challenges and recommendations in the field of development education and awareness-raising.

6. DEAR (Development Education and Awareness Raising) in Europe (Study of the European Commission 2010)

In 2009 the European Commission mandated a group of consultants with a study on the experience and actions of the main European actors working in the field of development education and awareness raising. The results were publical-ly presented at the European Development Days in December 2010 (European Commission 2010). One main motivation for the study was the need for the European Commission to give added value to approaches to development edu-cation and awareness raising in coherence with the EU Member States and other major actors’ initiatives.

From a Global Education perspective, Core Recommendation No 5 is of spe-cial interest: i. e. that work in development education supported by the European Commission should follow the “Global Learning” approach.



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“It aims at enhancing the competencies of (groups of) learner(s) in addressing is-sues of global development. It uses learner-centred, participatory, dialogue-oriented and experimental methodologies to develop such competencies. Projects involving institutions in the Formal Education Sector (initial and continuing professional development teacher centres, curriculum development authorities, parent associa-tions, etc.) need to be consulted along with the responsible educational authorities.” (DEAR Study 2010, 21)

From a GENE perspective, also of greater relevance, is Recommendation No 6 which asks for an increase in the effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainabil-ity of European DEAR efforts:

• by promoting and supporting coherence between and coordination of DEAR relevant policies, strategies and approaches as applied by major European DEAR actors, and

• by encouraging and supporting coordination with initiatives in other sectors which are closely related to DEAR. (DEAR Study 2010, 23)

In total, the study gives 55 recommendations, half of which refer to the grant system of the European Commission in the field of DEAR. Two voluminous an-nexes offer valuable analyses of fieldwork data and projects carried out between 2005 and 2009.

7. The Espoo Finland Symposia (2011, 2014)

In 2011, the international symposium, “Becoming a Global Citizen”, was organ-ised by the Finnish National Board of Education, in cooperation with GENE, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland and the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre in Espoo. The symposium addressed three key issues:

• What is Global Education?• What are the key competencies required for global citizens in general edu-

cation?• How can priorities of Global Education be identified at national level?

The symposium discussed and further developed new ideas, insights and visions concerning the questions above. The frame of reference was to clarify the un-derstanding of competencies in general and a growth into global citizenship in



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particular; to suggest the explicit competencies needed for global citizens within national curriculum reform; and to gather and develop pedagogical examples in global citizenship education (FNBE/GENE 2012, 6).

The Symposium built on international interest in the success of the Finnish education system and the Finnish experience of curriculum reform; on a grow-ing focus on the necessary centrality of Global Education to educational quality and curriculum reform processes; on broadened conceptual and research bases; national good practice examples; and successful peer review and European strat-egy networking processes in the field of Global Education over the last decade.

The conclusions from the symposium strongly emphasised the need to put Global Education at the centre of Education. For example:

Conclusion 1:

“Education must put Global Education at the heart of learning, if it is to be consid-ered quality education.”

Conclusion 4:

“Curriculum development or reform is best understood as a critical, participatory learning process. Global Education is at the heart of ongoing and forthcoming Finnish curriculum reform. Other national curriculum development processes might also consider putting Global Education at the heart of their endeavours.”

Inspired by the current curriculum reform in Finland, the Finnish National Board of Education, in cooperation with the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre in Espoo and GENE invited to another symposium in Espoo, in 2014. It addressed five key issues:

• Global Education across curricula• Reform of basic education in Finland – mainstreaming Global Education?• Role of partnerships in creating global responsibility• Reciprocity, equality and equity in the education of global citizens• Strategic steps in the implementation of Global Education

Within the 13 conclusions drawn from the symposium, it was restated that edu-cation must put Global Education at the heart of learning; that we should com-mit ourselves to further deepening the theoretical, conceptual and critical foun-dations of our work in the field; that when focusing on the dimensions of civic



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competence, we should recognise that within the process of Global Education and Global Citizenship Education there is a need to build on understandings of the multiple perspectives present in local, national and global communities; that we reaffirm that schools should be developed as learning communities where the glocal interrelationships are acknowledged. (GENE 2014)

8. Lisbon Congress on Global Education (2012)

The Lisbon Congress on Global Education: Education, Interdependence and Solidarity in a Changing World, took place 27–28 September 2012 in Lisbon, Portugal. This event was organised by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe, in partnership with GENE and CONCORD, the European Confedera-tion of NGDOs, among others. It was aimed at a broad range of stakeholders. The conference reflected back on the Maastricht Declaration (2002), developments since, and reiterated commitment to the recommendations in the declaration and to contribute to achieving its aims to 2015.

At a follow-up conference in Zagreb in 2015 stock was taken of the progress achieved in the past three years.

9. The Hague International Symposium on Global Education (2012)

The Hague International Symposium on Global Education: Enhancing Quality, Improving Coherence, Increasing Cohesion in Global Education, took place 15–17th November 2012 in The Hague, the Netherlands. It was organised by GENE, hosted by NCDO, and with the support of the European Commission. Participants were representatives of Ministries and Agencies in Europe with re-sponsibility for or a policy interest in Global Education. Key objectives of the symposium included:

• Sharing analysis of issues of quality, strategy and structures for funding and supporting Global Education in Europe, with a view to building and strengthening quality structures, strategies and approaches, and strengthen-ing coherence, cohesion and subsidiarity between national and EC level;

• Continue increasing the number of European countries participating in the sharing of policy learning in Global Education between Ministries and Agen-cies;



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• Reflecting on 10 years of sharing policy learning through GENE, 10 years since the Maastricht Congress on Global Education, and looking forward to further strengthening such policy learning;

• Building on the GENE/Finnish National Board of Education/MFA Finland Symposium and Conclusions in Espoo 2011. As mentioned above, this states that Ministries of Education should consider putting Global Education at the heart of curriculum development or reform.

One of the key outputs of the Hague Symposium were the ‘Hague Conclusions on Global Education to 2020’. Among other things, this reaffirms among Ministries and Agencies in Europe their desire to share policy learning with each other; to strengthen coherence between what happens at a state and European level; and to take forward our efforts to further the quantity and quality of Global Educa-tion in Europe. For example, participants committed to:

• Enhanced sharing of knowledge, analysis and policy learning in Global Edu-cation among the GENE members and beyond;

• contributing to international coherence in the field of Global Education through moving forward this agenda within international policy processes (under auspices of the OECD, European Commission, Council of Europe, UN system etc.);

• continued focus on the quality of Global Education.

10. More recent initiatives

In recent years, a number of conferences took place in GENE participating coun-tries, which touched upon key issues of Global Education (conceptual develop-ment, policy learning and strategy development, reflection of good practice and quality enhancement). Such conferences were held e. g. in Bratislava (2014 and 2015), Wilnius (2015) and Prague (2015).

Along with these policy consensus processes, there has been a growing body in the field of sharing policy progress thorugh policy networking. One mod-est contribution of GENE in this regard is the publication, in June 2015, of the henceforth annual “State of Global Education in Europe 2015”. Gathering the per-spectives of national policymakers, and sharing information and views regarding national prolicy and provision among European countries, this annual iniatives is provided as a small contribution to enhanced policy-focused data in the field.



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11. Progress made and now to build on this

The first fifteen years of this century have seen a growing recognition of the centrality of Global Education within the development agenda, but importantly also within the education agenda. From the brief review of events and initiatives above, the conclusions of these processes, and the growing number of national initiatives and strategies on which they were based and which they reflected, makes it clear that Global Education is significantly more recognised now in Europe than at the time of the above mentioned Maastricht Congress in 2002. Global Education is increasingly being recognised as central rather than periph-eral to the development agenda, and to education agendas – a position that many advocates working in this field in the 1990s might only have dreamt of.

There are of course many challenges ahead. The large and complex interna-tional crises facing so many countries have created many difficulties for citizens, policy makers and advocates of Global Education in Europe. Another key chal-lenge is of course the significant geographic disparities with regard to the provi-sion and access to Global Education between different European countries. This is an issue of interest to GENE, and the sharing of learning on funding structures and national strategies through for example the regular GENE roundtables, goes some way to facilitate policy learning in this regard. Further strengthening co-operation and policy learning with the European Commission is another way of moving to address issues of coherence and cohesion. Challenges abound, and as of the going to press of this 2016 edition of this volume, the challenge of climate change; the possibility that the SDGs might afford an opportunity for greater global, regional national and local social cohesion; the threat to solidarity afforded by the rise of nationalism, racism, xenophobia and fear of the other; the abysmal common failure to address the human rights entitlements of those people who come to Europe in search of sanctuary; coupled with the challenge of extremism, radicalisation, and terrorism; all are of immediate, urgent and also more long-term concern to those involved in global education practice, theory and policy.

But these challenges also mean that now, more than ever before, there is a crucial need to for support to develop globally informed and educated publics in Europe. In this environment the argument for universal access to quality Global Education has perhaps never been stronger – even stronger in 2016 than it was in 2013, when the first edition of this book was published.

There are many diverse strategies for improving and progressing Global Edu-cation that have been tried, with some impressive results, considering the mod-



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est resources available. Some of the policies, strategies, processes and initiatives that have worked are outlined in this book. Trends and emerging paradigms are identified.

It continues to be our hope, a hope based on the experience in the nexus between practice, policy, research, network development, diplomacy and politics – that we can over the next few decades build better, go further, and reach deeper and wiser, towards the day when all people in Europe, in growing solidarity with excluded peoples globally, will have access to quality Global Education.

References

European Commission (2010). Development Education and Awareness Raising Study, https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/aidco/index.php/DEAR:_Develop ment_education_and_awareness_raising, March 2016.

GENE (ed) (2014). The Espoo Finland 2014. Conclusions on the Education of Global Citizens.

Jääskeläinen, L, Kaivola, T, O’Loughlin, E & Wegimont, L (eds) (2012). Becoming a Global Citizen. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Competencies of Global Citizens. FNBE and GENE, Helsinki and Amsterdam.

Hartmeyer, H (2008). Experiencing the World. Global Learning in Austria: Developing, Reaching Out, Crossing Borders. Münster/New York: Waxmann Verlag.

O’Loughlin, E & Wegimont, L (2003). European Strategy Framework for Improving and Increasing Global Education in Europe to the Year 2015. Europe-wide Global Education Congress, Maastricht, the Netherlands, 15th–17th November 2002. Lisbon.

Scheunpflug, A & McDonnell, I (2008). Building Public Awareness of Development: Communicators, Educators and Evaluation. OECD Development Centre. Policy Briefing Number 35. Paris (38p). http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/39/38/41043735.pdf

Wegimont, L (2004). Networking to Improve Global Education in Europe, ZEP 27(2), 15–21.

See also GENE website www.gene.eu – for copies of the proceedings of the conferenc-es and initiatives mentioned above, including recommendations and conclusions.


Global Education in European Countries: National Strategy DevelopmentOverview: Strategy Development in Europe

National Structures for the support of Global Education continue to develop in European countries. They work at national level to ensure adequate support, funding, coordination and policy coherence in this field. In the past decade, through GENE, and through particular initiatives such as the v-4 programme, there has been a conscious effort to ensure systematic policy learning between these structures, so that policy learning in one country can be shared where ap-propriate. This is not a question of replicating strategies and structures from one country to another, but rather of ensuring that lessons learnt in one jurisdiction that are applicable elsewhere, can be gathered, shared, and applied where appro-priate. These structures need to be supported, in the first instance by or within Ministries of Foreign Affairs; and in cooperation and with support from other lines Ministries, particularly education. While Global Education may at times be, and indeed must be, critical of predominant models of development, aid, etc; nevertheless, it is also clear from any analysis of existing and emerging structures over the last decade that this is the realm of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation.

The Maastricht Congress in 2002 called on the 40 European countries partic-ipating to develop national strategies for the increase and improvement of Glob-al Education. Since then, the number of countries with national strategies has grown significantly.1 These strategies could be characterised along a continuum of stakeholder engagement or one of multi-ministerial ownership.

In summer 2010 GENE staged a first European seminar on the development of national strategies for Global Education. Representatives from ten countries came together and shared their experiences of the development and imple-mentation of such strategies. With different situations and frameworks in each country, nevertheless there was general agreement that the development of such

1 It should be noted that since 2008, GENE has held the position that not all countries need national strategies (in some countries related strategies suffice). The point is not to have a strategy in every country, but to ensure quality national strategies, in countries where they are appropriate, and appropriate strategic development of the field in those where they are not.


Global Education in European Countries

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strategies is useful and has helped to open up the educational systems for new global learning possibilities and new didactical approaches.

In sharing policy learning among those who have developed strategies, the following emerged:

• there is more than one way to develop a national strategy, one-size does not fit all in the development of national strategies;

• comparative knowledge breeds success;• learning from concrete sharing of experiences: conceptual, tactical, strategic,

political and practical knowledge is necessary;• international dialogue and peer learning can lead to national political sup-

port;• a national strategy can provide continuity in times of change, and a frame-

work for international dialogue can assist in its development.

Meanwhile strategies exist in Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ire-land, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain. They are different from each other in process, scope and reach, and have to be understood against their national back-ground and context. This section provides the stories behind a small number of examples of national strategy development.

There are strengthened policy frameworks at European level, and a growing number of European countries with excellent national strategies that provide frameworks of support for enhanced quality and greater reach. While loath to suggest that all countries in Europe should have national strategies – some al-ready have national strategies in related fields, some get on nicely with other models of policy support; nevertheless, the usefulness of national strategies and strategic initiatives suggests that this movement should continue; and that those Ministries and Agencies whose remit includes Global Education should contin-ue to develop strategic approaches. Meanwhile, greater coordination, coherence, cohesion, and subsidiarity between national and European levels should contin-ue to be enhanced.2

2 In this regard GENE is working closely with the European Commission and has been granted a multi-annual cooperation agreement from 2015 onwards.

Documents

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