Think globally, act locally: children’s literature and the promotion of education for global citizenship

Abstract

This case study was promoted with a group of 13 students attending a graduation in Basic Education in a polytechnic institute in Portugal, during the academic year 2019/2020. They were asked to answer a questionnaire on the promotion of an education for a globalized society through children’s literature. The data were submitted to content analysis. The results revealed that the students could reflect on the importance of an education promoting knowledge, abilities, attitudes and values capable of developing in their future pupils’ competences leading to the exercise of a citizenship focused on peace and the common good. Furthermore, they recognized the importance of children’s literature for the promotion of literary and social values which have a role to play in the promotion of an education for a globalized society. In spite of their ability to reflect on the importance of children’s literature for the development of literary and social values, which at least partially resulted from the fact that they were attending a course in which they studied multicultural and values education, this study showed that it is essential to go deeper in the reflection on these issues to train education professionals really committed with issues related to globalization and consequently to the common good.