Global citizenship and the role of education in the twenty-first century

Abstract

This paper seeks to define concepts such as ‘citizenship’ and ‘global citizenship’ in a democracy and what it means to be ‘a good citizen’. It also seeks to explain that every individual can be ‘a good citizen’ in different situations and scenarios. Of the many agents responsible for the development of an individual, education, together with the home environment and culture, play an important part. Education is also the key to liberty and freedom, while the media is the key to accessing a wealth of information and knowledge. While referring to different modern-day scenarios and the positive and negative effects of globalization, one hopes to create or contribute to a dialogue, an inward and an outward dialogue, in order to understand further the role of education in the 21st century and the implications on active global democratic citizenship.