Global Citizenship Education: A Case Study of Teachers' Practices and Challenges in an Underprivileged Primary School in Karachi

Global Citizenship Education (GCE) prepares students for an interconnected world by promoting peace, respect, and sustainability, empowering them to contribute to a more inclusive society. This qualitative case study explores the challenges of integration of GCE in an underprivileged primary school of Karachi, Pakistan, focusing on the national curriculum, textbooks, teachers’ perceptions and pedagogy. Data were collected through curriculum and textbook analysis, teacher interviews, and classroom observations. Findings revealed that although the curriculum and textbooks cover core elements of GCE such as diversity, interconnectedness, and human rights, core elements of GCE, but they do not explicitly address GCE as a distinct concept. Furthermore, the lack of GCE awareness among teachers highlights deficiencies in their knowledge and training. Moreover, Socio-economic factors pose significant challenges to integrating GCE. The study underscores the need to integrate GCE into curricula, textbooks, and teacher training, emphasising the importance of national efforts to effectively implement GCE in schools to foster students’ cosmopolitan and global citizenship competencies.