Creating Critical Global Citizens whilst Teaching English - Proposing an English Curriculum for the Fifth Grade of Pre-University Education informed by Critcal Global Citizenship

Abstract

Onderwijs 2032 (2016) is a proposal to restructure Dutch education to prepare pupils for the future, by giving them opportunities to develop skills which are thought to be important in the next few decades. Since one of these skills is citizenship, this paper tries to make citizenship education inherent to English language classes by developing a new English curriculum for the fifth grade of pre-university education. Citizenship education has many traditions, but a critical global approach as suggested by Andreotti (2006) is used in the proposed curriculum. Although the curriculum is not taught, its teachability and feasibility has been assessed in interviews with 2 English teachers. After the interviewees’ assessment of the curriculum, lesson plans have been designed to serve as example of the implementation of the curriculum. Finally, it is concluded that the English curriculum can be informed by critical global citizenship, but that more research is needed to ensure a successful implementation.