Binalatongan Community College

Brgy. Ilang San Carlos City, Pangasinan

Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED)

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT)
LEARNING MODULE

LESSON 12: GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Definition of terms:
 Citizenship – how residents live in particular area with previously agreed upon rights
and responsibilities
 Rights – any lawful, social, or moral principle of autonomy or entitlement
 Duty – an obligation or expectation to perform an action based on the law, social
norms, or a moral standard
 Global citizenship – the belief that all people have rights and civic responsibilities
based on the reason that they reside in the world.

“I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world” - Socrates

Aspects of Citizenship
1) Rights – defined as any lawful, social, or moral principle of autonomy or entitlement. It
is a collection of what is allowed and what should be provided to a group of people
based on a particular legal system, norms, or ethical standards.

Three Types of Rights

 Civil rights – are entitlements provided by a certain locality to its public
constituents. These include the right to free speech. Every citizen is allowed to
communicate openly. He/She is permitted to voice opinions even if it is criticizing
the government just as long as it has basis and evidence. Civil rights also include the
right to have and to be treated with dignity.
 Political rights – are administrative entitlements provided by a specific
government. These include the right to run for office. Every citizen has the right to
be elected as a representative of his/her community as long as he/she meets
various criteria.
 Social rights – are entitlements related to public services and to social protection.
These include insurance, health care, welfare, housing, and pensions.

2) Duty - comes from the French word “due” which means “to owe”. Duty is defined as an
obligation or expectation to perform an action based on the law, social norms, or a
moral Standard.

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Jessa Mae M. De Vera, LPT
Janine Marie A. Salamero, MBA
 Three Types of Duties
 Conscription - pertains to the obligation to register as a reserve force in the army.
This means that every able-bodied citizen is asked to take up arms and fight for
their country in case of war.
 Taxation - relates to the duty to pay a compulsory contribution to a state or the
government
 Participation - refers to the obligation to take part in the community. Every citizen
is encouraged to participate in the development of their community. They are also
encouraged to vote for their leaders during elections.

Categories of global citizenship

 Open global citizenship – believes that nations still exist and differ from one
another. However, it recognizes the interdependence between different nations and
the opportunities for cultural diversification.
 Moral global citizenship – focuses on the ethical aspect of global citizenship. What
are the moral facets of global rights and responsibilities? Moral global citizenship
put emphasis on human rights, equality, and global responsibility.
 Socio-political global citizenship – emphasizes the social and governmental
systems and structures around the world. It advocates to shift the existing political
power in order to advance global equality.

Why Global Citizenship?

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) summit declaration “Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda
for sustainable development” named global citizenship education as one of the strategies in the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It was also mentioned in Declaration 36. In addition, the UN
Secretary-General report in 2015 urged educators to utilize global citizenship education to promote
peace around the world. As one can see, global citizenship is highly supported by international
organizations and worldwide declarations.

Learning to Live Together

An important principle in education is for people to “learn to live together.” In fact, it is also crucial in
the rapidly changing world where population is becoming more and more diverse. It is integral for
educators to promote a culture of peace, non-violence, tolerance, and respect. Learning to live
together entails understanding different nation’s interconnectedness and interdependence. It
requires strategies for diplomatic coexistence and compromise. Global citizenship education
provides a new lens for the youth to think critically, cast aside hatred, and have the capacity for
dialogue and tolerance.

Restore Dignity
Paulo Freire (1970) urges people to be educated in citizenship rights in order to question the
hidden Oppressive systems that surround them. The task of global citizenship education is not just
to teach about current systems but also the concepts of global social justice and basic rights. Global
citizenship education imparts knowledge about the rights of every individual in the international
community. One of these basic rights is that every human being has the right to live in dignity.
Global citizenship education assists in restoring positive identity, dignity, and self-esteem of
individuals.

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Jessa Mae M. De Vera, LPT
Janine Marie A. Salamero, MBA
 Issues in Global Citizenship
Despite the progress ¡n the conceptualizations and in the education of global citizenship, there are
still issues and challenges arising. These issues and challenges may be classified into three:
1) Conflict between global citizenship and national citizenship – even though people
are encouraged to become global citizens, in reality, they live in their own culture with
their own context. This is very obvious in countries with a significant amount of
immigration. The performative aspect of citizenship, not only looks at the rights and
duties being performed, but also at the rights and duties not being performed or not
allowed to be performed. For example, what about states that do not allow press
freedom? How will the global right to freedom of speech be implemented ¡f the state
does not allow it?

2) Conflict between global citizenship and individual differences – for instance, in the
membership and performance aspect of citizenship, how would one classify non-
citizens who perform the duty of citizens, like immigrants that pay taxes? Should they
be given the same rights as the citizens? In Italy, for example, immigrants who perform
very personal services or care work for Italian families and know deep-seated secrets
are still not treated as part of the family because they are foreigners. In fact, they are
called “intimate foreigners.” Examples of these are caregivers, nurses and domestic
helpers.
In another example related to this, "abject citizens" is a phrase used to describe citizens
who experience being rejected from citizenship even though they were born in the same
territory. This term usually refers to nomadic cultures like the Roma or Sinti who are from a
different ethnic group with their own culture.
Individuals may also have multiple citizenship identities. For instance, a person may have
dual citizenship because he/she resides in two countries. Finally, another Source of conflict is
the assumption that English is the universal language even though it is not the language used by
the most number of population.

3) Development of the imagination for global citizenship – another challenge is the

slow progress in developing a global imagination. Citizenship is not permanent, can be
transformed, and contestable.
The word global in global citizenship has the tendency to focus only on the experiences of
the majority. It highlights only the existing sociocultural, political, and economic systems. It
neglects the experiences of the minority and the marginalized.
Who is the active citizen? The word active has come to refer extremes. on one hand, it is the
“good” citizen who follows social norms. On the other hand, it is the “bad” citizen who questions
and disobeys social norms. Is the Concept of active citizenship used to “pacify” people? Is ¡t used
to make people comply to what is expected from them?

Page 3 of 3 Prepared by:

Jessa Mae M. De Vera, LPT
Janine Marie A. Salamero, MBA