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2024
ВЕСТНИК САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЕ ОТНОШЕНИЯ
Т. 17. Вып. 1
ГЛОБАЛЬНАЯ ПОВЕСТКА В СФЕРЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЕ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ
UDC 327.7
Global Citizenship Initiative: UNESCO education policies through the prism of identity studies
A. Bikerniece
Dalian University of Foreign Languages, School of International Studies, Lushunkou District, Dalian, Liaoning, 116044, People's Republic of China
For citation: Bikerniece A. Global Citizenship Initiative: UNESCO education policies through the prism of identity studies. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. International Relations, 2024, vol. 17, issue 1, pp. 96-109. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu06.2024.106
For many decades since the establishment of UNESCO, the organization has promoted and defended the idea of Global education. One of the reasons was the necessity to improve live standards, but also to create the global thinking and mutual understanding in order to avoid further conflicts and wars. The article examines the evolution of UNESCO Global citizenship initiative as an attempt to construct Global identity. Global identity falls under the identity studies object, as it is both a process and a state under construction with the aim at unifying peoples around the world. For the first three decades of UNESCO policies, it attempted to construct a positive identity, uniting people through shared values. The attempt lacked negative element and material elements to it. As a result, since 1970s, a new idea emerged that became the backbone of further UNESCO and UN policies — the idea of environmental threats opposing the humanity. These gradually evolved by 2000s into Sustainable Development Goals and Global Citizenship initiative. In recent years, UNESCO highlights new challenges — COVID Pandemics and spread of international conflicts, and the organization shifts its policy again in order to create unifying ground for peoples around the world amid these new challenges.
Keywords: UNESCO, education policies, global citizenship, global identity, Education for All, Sustainable Development.
"Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed" [1, p. 1]. This is how international community perceived the world and humanity in 1945, when the idea of UNESCO came into being. This abstract from the UNESCO Constitution preamble laid foundation to future UNESCO policies
© St. Petersburg State University, 2024
in creating a specific mindset for people throughout the Globe in order to avoid further conflicts.
The Constitution of UNESCO stated that "the purpose of the Organisation is to contribute to peace and security promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms" [1, p. 2]. Thus, the UNESCO appeared and started its' operation as a body to empower humanity against the challenges it faces, primarily that of military conflicts and clashes. The country leaders accepted that the key role to shaping global society belongs to education. Therefore, the education policies became central to the UNESCO activities. Gradually, from a peace-promoting body, UNESCO evolved into an omnipresent organization that develops universal approaches to education of peoples to live in harmony with our planet by shaping their world perception. The initiative of "Global citizen" launched by UNESCO aims at establishment of this peaceful coexistence approach for both nations and the human-to-planet relations.
The article aims at evaluation of UNESCO global identity construction attempts through the prism of UNESCO education policies and initiatives. The historic method of research in this paper include academic literature and UNESCO publications and reports in the area of education analysis and overview.
UNESCO policies and the identity studies
The "Global citizen" initiative aims at transforming human perception about our humankind and planet in a positive way, by creating a set of shared values that, in return, will succeed in establishment of shared mindset. The idea to establish a certain mindset is very close to the identity studies. The theory of identity studies assists in one of the most important UN tasks — creation of stable and sustainable world.
Identities are a complex notion, covering almost every possible area of human activity. It is both a process and a state, and according Ana-Maria Bolborici, it is "highly receptive and involves a range of analytic approaches" [2, p. 40]. There are different types of identity — individual and collective identity. There are various levels of identity — local, regional, national and supranational (or global). The principle issue in identity studies derives from absence of a universally recognized definition and classification. Majority, however, agrees that there is a division of identity into positive — inclusive identity, and negative — dichotomy of Me-Other identity [3, p. 509]. These two coexist together, both for human benefit, although their balance at different levels of identity can be various. When discussing international relations, one usually focuses on national or transnational social, political and cultural group identity.
When discussing UNESCO policies of Global education and Global citizen initiative, one focuses on supranational or global cultural and social identity. This identity, in essence, is a positive identity, because it discusses inclusion of various national and ethnic groups into a global community. The major challenge for global identity, however, is a lack of defining elements, which leads to uncertainty in definition and problems with acquisition.
Traditionally, the elements that shape national social identity are usually shared territory, language, values, traditions and culture, shared history and legitimate political institutions [4]. In case of global identity, all of these elements exist either in limited or over complex form. This, obviously, poses a great pressure on the UNESCO attempts to create
Global citizenship. On the one hand, Global citizenship is an ambiguous and arguable idea in itself — it is not synonymic to global identity, but has the most important elements of it — shared values that unite global community. On the other hand, UNESCO faces great difficulties in introducing the idea of global identity through its Global citizenship initiative even in a limited amount as this challenges the supremacy of states in their national identity construction. The initiative, however, has global support at least because it introduces unifying elements of global identity that assist in overcoming global challenges.
All elements of identity can be divided into two aspects — immaterial (ideological) and material [5, p. 23]. Ideological elements consist of ideas and beliefs, for example idea of human rights and freedoms, democracy, equality, solidarity, Global warming etc. These create unification in the minds of people by believing in them. Material elements, on the contrary, create the feeling of belonging by exercising physical involvement — seeing, hearing, touching, and feeling. These can be flag of the United Nations, which we can see, or the General Assembly meetings, which we can see and hear, or the World Environment Day, which we can participate in. Traditionally, material elements are more difficult to create and spread, because they involve more physical interrelation and input, which, in turn, involves finance and resources. Ideally, the material element should prevail. If it does so, people feel more attached to the ideological part, and exercise feeling of belonging, which leads to the successful spread of identity.
In case of supranational and global identities and shared values, it is highly difficult to construct them, because, first, the material elements are hard to create, and, second, hard to spread among the nations, due to complexity and diversity of humankind. Moreover, these should be elements that are naturally accepted by everyone, which is extremely difficult to achieve due to variety of cultures and traditions. For this reason, the UN has always been careful about choosing ideas that can possibly embrace all the humanity. In 2015, the UN presented 17 Sustainable Development Goals [6, p. 14] that more or less correlate to the global interests. Global citizenship merged with the idea of Sustainable Development Goals, and became the framework for action within UN. This policy, however, should not intervene with sovereign rights of states, and at the same time pursue goals of peace and environment protection, which makes UNECSO work even harder.
The primary issue with the Global citizenship initiative is the lack of sound and accepted definition among the states and other international actors. In general, while "some emphasize the environment, others social justice, they all describe moral and intellectual positions that should be taken" [7, p. 4]. However, it is a flexible notion which perception varies from country to country, and this makes the idea resilient. It embraces elements of unifying global ideas that are reflected in the Sustainable Development goals. The definition of the Global Citizenship education, however, is sounder. The official definition presented by UNESCO, states that "this concept measures the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that underpin the concept. It is measured through two sub-categories: Global-local thinking (positive attitudes towards their country of residence), and Multicultural(ism)/ intercultural(ism) (positives attitudes towards ethnic/racial minorities)" [8]. These include knowledge of "global principles, such as human rights, democracy and social justice" [9, p. 220].
Setting education standards for these topics can create a non-conflicting basis for global identity worldwide. "During the twentieth century, public education was essentially aimed at supporting national citizenship and development efforts through the form
of compulsory schooling for children and youth" [10, p. 2]. UNESCO conducts gradually a policy towards establishment of more inclusive topics in education and forming the Global citizen notion, which in return should transform into global thinking. It recognizes that "education is also the key to learning about difference and "otherness", which in a multicultural society is a prerequisite for the disarming of prejudices and stereotypes and for encouragement of the harmonious coexistence of different elements in a culture" [11, p. 101]. Thus, through larger inclusion of people in education, it is easier to spread universal and unifying ideas. For this reason, UNESCO highlights mass inclusion of the population of many ages into compulsory learning, and through this, it aspires to reach more people with its' Global citizen initiative.
Division of the policy application areas into all level of human education is key to embrace the most of world population in spreading the ideas of global citizenship. The organization has developed incentive to reach out pre-school, school, university and adults by creating Education for All programme. It sets six goals — (1) Early childhood care and education, (2) Universal primary education, (3) Youth and adult skills, (4) Adult literacy, (5) Gender equality, (6) Quality education [12, p. 2]. Moreover, UNESCO once again recognizes the need of Global education. As the New Social Contract for Education published in 2021 puts it, "as we face grave risks to the future of humanity and the living planet itself, we must urgently reinvent education to help us address common challenges" [10, p. 2] highlighting the new post-COVID reality that greatly affected all areas of human life and challenged achievement of SDGs.
Transformation of UNESCO education policies
Historically, since the first years of its existence, UNESCO pursued the goal to create global thinking. The Conferences following the establishment of the organization highlighted the importance of moral and spiritual development that could promote international spirit. In the 1947 Mexico General Conference, it was stated that "basic education should embrace all the parts of the community, children as well as adults, women as well as men" [13, p. 1]. Among basic elements that should become part of any education, UNESCO highlighted "(7) knowledge of economic and social organization, (8) habit that permit to live in the modern world (tolerance and fears and superstitions among others), and (9) moral and spiritual development" [13, p. 2], indicating that these would assist in construction of a better global society. Apart from the basic elements of education framework, UNESCO has highlighted major challenges to global thinking — national intolerance and chauvinism [14, p. 1]. The approach had a direct impact on the global social and cultural identity construction. According to the UNESCO executives, "as the habit of thinking and acting "internationally" develops, the stronger will be its influence on public opinion, which, in its turn, will have an important effect on international relations and understanding between peoples" [15, p. 1]. The General Conferences of late 1940s set the framework for future work in the area of education and shared values construction, which continues until now.
At the same time, UNESCO faced several significant issues already in the first two decades of its activity that hampered the development of UNESCO policies and approaches. Apart from Post-War economic and political recovery and the spread of Cold War, decolonization brought even more challenges. 59 countries became members of UNESCO
in 1950; by 1965, this number has doubled reaching 120 [16, p. 2]. With this, followed the growths in countries' needs and the growth of world population.
Gradually, though, new challenges to the World order emerged. Instead of establishment of understanding between peoples, the conflicts and misunderstanding spread wider. Moreover, the overuse of resources and uncontrolled technological development lead to environmental threats. By 1970s, it became obvious that ideas of international mindset based only on peace and mutual understanding would not work.
In 1972, UNESCO has published Faure report based on two years of research of International Commission on Development and Education. It was a notorious work, as it was "arguably the result of the first international panel convened to prepare a universal vision of the future of education" [17, p. 639]. One of the key points of the report was "the fundamental solidarity of governments and peoples, despite transitory differences and conflicts" [18, p. viii]. Thus, the acknowledgement of differences embedded their temporality. However, it was clear that some of the differences will last longer, and then an idea that shall unite international community should emerge. The unifying idea became environmental threats that endanger the whole humankind and not just specific countries. The organization recognized that globalization could have not only positive, but also negative impacts on both humanity and the planet. In 1972, the recognition of environmental threat for global society happened during the United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. It was the beginning "of a global conversation on sustainable governance, although the term was still in the making" [19, p. 3]. The topic was also mentioned in Faure report in 1972, warning about the treats that overuse and technologies pose to the environment. "Stimulating awareness such dangers pose is a demanding new task for education", as the report puts it [18, p. 101]. It took another eight years to make the terms "environment" and "sustainable development" find their way in the official documents of the UN. In 1980, the World Conservation strategy mentioned "sustainable development" for the first time [19, p. 3].
Education became one of the backbones of sustainable development policies. UN acknowledged "education has long been recognized as a critical factor in addressing environmental and sustainability issues and ensuring human well-being" [19, p. 9]. For this reason, UNESCO has shifted its policies towards adopting a synthesis of education and environmental/development policies. At the same time, the Faure Report has stressed the importance of life-long education. According to the authors, it is important that we "learn how to build up a continually evolving body of knowledge all through life — 'learn to be'" [18, p. viii]. The idea pursued two major objectives — to tackle the more expanding gap between education in developed and developing countries, and at the same time to help people keep up with the multiplying knowledge in the quickly evolving world. This approach to education resulted in publishing "Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" in 1974. The Recommendation presented such guiding principles in education as [20]:
(a) an international dimension and a global perspective in education at all levels and in all its forms;
(b) understanding and respect for all peoples, their cultures, civilizations, values and ways of life, including domestic ethnic cultures and cultures of other nations;
(c) awareness of the increasing global interdependence between peoples and nations;
(d) abilities to communicate with others;
(e) awareness not only of the rights but also of the duties incumbent upon individuals, social groups and nations towards each other;
(f) understanding of the necessity for international solidarity and co-operation;
(g) readiness on the part of the individual to participate in solving the problems of his community, his country and the world at large.
Gradual implementation of Sustainable Development Goals since 1980s resulted in a new unifying idea — the humanity needs to unite against environmental threats or will be destroyed. This was the first time when a purely positive global identity, which was build on the principles of peace and human rights uniting people, gained a negative element — humankind against Global environmental threats. Moreover, this combination of elements was more successful than previous efforts as it is a lifelong project. UNESCO continued its efforts in promoting Global education standards and simultaneously promoting Global citizenship ideas accepting at the same time not only the rapid population growth but also multiplication of various actors in global area along with the states.
In 1990, the Jomtien Declaration announced the programme Education for All, which was a structured reflection of previous policies. On the one hand, the Declaration recognized the challenges the humanity faces stating that "the world faces daunting problems: notably mounting debt burdens, the threat of economic stagnation and decline, rapid population growth, widening economic disparities among and within nations, war, occupation, civil strife, violent crime, the preventable deaths of millions of children and widespread environmental degradation" [21, p. 74]. On the other hand, the Declaration marked the optimism by stating that "there is genuine progress toward peaceful detente and greater cooperation among nations" [21]. This period since 1990s embraces two-fold approach — regionalization versus globalization. Article 1 of the World Declaration on Education for All highlighted the necessity to reach every global citizen in the area of education: "Every person — child, youth and adult — shall be able to benefit from educational opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs" [21].
Later, the Jacques Delors Report, published in 1992, has summed up the emerging changes and the UNESCO response to them. First, the failures of globalization were accepted. The UNESCO vision was in creating Global community, or Global village united by shared values. "People need gradually to become world citizens without losing their roots and while continuing to play an active part in the life of their nation and their local community" [22, p. 15]. This has seen to be the way to avoid more conflicts by accepting that people are both part of local and global. If previous reports and Conferences highlighted the need for technical education in order to bridge the gap between people and knowledge of environment, 1992 report reminded about the moral and cultural aspect of human nature. "There is <...> every reason to place renewed emphasis on the moral and cultural dimensions of education, enabling each person to grasp the individuality of other people and to understand the world's erratic progression towards a certain unity" [22, p. 17]. This change stemmed from the necessity for mutual understanding, which was still scarce by the end of the 20th century. Moreover, as the extension of Faure report, the Delors report suggested not only "learning to be", but also "learning to live together", along with "learning to know" and "learning to do" [22, p. 21]. This attempt to create a more embracing multidimensional approach to education has continued later on becoming more complex assisting in the spread of unifying global ideals. The report has reflected
UNESCO's attempts to maneuver through flow of national approaches and private interferences by accumulating global responsibility in the face of global challenges. As M. Elfert puts it, "the Delors Commission followed in the footsteps of UNESCO's founders for whom education was a means to achieve the unity of 'humanity' and foster better understanding of different peoples, as a pre-condition for peace in a globalizing world" [23, p. 2].
By the beginning of the 21st century, education became officially recognized as a global provider of global stability. The Dakar Framework for Action defines that "it is the key to sustainable development and peace and stability within and among countries, and thus an indispensable means for effective participation in the societies and economies of the twenty-first century, which are affected by rapid globalization" [24, p. 8]. With the approach of new Millennia, all countries agreed on crucial role of education and the need to promote and improve education standards. By 2010s, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has also implemented the Global Citizen Initiative. Gradually, it became an intrinsic part of the ESD activities, with UNESCO promoting various elements of the initiative.
In 2015, Incheon Declaration promoted Education for Sustainable Development. Setting out the goals until 2030, the Declaration highlighted "a humanistic vision of education and development based on human rights and dignity; social justice; inclusion; protection; cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity; and shared responsibility and accountability" [25, p. 6] as the source of inspiration. These also became idealistic foundations for global citizenship. The final blend of global education with the SDGs brought new opportunities for the development of Global citizenship initiative. However, the end of 2010s brought more challenges the world has never faced before at such a scale. The definition of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals was a crucial move in development of Global identity. All the goals have both ideological and material elements to them — while based on a certain idea; these goals imply specific actions, aimed at specific groups of population globally. Combined together they can become a powerful source for constructing Global citizenship and peoples' sense of belonging as they represent shared values.
Modern shift of UNESCO education policies
In the recent years, the humankind has undergone through challenges of unprecedented global threat like COVID and further international conflicts, and the new shift in UNESCO policies is emerging as the response to new reality — understanding the failure of 2030 Agenda, and aspiration towards new global social contract that will attempt to create a better future for every one by 2050.
This resulted in establishing an International Commission on the Futures of Education in 2019 [26] that devoted two years to thorough analysis of the current situation in the area of education. The result of the work was a set of ideas for future of learning and the place of humanity. The report acknowledged that humanity is undergoing a critical point in its evolution amid COVID and international conflicts. "Our world is at a turning point. We already know that knowledge and learning are the basis for renewal and transformation. But global disparities <.. .> mean that education is not yet fulfilling its promise to help us shape peaceful, just, and sustainable futures" [10, p. 1]. As a result, a set of new proposal and calls for action found its way for global negotiation. The new policies have underlined several crucial turning points in the global education initiative.
First, UNESCO recognizes a new format of education. "Education can be seen in terms of a social contract — an implicit agreement among members of a society to cooperate for shared benefit" [10, p. 2]. This concept accepts a universality of education together with shared responsibility of all the actors, which makes global education one of the unifying global values.
Second, the new social contract for education sets two major principles that reflect the most recent global needs. Primary principle includes assuring the right to quality education throughout life, while the second involves strengthening education as a public endeavor and a common good [10, p. 2]. This assists in embracing all groups of population into the process of dissemination of the global values.
To realize the principles, UNESCO suggested proposals that should support education community. The following proposals found their way in the New Social Contract: [10, p. 4]
(1) Pedagogy should be organized around the principles of cooperation, collaboration, and solidarity;
(2) Curricula should emphasize ecological, intercultural and interdisciplinary learning that supports students to access and produce knowledge while also developing their capacity to critique and apply it;
(3) Teaching should be further professionalized as a collaborative endeavor where teachers are recognized for their work as knowledge producers and key figures in educational and social transformation;
(4) Schools should be protected educational sites because of the inclusion, equity and individual and collective well-being they support — and also reimagined to better promote the transformation of the world towards more just, equitable and sustainable futures;
(5) We should enjoy and expand the educational opportunities that take place throughout life and in different cultural and social spaces.
In short, this approach can be described through a graphic description (Fig.). The first four elements of the proposals include the educational standard aspects that extend to the life-long learning — environment (schools and other education institutions), framework (curricula), techniques (pedagogy and teaching techniques), and process (teaching).
UNESCO focuses on the areas that embrace a human by education in every aspect of his/her life since childhood until elderly age. This approach is justified due to several fac-
environment framework
Fig. UNESCO proposals in the New Social Contract
tors. First, modern technologies evolution lead to the situation, when every couple of years a human being is already behind the recent developments even if he/she received great education before. Second, the inequality remains high around the globe and it influences the level of education distribution. For these reasons, UNESCO is highlighting the necessity for everyone to engage in the negotiation process, in order to make the new approach as realistic and achievable as possible.
The approach is flexible and open to debate, but it is also overwhelming and embracing, so it becomes appealing and does not contradict to national sovereign rights. The above-mentioned proposals create a new approach to understanding learning as a continuous and contiguous process for all. This, in turn, creates a basis for identity shaping for the future of our planet. With this understanding in mind, and openness for debate, UNESCO is seeking a prosperous future for the humanity establishing a flexible but unifying mindset. The New Social Contract appeals to people in attempt to find common ground that can unite humans. The unification comes from a danger that our actions have posed, or in other words "the very idea that the dignity of each person is precious; the commitment that all people have basic rights; the health of the Earth, our singular home — all are at risk"[10, p. 8]. The attempt to unite different people in the face of the common danger that will affect all of us is not a new idea; it has been developing since 1970s. However, UNESCO tries to draw a better image of a distressing future that awaits unless countries put aside their differences and start working together.
Finally, UNESCO attempts to create new approach to education that will form an inclusive and positive identity for global citizens. According to New Social Contract, "we must create occasions for people to learn from one another and value one another across all lines of difference whether of gender, religion, race, sexual identity, social class, disability, nationality, etc. Respecting the dignity of people means teaching them to think for themselves, not what or how to think" [10, p. 50]. This approach implies some notions that are a novel to the global teaching world, like "pedagogies of solidarity" and "unlearning".
Pedagogies of solidarity imply that we should "recognize and redress the systematic exclusions and erasures imposed by racism, sexism, colonialism, and authoritarian regimes around the world" [10, p. 53]. Creating a mutual understanding through new ways of receiving and processing information is central for the new approach. Moreover, the UNESCO report highlights that "learning to critically examine established dominant knowledge is central to a pedagogy of solidarity. We must learn to unlearn" [10, p. 54]. This flexibility is necessary in order to overcome the misconceptions of the past and the differences of the present. As the priority areas for education, the contract highlights literacy, languages, numeracy, humanities, scientific inquiry, skills for a digital world, arts; human rights, active citizenship, and democratic participation [10]. The noteworthy shift from textbook revision, which was historically one of the priority areas for education policies, justifies itself as UNESCO recognizes textbooks as only a part of broader sources list. Textbooks become the backbone of the curricula that includes not only classroom activities but also outside fact and practice learning. The report debates that "if all education is organized with teachers lecturing in a classroom, then collaboration is useless. But if learning is organized in a diversity of spaces and times, based on problems and projects, collaboration becomes indispensable" [10, p. 82]. This is arguably a way to transform our perception of the world making it more global and inclusive. On top of that, UNESCO specifically underlines the role of teachers and their personal identities in the
whole process. "Teachers are key to designing and building the connections that sustain <.> networks, but to effectively do this, there needs to be a shift in their ethos, identities and identifications" [10, p. 82]. The education relies on teachers' identities being objective and open to global needs. This is the only opportunity to develop global citizen thinking in learners of all ages.
Assuming the key aspects, the new Social contract for Education opens new frontiers for education as a tool shaping global identity of people. On the one hand, it sets the key aspirations of UNESCO towards achieving Global Education and creating the world of piece and solidarity through teaching and learning. On the other hand, the contract accepts it is at a rudimental stage of development, and, hence, is open to criticism from the international community having a clear understanding of all the challenges both countries and the UN face. At the same time, it opens new frontiers in creating the sense of belonging global by engaging more people in material elements of Global ideas that are actively promoted within the framework of the New Social Contract.
Modern challenges to global identity and the role
of UNESCO education policies
The challenges remain considerable. The goals set in pre-COVID period were far from fulfillment. Despite gradual improvement of Global citizenship ideas implementation, the progress was quite slow. Every country, being liberal at choosing its pace, decided on how to apply better which element of Education for Sustainable Development and at what speed. UNESCO has constantly stated its concerns because "in some instances, policy recommendations from the global level have failed to find sufficient national support, resulting in slow progress" [12, p. 178]. According to 2014 Global Education Monitoring report, 80 % of Member States report having appointed an Education for Sustainable Development focal points. 50 % of Member States have included ESD in relevant policies. 29 % of Member States report ESD in legal or regulatory documents [27, p. 37]. Three years later, the situation has not changed significantly. According to 2017 GEM report, 51 % of countries reported integrating education for sustainable development in policy and 33 % in curricula, about half of countries covered peace, nonviolence, human rights and fundamental freedoms, 16 % cultural diversity and tolerance and only 7 % education for sustainable development" [9, p. 214]. As for the 2018, average understanding of global ideas in the world remained relatively small. Only human rights curricula inclusion was 60 %, while sustainable development — 43 %, gender equality — 14 %, and global citizenship only 9 % [28, p. 324]. This is a result of almost 30 years of UNESCO policies, and, apparently, this data raises concerns among academic society and UNESCO experts. Moreover, the worldwide distribution of the knowledge is extremely unequal. For example, the Global Citizenship initiative awareness rate was highest in Central Asia (33 %), Oceania (18 %) and Central America (17 %), while some regions lack accounts on their progress at all.
This result reflects several issues that are intrinsic to the Global Citizenship initiative. According to UNESCO 2021 Global Education Monitoring Report, "among obstacles, countries mentioned unavailability of resources three or more times as often (29 countries) as lack of demand (10 countries), intrinsic education challenges (7 countries) or differing political priorities (5 countries) to explain their lack of progress" [29, p. 315]. These,
however, are not the only barriers in Global citizenship initiative spreading. Several issues result from the study.
First, lack of proper definition. The lack of definition leads to misunderstandings or impropriate interpretations. The countries favor flexibility of UNESCO approach because it does not intervene with states' sovereign rights in setting education policies. At the same time, it hinders progress of the ideas implementation. Moreover, UNESCO does not highlight that it is constructing global social and cultural identity through various values, as it will result in negative states' response. Instead, it is stressing the process of Global citizenship initiative spread highlighting the benefits it can cause.
Second, lack of defined ideological elements. The ideas are well developed and pluralistic within UN, but they lack unanimity in approaches. While some elements are well defined and promoted actively throughout the globe, like human rights, it is difficult to understand relations and attributions for other elements, like democracy, freedoms, and environment and so on. Many countries, especially in recent years, use a self-centered approach to defining these, and these approaches differ significantly in some cases.
Third, absence of a variety of material elements. While ideas have been developing significantly during more than 80 years of UN activity, material elements are either still emerging or underdeveloped. Such elements as UN institutions or World Environment Day lack either universal peoples' recognition or global communication outreach.
Fourth, communication issues. Communicating ideas and possibilities that Global citizenship can bring is a difficult task primarily due to number of people inhabiting our planet, but also because of cultural and linguistic differences. Technology could help in spreading information, but many experts raise concerns about the increasing gap between developed and developing countries instead. For instance, UNESCO raised great concerns about the technological gap growing wider in 2021 GEM Report by pointing that "among 20- to 24-year-olds, 98 % of women and 90 % of men in Chad but 36 % of women and 31 % of men in Tunisia reported never having used the internet" [29, p. 273].
Fifth, the distribution of responsibilities and policy implementation in the area of education. UNESCO recognizes the role of multiple actors in universal education cooperation. The leading role, however, is devoted to the governments and international organizations, with the Governments being "ultimately the primary duty bearers of the right to education" [28, p. xii]. UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank along with UNESCO play and important role in achieving global education goals. Their primary aim is to deliver an observation of national policies, which include various mechanisms: from mere observation to consultations and physical assistance. "These mechanisms would ensure regular oversight and would also provide accountability: countries would be aware that they were observed and that their actions risked being found lacking, raising questions at home and abroad" [12, p. 27]. As the support in monitoring the national progress, UNESCO acknowledges that "the private sector, philanthropic organizations and foundations can play an important role, using their experience, innovative approaches, business expertise and financial resources to strengthen public education" [30, p. 59]. However, their role fulfillment is arguable for "there is no evidence so far that they are willing or able to do so" [29, p. 20].
Sixth, lack of feedback and assessment information. Lack of data for assessment is a pressing issue UNESCO recognizes as significant fallback in its work. It is common that countries do not provide the information required, despite the fact that "SDG 4 not only
sets an ambitious education agenda but also poses the challenge of monitoring targets that include multiple learning outcomes, inequality dimensions and curricular content" [28, p. xx]. At the same time, the constant lack of statistical information for some regions, mostly Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern and Western Africa, Central Asia, Caribbean, Northern America [28, p. 324] result in unequal and limited assessment of the policies implementation, which hinders the whole process of UNESCO leading the global initiatives.
Conclusion
Global citizenship and global social and cultural identity notions correlate as global citizenship initiative promotes global values that create a specific unifying mindset for peoples around the globe. Global citizenship initiative can become the means for overcoming the existing conflicts and environmental threats, as is fully acknowledged and highlighted by UN and UNESCO. It is seen as an embracing and unifying idea that has both positive and negative elements — the ideas of peace, human rights, solidarity, for example that unite peoples together in a positive way, while the environmental threats oppose to the humankind in a negative way. Evolved through years of UNESCO activities — from "Global thinking" to "Global citizenship, the idea has changed the titles, but the core essence remained the same. The initiative per se reflects the attempt to construct global social and cultural identity of the peoples. A positive attitude toward global citizenship constructions (in order to overcome conflicts and construct brighter future) is reflected in these attempts. At the same time, UNESCO faces challenges in openly debate over global social and cultural identity construction as it will oppose national identities and result into negative response towards global identity on behalf of nation states.
Global citizenship as a notion and idea, however, sees a positive response, as it is based on Sustainable Development Goals, combined successfully with Education for All. Together, the initiative of Education for Sustainable Development is accepted as a mutually beneficial for all the nations. The evolution of the overwhelming approach portrays the attempts to create global ideas that would be supported universally.
The first stage of this evolution (1945 — early 1970s) embraces post-WWII "Global Thinking" construction. It mainly dealt with overcoming conflicts and creating long-lasting peace through educating and bridging cultural differences. The second stage (1970s — early 1990s) added environmental element to the global education as a negative identity element. Now people opposed environmental threats and this opposition should have resulted in response, which required creation of Global Community. The third stage (1990s-2010s) recognized the need to include everyone, not just younger generation into the education policies. As a result, Education for All and Global citizenship ideas forged their place in UNESCO policies. The fourth stage (2010s — early 2020s) covered merging of Education for All and Sustainable Development goals as a combination that should successfully spread global values among peoples. Part of this policy was Global Citizenship initiative merging with other global initiatives. The result of this policies evolution — Education for Sustainable Development and lifelong learning for everyone — became an attempt to embrace all levels of global population with global unifying ideas. Combination of both ideological and material elements of identity through adopting SDGs became another valuable step in the Global Citizenship initiative. Moreover, education became central for the development of the global values.
Modern stage, which roughly started with the outbreak of COVID pandemics in 2020, is characterized by the acknowledgement of a devastating COVID effect on achieving the SDGs and construction of global citizenship. The pursuit of more responsible attitude toward our shared future, attempts to consolidate the population and "delearn" amid previous mistakes became the core of new UNESCO approach to its education policies.
Amid the new challenges, UNESCO has identified difficulties it faces — global inequality, international conflicts and worsening disproportion among countries, differences between developed and developing countries and their needs. While UNESCO commits attempts to spread global ideas that would unite peoples, the rise of national ideas and conflicts amid new post-COVID reality poses new challenges to the spread of the shared global values. Communication failure and lack of tools to reach all the population in every country is another pending issue in development of UNESCO global policies.
UNESCO has achieved certain level of global ideas and values dissemination through its education policies, which showed good level of adaptation to changing reality. At the same time, global identity or shared mindset, which were praised within the organization since its establishment, is still far from achievement due to constant systemic challenges UNESCO faces in disseminating its policies globally.
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Received: October 12, 2023 Accepted: November 27, 2023
Author's information:
Anna Bikerniece — PhD in Political Sciences; bikernieceanna@dlufl.edu.cn
