Planning and Validating a Curriculum of Global Citizenship Education in Elementary Schools of Iran’s Educational System

International Journal of Modern Education Studies December, 2020 Volume 4, No 2 Pages: 24-41 http://www.ijonmes.net dergipark.gov.tr/ijonmes


INTRODUCTION
Globalization is on the rise as evidenced by emerging markets through a significant increase in industrialized nations, goods consumption, and the ever-broadening use of technology. Many educators, legislators, business professionals, and citizens around the world agree that primary, secondary, and post-secondary students must be prepared to live, work and thrive in a global community (Belt, 2016).
Therefore, global citizenship education is one of the important topics that can be applied to a lifelong learning perspective (UNESCO, 2014). In fact, global citizen education is the acquisition of knowledge, attitudes, and skills that nurture informed, critical, active and responsible citizens about local, national and especially global issues (Davies, 2008;UNESCO, 2014). From Nodding's point of view, a global citizen is someone who can live effectively anywhere in the world through a global way of life (Rapoport, 2009). Accordingly, many studies have shown that national citizenship education is an essential element of many formal education systems and many countries have now incorporated various aspects of global citizenship education into their curricula (Goren & Yemini, 2016). Nevertheless, global citizenship education is a controversial, argumentative and very complex concept. In this regard, not only there are different variances on definitions of global citizenship education, but also some believe that this concept somewhat does not seem legitimate (Mayo, Gaventa & Rooke, 2009;Davies, 2006). Similarly, Himmelfarb (2010) criticized the framework of cosmopolitan issues and global citizenship.
The initial response to these criticisms is that global citizenship is not supposed to be a base for the whole world on a homogeneous and universal model of the western modernity (Beck & Grande, 2010); and to seek a general and universal understanding of a wide range of specific ethical issues (Held, 2010). Caney (2000), Beck and Grande (2010) expressed that global citizenship duties and respect for cultural diversity are consistent and necessary truths. Global citizenship education is often associated with an understanding of cultural diversity, and awareness of other cultures and participation in multicultural exchanges are among the main characteristics of a global citizen. Also, global citizenship is defined as the recognition of inter-global connectivity and the common relationship among human beings (and their environment) (Sherman, 2016). In this regard, Karlberg (as cited in Sherman, 2016, p. 3) also explained that global citizenship can play an important role in creating a peacebased society.
Also, according to Oxfam (2015), a global citizen refers to a person who is aware of the contemporary world, responsible for, and familiar with his or her role as a citizen in society.
Besides, to respect the principles, values, customs, and culture of other nations, it has an active involvement at the local to the global level. Some see global citizenship as a descriptive term, intended to capture various crossborder identities, relationships and allegiances that have been developing during the current period of intensive globalization (Jooste & Heleta, 2017). As well as, Global citizenship is defined as awareness, caring, and embracing cultural diversity while promoting social justice and sustainability, coupled with a sense of responsibility to act (Reysen & Katzarska-Miller, 2013). Accordingly, global citizenship education, seeking to build the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes, needs learners to be able to contribute to a more inclusive, justice and peaceful world (UNESCO, 2015). What makes global citizenship education unique is to use the intentional protocols that allow students to identify the relationships they intrinsically have with others, regardless of age, gender, and race, as well as cultural or geographic distance (Hancock, 2017). Global citizenship has emerged in recent years as a policy agenda of organizations that are operating at all levels ranging from the local to the supra-national and can increasingly form the programming and curricula of educational institutions around the world (Hammond & Keating, 2017). Davies (2006) expressed that global citizenship education, given its potential for peace education, is particularly useful in conflict-ridden states and multi-cultural contexts.

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
recently showed global citizenship education as one of the strategic areas of work of the United Education Program (2014)(2015)(2016)(2017), and one of the three priorities of the United Nations Secretary-General's 'Global Education First Initiative' launched in September 2012. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, there has been increasing attention to both the usefulness of global citizenship as an agenda for education and its inherently contested nature. As global citizenship education is taken up around the world as part of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4, Target 7, it is vital to be studied (Pashby, Costa, Stein & Andreotti, 2020). Also, Social changes created by globalization in the twenty-first century have caused a paradigm shift in the role that schools play in socializing students. Whereas in the past, schools tried mostly to promote nationalistic values among students, today many schools are adopting a global citizenship perspective, seeking to prepare students for global competition, global problem solving and the changing nature of modern society in general (Goren & Yemini, 2015).
In this regard, in the document of 'Global Citizenship Education: An Emerging Perspective', UNESCO provides the rationale for the implementation of global citizenship education across different countries (Pais & Costa, 2020). In addition, according to the statements and goals, especially constructive and effective interaction with the world, which were mentioned in the existing vision documents inside and outside the country like the Education 2030 Agenda, in the vision document of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the comprehensive scientific map of the country, and in the fundamental reform document of education in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the importance of global interactions, which in turn requires the existence of global citizens, has been emphasized. For example, some paragraphs of the fundamental reform document of education in the Islamic Republic of Iran (2011), which contain worldview approaches, can be manifestations of the need to pay attention to the global citizenship education curriculum for this country. These paragraphs are as follows: • Development and elevation of the human aspects of students' identities to strengthen rights-based, equitable, and loving relationships with all human beings around the world (Declaration of Values) • Observance of social, health and environmental rights and responsibilities (macro goals) • Development of education capacities and capabilities for active and constructive presence in international and regional arenas (macro strategies) • The enjoyment of responsible spirit, excellence, and communication skills in family and social life from local to global levels (operational goals and strategies). Past studies have contributed to our understanding of the factors associated with global citizenship education. But, in spite of many research on global citizenship education (Tye, 2003;Santos, 2004;Golestani, 2006;Moizumi, 2010;Massey, 2013;Jett, 2013;Galipeau-Konate, 2014;Pugliese, 2015;Sklarwitz, 2015;& Hancock, 2017), variables related to this phenomenon, especially elementary education, have not been explored.
Among the educational levels, this study was conducted at the elementary schools, because this period is accompanied by new developments and conditions that greatly affect children's personality and social adjustment. Elementary level provides children with rapid change in their attitudes, values, and behaviors. In this period, the intellectual and personality configuration of children are formed in relation to others. Also, by providing the necessary education, their social relationships will be developed and their understanding of social and cultural issues will be widened. Therefore, the final goal of the curriculum of global citizenship education is to transfer the curriculum to the classroom and school environment, and consequently to impact students' learning and development. The present study has attempted to clarify the variables, components, opportunities, and factors that influence the curriculum of global citizenship education for researchers, experts and policymakers.
In order to achieve the above objective, this study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the components of the curriculum of global citizenship education were identified in elementary schools. In the second stage, the quantitative study was used to generalize the findings of the first stage and examine the relationship between the concepts and the obtained components. Thus, this study was conducted to address the following questions: What are the features of an appropriate curriculum of global citizenship education according to faculty members', experts' and teachers' points of view?
How the sample is validated from the elementary school teachers' point of view in Tehran, Iran?

METHOD
In this mixed-methods study, to explore the structure of curriculum of global citizenship education, the qualitative method was firstly employed; in the next step, to confirm the structure in larger sample size and to improve the generalizability of the derived model, the quantitative stage was performed using teachers' opinions.
The qualitative data was gathered through personal interviews with experienced faculty members (11 persons), experts (5 persons) and teachers (18 persons) in the field of citizenship education. The conceptual model and themes were extracted after analyzing the data. A questionnaire was prepared based on the data obtained from the qualitative phase.
The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were confirmed and, in the quantitative phase, given to teachers for validation and evaluation of the model.
A semi-structured interview was carried out by some experts to find out what experience they have about the issues without any orientation and attitude. In addition, to make the interviewees mentally prepared and regulate the interview process, the framework of the subject for the interview was already designed and provided to interviewees.
The purpose of the interview was to select knowledgeable and experienced interviewees so that the researcher forms his/her theoretical model. In this phase, data collection was continued until the classification of data and information reached saturation, and the theory was precisely and completely explained (Creswell, 2012). Since the aim of this study was to explore the dimensions of the curriculum of global citizenship education, the researcher tried to choose the participants who were relevant to the research subject in order for effective and reliable involvement in this project. To develop the study theory, purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to gain a deep understanding of the subject.
To evaluate the subject from different aspects, the participants were classified into three groups of faculty members, experts, and teachers. The guide and framework of the subject were sent to them prior to the interview to let them prepare for the subject and the method of the interview.
The researcher provided further details about the subject, goal, and method of the study at the beginning of the interview for interviewees. Most of the interviews with the members of each group were conducted face-to-face during the working hours in a quiet place, such as classes or offices. Seven interviews were conducted by telephone, and five interviews were conducted via Skype.
After conducting the interviews, the researcher evaluated the recorded interviews and began to identify the themes and sub-themes. Also, following the interview of the tenth member of faculty, the fifth expert, and the fifteenth teacher, theoretical data saturation was achieved and the researcher did not encounter any new ideas, but to promote the credibility of data saturation, the researcher interviewed one more member of faculty, one more expert, and three more teachers. The recorded interviews with the exact words, phrases, and sentences of the participants were transcribed as a valid basis for data analysis.
In order to ensure the validity of the mixed method and to confirm the accuracy of our findings from the perspective of researchers, participants, or readers of the report, the following actions were conducted (Creswell & Miller, 2000): • Revision by members: three participants (one person from each group) revised the final report of the first stage, the analysis process, and the obtained themes.
• Evaluation by colleagues: two Ph.D. candidates of Curriculum Studies with the experience of working in public schools evaluated the axial coding, and their suggestions were used to develop the model.
• Cooperation of the participants: the participants contributed to data interpretation and analysis, concurrently.
In the quantitative phase, a questionnaire was prepared, items of which were directly derived from the transcribed interviews to have consistency between the items and the results of the qualitative phase. To reduce the risk of bias by the researcher and for the participants' better understanding, the items were extracted by the participants.
The content validity (credit) of the questionnaire was confirmed by the two teachers with Ph.D. degrees in the field of Curriculum Studies, and three members of faculty in the field of Curriculum Studies. The final questionnaire was developed after collecting the ideas of the above-mentioned individuals and applying the suggested revisions. The questionnaire consisted of 95 items rated using a 6-point Likert scale as 1) I strongly disagree, 2) I disagree, 3) I some-what disagree, 4) I somewhat agree, 5) I agree, and 6) I strongly agree.
In order to establish the reliability of the questionnaire and the internal consistency of the items, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used. The designed questionnaire was distributed among a group of 29 teachers, who were excluded from the sample but were included in the statistical population; Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated to be 0.942, indicating the reliability of the questionnaire and internal consistency of its items.
The statistical population of this study in the quantitative stage included teachers of public girls' and boys' elementary schools in 19 districts of Tehran education. All schools in the statistical population were public schools, which are the most numerous in Iran. Multistage random sampling was used to select the participants. Seven districts out of these 19 districts were randomly selected, and consequently five schools of each district were randomly selected. In total, 387 questionnaires were distributed. Finally, after screening the data, removing the incomplete questionnaires and removing the missing items, the analysis was performed on 327 questionnaires (84% completion rate).
In the qualitative phase, data were analyzed through open, selective, and axial coding according to instructions offered by Strauss and Corbin (Strauss and Corbin, 1994). Data gathered in the quantitative stage were analyzed by using descriptive and multivariate correlation methods. Correlation analysis was performed in three steps of confirmatory factor analysis of the first order, confirmatory factor analysis of the second-order, and structural equation modeling. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 24, and Lisrel version 8.8.
Lisrel software applies for testing and structural equations, and uses correlation and covariance among the measured variables in order to estimate or infer the load factor values, variances, and the latent variable errors. This software can be used for exploratory factor, second-order factor, confirmatory factor, and path analysis (Schumacker & Lomax, 2010).

RESULTS
Study qualitative analysis is based on 34 interviews with members of faculty, experts, and teachers. Among 11 members of faculty (4 females and 7 males), there were one professor, five associate professors (2 females and 3 males) and five assistant professors (2 females and 3 males).
From the five experts (3 females and 2 males), two females and one male had the Ph.D. degree with more than 15 years of professional experience, and the others had MA degree with less than 15 years of professional experience.
There were 18 teachers (8 females and 10 males), that seven teachers (3 females and 4 male) had less than 15 years, and eleven teachers (5 females and 6 male) had more than 20 years of professional experience. Also, one female and three male teachers had Ph.D. degree.
Two female and four male teachers were Ph.D. student, and the rest had MA degree.
Analysis of the results of the qualitative step indicated 12 themes and 24 sub-themes.
Curriculum of global citizenship education was formed by necessity (social needs), goals (aims and objectives), content (content organizing principles, principles of content selection), teaching-learning methods (selective principles of teaching-learning methods, approaches, and methods of teaching-learning), the role of the teacher (teacher characteristics, the executive responsibility of teachers), evaluation (assessment principles, methods of evaluation), time (allocated time for direct education, allocated time for nondirect education), location (location as a source of learning, location as a place of execution), materials and resources (physical or non-virtual resources, virtual resources), organizational factors (empowerment programs, organizational support), implicit learning (outside the school environment, school environment) and outcomes of the program (developing of the components of knowledge, skill, and attitude). Based on the established analyses, the conceptual model which illustrates the relationships between the main categories derived from the qualitative analysis process is plotted in Fig. 1. According to the model, the necessity and goals influence content; content influences strategies of the role of the teacher, teaching-learning methods and evaluation, which in turn are affected by contextual factors including time, location, materials, and resources, as well as intervening conditions including organizational factors and implicit learning. Finally, these strategies have consequences such as developing the components of knowledge, skill, and attitude of learners.
The frequency distribution of the participants in terms of gender, professional experience, and educational degrees revealed that 60.5% of the participants were males, 20.3% of them had less than 10 years, 60.9% between 20 and 20 years, and 18.8% between 21 and 30 years of professional experience. Also 2.2% of the participants had Diploma, 12.1% Associate degree, 57% BA, 25.5% MA, and 3.2% Ph.D.
Results of the quantitative phase of structural equation modeling, using Lisrel software, shows the structures and good fit of the data with the conceptual model (Table1). df; the degree of freedom, Criteria for ᵡ 2 , GFI, NFI, and CFI are adopted from Schumacker and Lomax (2010), for relative ᵡ 2 from Kline (2015), and for RMSEA from Brown (2014) The hypothesis derived from the conceptual model in the qualitative analysis was tested by structural equation modeling. The results confirmed that the necessity and goals influence content; content influences strategies of the role of the teacher, teaching-learning methods and evaluation; also these strategies are themselves affected by the time, location, materials and resources as well as organizational factors and implicit learning; finally the outcomes of the program is influenced by the strategies (Table 2).

DISCUSSION
In conclusion, it should be noted that the phenomenon of globalization is an inevitable process influencing many areas like education. Therefore, local traditions and values can be  Hancock (2017) and Pugliese (2015) indicated the necessity for a curriculum of global citizenship education. In addition, the prevalence of international crime, terrorism, AIDS, soil degradation, habitat destruction, the extinction of some animal and plant species, desertification, and deforestation can also be added to the necessity for a curriculum of global citizenship education. These issues are beyond of national borders, which in turn create the necessity for global citizenship education. This necessity can be the basis for formulating curriculum goals, and we can extract the goals of the Curriculum of Global Citizenship education based on the necessities.
These goals range from understanding human-environment relationships to understanding issues of justice and equality, racial discrimination, peace, human rights and the defense of human beings. Tye (2003) and Santos (2004) have also shown that the goals such as attention to the environment, peace and human rights, health (AIDS), and racial discrimination are the focus of attention. Therefore, concentration on the goals of this curriculum is essential.
Because if the curriculum is designed and if there are efforts to continually improve it, specific goals are required. The content of the curriculum is also customizable according to the intended goals. In addition, content as an important element should be given special attention. In organizing content, specific attention should be paid to principles such as the range of concepts and topics, vertical and horizontal communications, and sequence logic.
Also, content selection should be included the key components of global citizenship education such as responsibility education, empathy, creativity, lifelong learning, justice and equality and peace. Therefore, coherent planning to develop and design content for the curriculum of global citizenship education is needed.
It should also be noted that content as a core category has an effective role on strategies of the roles of the teacher, teaching-learning methods, and evaluation. The teacher as a curriculum administrator plays a very important role in this process as experts emphasize the role of the teachers in the curriculum of global citizenship education (Goren & Yemini, 2015). Therefore, being competent, skillful, experienced, up-to-date and knowledgeable, open-minded and holistic attitude, responsible and faithful in the teaching profession, having sufficient motivation and creating a favorable field for research and inquiry in learners, communicating appropriately and creating an intimate atmosphere for positive thinking, and enhancing learners' self-esteem, as well as fostering students' reasoning, creativity, and imagination, are qualities that a teacher should have in connection with the curriculum of the global citizenship education. In teaching-learning methods, we also seek to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and information to learners by emphasizing content acquisition methods. Thus, the principles such as enhancing creative and critical thinking skills, developing the ability to provide new solutions, teamwork and participatory learning, and employing methods to give learners freedom of action can be crucial and important in choosing teaching-learning methods. These principles are not easily applicable and should be applied in the form of approaches and methods. In this regard, the use of new educational approaches and methods such as brainstorming, exploratory learning, storytelling, and role-playing, the judiciary method, as well as the use of collaborative and participatory approaches, and finally extracurricular activities can be very useful.
Evaluation is also the centerpiece of any educational decision-making. Because learning is not meaningful and teaching is not properly done without proper evaluation. Therefore, it should be noted that evaluation is one of the most important strategies of the curriculum of global citizenship education. But this curriculum should go beyond the traditional form of evaluation, and different methods of evaluation should be used. In addition to using methods such as portfolio, self-evaluation, and multilevel evaluation, we need to consider the principles of evaluation including variation and combination, reinforcement of learners' divergent thinking, and comprehensiveness.
Elements of time, location, and materials and resources also provide specific contexts for strategies of the role of teacher, teaching-learning methods, and evaluation. The category of time is a time framework, wherein content, teaching-learning methods, materials, and resources are presented to achieve the goals. Based on the framework, the curriculum must provide optimal learning in terms of time. Therefore, the time should be adjusted to the desired extent to cover all of the characteristics, components, and goals of the curriculum of global citizenship education. Location can be seen as the context that processes of teachinglearning, evaluation and the active role of the teacher happens inside it, which in turn affects these processes. In this regard, a proper space for the number of learners, a suitable space Therefore, given the relationships found in our model, necessity can be the basis for formulating curriculum goals, and the curriculum of global citizenship education goals can be extracted based on the necessity. Also, the program content is customizable based on the goals extracted from the necessity. Content is a central category that has an impact on teaching-learning methods, teacher executive responsibility, and evaluation. In this regard, time, location, and materials and resources provide a special context for strategies of the role of teacher, teaching-learning methods, and evaluation where teacher has an influential role in teaching-learning methods and evaluation. It should be also noted that strategies of the role of teacher, teaching-learning methods, and evaluation can be influenced by learners' implicit learning and organizational factors, and the teacher must adjust some of their actions based on these factors. In addition, given the appropriate contexts, these strategies will lead to positive outcomes of the program, which in turn foster knowledge-based components such as political understanding and awareness of government and power and awareness of globalization and interdependencies. Also, developing the skills like critical thinking and criticism, effective communication, creativity and self-awareness, and teamwork and participation are the most important outcomes of this curriculum. As with students' attitudes, nurturing students with high self-esteem, responsibility, and commitment to social issues, committed to national and global values, committed to peace and human rights, concerned about the environment, and committed to social justice and equality are among the results that should be taken into consideration. The results of Jett's (2013) and Sklarwitz's (2015) are consistent with some of the components and features outlined in the category Outcome.
Although the curriculum of global citizenship education is placed between the ideals and the actual practice, a lot of works on this subject have been done all over the world.
There has been a lot of supports from international organizations such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and UNICEF; nonprofits organizations like Oxfam have performed a great deal of research and they are the leading institutions in this field. However, there are still challenges associated with establishing this curriculum. In this regard, perhaps the most important prerequisite for establishing the curriculum of global citizenship education in elementary schools is to convince policymakers and planners about the importance of this curriculum and to explain its goals to them in order to refine and change their attitudes about the concept and goals of the Curriculum of Global Citizenship education to provide the funding needed to build primary infrastructure, and to reconsider the existing atmosphere of schools. Having deep knowledge of the curriculum of global citizenship education is one of the requirements for these people.
Since Iran is a multicultural country, with different ethnicities and religions, as well as environmental problems, and regional and international political conflicts; global citizenship education can make students more aware of the following issues: • Ability to see the issues and how to deal with them as a citizen of the international community • Ability to work collaboratively with others and accept responsibility for the role or task assigned.
• Ability to understand, accept and tolerate cultural differences.
• Ability to think in a critical and an organized way.
• Willingness to resolve their conflicts with others peacefully.
• Tendency to preserve the environment.
• Greater desire for freedom of expression, peace, human rights.
• Inclination to participate in political, economic and cultural activities at the local, national and international levels.
It is recommended that authorities attend various conferences and seminars on the importance, necessity, and position of global citizenship education. Also, they should use relevant training packages, and study in this area to increase the awareness of the curriculum of global citizenship education. In addition, specialized workgroups related to the elementary curriculum can be formed, and the aims and content of the elementary textbooks to incorporate concepts and components of global citizenship education should be substantially reviewed. In this regard, blended approaches of content organizing, which is a very important tool for curricula design, can be effectively used. Given the important role of teachers in the curriculum implementation, it is suggested that effective in-service training courses for increasing the knowledge, awareness, and understanding of teachers about the concepts, components, and elements of the curriculum should be held, so that they can also improve their existing deficiencies, and their teaching-learning and assessment skills. Furthermore, teacher education centers and universities should modify their orientations about this curriculum, and share the concepts, principles, and goals of this curriculum with their instructors and learners. Also, considering the influential role of educational materials and resources in educating global citizens, it is recommended that schools can be equipped with virtual and non-virtual resources such as libraries, posters, photos, modules, educational videos, computers, electronic tools and equipment, and other influential materials and resources. Teaching and evaluation methods based on the curriculum of global citizenship education need special attention, because in the success of any approach, the implementation and evaluation have the same values as the goals of that approach. In this regard, it is suggested to utilize cooperative and blended teaching approaches as well as multilateral evaluation skills.

CONCLUSION
Global citizenship education is one of the important issues which needs special attention specifically for third world countries due to the phenomenon of globalization. As we discussed in this study, it is very useful to refer to the educational system of countries and their expert's opinions to formalize this issue. Therefore, since global citizenship education is an educational subject, schools, especially primary schools, can be pioneers in this field. In this regard, it should be noted that although the global citizenship education can be done outside of school, formal education provides better solutions and it is more structured. This study provides several practical guidelines in the curriculum of global citizenship education in elementary schools. First, a model that is used as a conceptual framework for educating global citizens in the elementary curriculum. This model has designed based on the knowledge, understanding, and experience of the majority of participants in global citizenship education inquiry, which is an appropriate criteria for a deeper understanding of the curriculum of global citizenship education. Second, the role of organizational factors especially organizational support is an unequivocal role in policymaking and developing a curriculum which is well addressed in this model. Finally, it can be stated that education must be regarded as an effective, inclusive, and lifelong commitment. In our world that technology changes rapidly, for learners' learning, education should pay attention to the diverse learning potentials and abilities of learners to participate at local, national, and global levels, rather than focusing on a particular cultural or political aspect.