75 Embedding Global Citizenship and Sustainable Development Across the Curriculum

Dr Annemarie Doran highlighted how GCE functions as a foundational value across the PME curriculum, shaping both content and pedagogy. At module level, GCE is woven through Foundations of Education, Inclusion and Diversity, Curriculum Studies, Research Methods, and Professional Practice. Students critically engage with themes such as positionality, justice, inequality, and the purposes of education within an interconnected world. Universal Design for Learning, ethical reasoning, and global perspectives in curriculum design provide further anchors.

The integration extends into subject methodologies, where student teachers examine how their disciplines can authentically explore global issues. Examples include sustainability and environmental impact in Agricultural Science, ethical consumption and responsible enterprise in Accounting, data-rich sustainability projects in Mathematics, climate justice themes in MFL and English, and social justice frameworks in Politics & Society. Cross-curricular links — such as combining science and geography for systems thinking — are actively encouraged.

Pedagogically, the programme models active, dialogic, and inquiry-based methods including debate, simulation, problem-based learning, and collaborative reflection. Digital tools such as Padlet support shared meaning-making around global challenges. Dr Doran emphasised that these practices aim to cultivate graduates who are empathetic, reflective, and capable of fostering agency, critical thinking, and global responsibility in their future classrooms. For Hibernia, embedding GCE is therefore both a moral imperative and a pedagogical commitment aligned with national and international policy frameworks.

About the author

name: Dr Annemarie Doran

institution: Hibernia College

Dr Annemarie Doran is an Assistant Professor in Education in the PME Post-Primary at Hibernia College.