| This study attempts to understand the meaning of citizenship in an era of globalization. Australia, as a country in which domestic and international factors are altering the nature of citizenship, national identity, and education, provides an interesting setting for this study. The first research question aims to understand Australian educators' lived experiences as citizens. Their lived experiences suggests four essences of citizenship: (a) complex identities; (b) active involvement; (c) privilege and power; and (d) knowledge, values, and experiences. Each of these essences is comprised of elements and variations that illustrate both the commonalities and the uniquenesses of these experiences. The essences from this study can be used to inform theory and practice of civics and citizenship education.; The second question considers the meaning of global dimensions of citizenship as included in the lower secondary curriculum frameworks in five States and Territories in Australia. The three global dimensions within the frameworks are (a) comparative; (b) intercultural; and (c) global analysis, global relations, global systems and issues, and globalization. Within each of these dimensions, each State's framework includes several different sub-themes. The comparative dimension, for example, includes knowledge about other countries, especially forms of governance and rights of citizens. The intercultural dimension addresses identity in multiple communities, intercultural understanding, and marginalization and discrimination of cultural groups. The third global dimension includes an understanding of and involvement in global systems and issues, and an understanding of the processes and effects of economic, technological, and cultural globalization. These themes and sub-themes provide a heuristic framework for educators and policy makers in developing and implementing citizenship education.; An understanding of globalization and its relation to citizenship is a newly emerging and evolving field of study. This study contributes to the scholarly discourse by providing a structure of the meaning of citizenship based on empirical research rather than philosophical ideas. Both the essences of citizenship as lived experience and the themes in the curriculum frameworks call for an expansion of the conceptualizations of citizenship by considering elements, such as privilege, power, multiple identities, values, and a common good beyond the nation-state. |
