Ubuntu Network | A Centre of Excellence in GCE
(On behalf of Tracy Galvin, Brighid Golden, Mary Fitzgerald, Cassandra Iannucci, & Dylan Scanlon).
Summary points:
- Self awareness is the foundation of critical Global Citizenship Education, enabling educators to recognize their assumptions, emotions, and positionality before guiding students to question injustice.
- Relational, well facilitated communities of practice create the conditions for deep reflection, where vulnerability, emotional literacy, and shared stories help educators see what they cannot see alone.
- Safe, intentional facilitation and institutional support are essential, allowing educators to connect inner reflection with outward, justice oriented pedagogy and model humility, empathy, and criticality for their students.
This reflection emerges from my role as Research Lead with the Ubuntu Network and is shaped by the Network’s strategic commitment to integrating Global Citizenship Education (GCE) into Initial Teacher Education (ITE), particularly through its core focus on research and professional learning for teacher educators. Teaching for critical global citizenship education (GCE) begins closer to home than we might expect, with the self. Before educators can support young people to question inequality, colonial histories, or climate injustice, they must first notice their own assumptions, emotions, and positional responsibilities (O’Flaherty et al., 2025). Research with an international community of practice of teacher educators shows that self-awareness is not an optional extra; it is the foundation for empathy, cultural responsiveness, and socially just teaching. The community of practice comprises six members drawn from an international and interdisciplinary mix of backgrounds, including higher-education-based teacher educators from Ireland and Australia and one external critical friend, Mary, a consultant psychotherapist. The group brought together expertise in teacher education, GCE, equity, diversity and inclusion, Universal Design for Learning, and self-study research, creating a space where multiple professional lenses could meet in support of deeper reflection and pedagogical growth.
Why Self-Awareness Matters in Education
Teacher educators often arrive in the profession through winding, non-linear paths and with little formal preparation. This can leave us “learning the role” from whoever happens to be around us, sometimes absorbing excellent habits and sometimes less helpful ones. Critical GCE asks us to pause and take stock of that inheritance.
Self-awareness helps educators to:
- Recognise how our background shapes what we see as “normal” or “true.”
- Name the emotions that surface when we encounter difference or disagreement.
- Understand the power we hold as assessors, mentors, and curriculum designers.
- Model openness and humility for our students.
These capacities are especially important today when classrooms are culturally diverse and globally connected. Learners need teachers who can engage with complexity rather than hide behind scripts.
Learning to Look Inward: What the Community Taught Us
In our community of practice, meetings began with each member sharing how they felt in their body and mind. Some noticed tightness in the chest; others named peace mixed with anxiety. Simply attempting to label a feeling became a doorway to deeper understanding. One colleague reflected that after a session, their body felt like it had “run a marathon,” yet there was also a calmness with “no expectations.” Another admitted a tendency to stop listening when they disagreed with someone and had to “check herself” to stay present. These honest moments are rarely visible in formal conferences or staff development days, but they shape how we teach.
During one prompt activity, the group worked with four reflective domains: Action, Content, Contact-Awareness, and Therapy (DEFY, 2024). Mapping our practice across these areas allowed the “elephants in the room” to appear: workload pressures, compliance, fear of judgment, and institutional absurdities. While many institutions value certainty and measurable outcomes, critical scholars have long argued that vulnerability can resist neoliberal standardisation. We found this to be true: when facilitators modelled their own self-doubt, it permitted others to take risks. Vulnerability is admitting that I do not know where this will lead, sharing triggers or contradictions in values, and allowing discomfort to be present without collapsing boundaries. Yet, it is also risky, particularly for early-career or precariously employed educators. Therefore, structural supports are needed. Safety does not just happen; it is intentionally designed. Our facilitator drew on Carl Rogers’ core conditions, empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard, to create a non-evaluative container. A group contract, informal check-ins, and clear boundaries were essential.
Key insight: Self-awareness grows when reflection is relational and witnessed. Hearing others’ stories mirrors patterns we cannot see alone.
What Safe Facilitation Looks Like?
When we first imagined our community of practice, I assumed facilitation would be mainly about schedules and pedagogical prompts. I quickly learned it is far more human. A facilitator working to create a brave and safe space needs to know the traditions of reflection, Schön’s attention to experience, and Mezirow’s emphasis on transformation, but they also need to understand the emotional landscape in the room. Knowledge of emotional literacy and group dynamics matters just as much as the theory, because prompts only become generative when they meet real people. The skills show up in subtle ways. Our consultant psychotherapist and critical friend, Mary, listened with a steady presence, and that kind of deep, empathic listening helped the rest of us to speak honestly. Plans changed from week to week, so real-time adaptability became essential, along with the capacity to hold discomfort and conflict without rushing to fix it. What defined the facilitation most clearly were the attitudes. Humility, curiosity, and a visible commitment to equity and inclusion signalled that no single perspective would dominate. We were invited to be challenged, and even the challenges, role ambiguity, emotional labour, diverse reflective styles, and time constraints, were treated as part of the learning journey rather than barriers to it.
Self-Awareness as a Pedagogical Imperative
For us, autonomy was described as “gold.” It allows us to go outside the box, pursue meaningful projects, and resist purely bureaucratic identities. However, even with autonomy, performative expectations linger.
Critical GCE requires educators to:
- Examine personal histories and privilege.
- Connect introspection with outward action on injustice.
- Design curricula that enable students to do the same.
Self-awareness is therefore not only personal growth, it is also ethical modelling for students.
Implications for Teaching and Critical Global Citizenship Education
Developing self-awareness invites teacher educators to connect inward reflection with outward justice-oriented pedagogy. When educators critically interrogate their positionality and emotions, they are better prepared to foster empathy, cultural responsiveness, and inclusive design in classrooms. Structured communities of practice and skilful facilitation help move reflection beyond technical exercises toward transformative inquiry aligned with SDG 4.7. For teachers, this means modelling humility, using generative prompts, flattening hierarchies, and legitimising discomfort as a learning resource, while institutions must buffer time pressures and recognise the emotional labour inherent in critical reflection and GCE to enable socially just educational outcomes.
Concluding Reflection
Teaching for critical global citizenship does not start with the globe; it starts with awareness. When educators learn to notice their own internal world within safe, relational spaces, they can nurture teachers and young people who are empathetic, reflective, and prepared for uncertain futures. Self-awareness, while demanding, offers transformative potential. It invites us to be not only teachers of methods but co-citizens in search of justice.
Further Reading & Resources
🔗 Ubuntu Network, University of Limerick – Educator Self-Awareness / Critical reflection for GCE https://ubuntu.ie/educator-self-awareness-critical-refelction-for-gce/
🔗O’Flaherty, J., McCormack, O., Lenihan, R., & Young, A.M. (2025). Critical reflection and global citizenship education: exploring the views and experiences of teacher educators. Reflective Practice, 26(1), 135-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2024.2421598
🔗 Andreotti, V. (2006). Soft versus critical global citizenship education. Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review. Available at: https://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue/issue-3/soft-versus-critical-global-citizenship-education
🔗DEFY, Depth Education for Youth, Project (2024). The Story So Far: Exploring our Capacity to Open and Hold Space as Educators. Available at:
https://heyzine.com/flip-book/2bcd25ac98.html
🔗 UNESCO – Global Citizenship Education
https://www.unesco.org/en/global-citizenship-peace-education
🔗 CAST – Universal Design for Learning Guidelines https://udlguidelines.cast.org
Rogers, C.R. (1961). On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin.