Intercultural reflection and diversity-sensitive preparation

The four-day workshop brought together academics from South Africa, India, Romania and Germany to develop a joint, power-critical teaching concept for ‘Critical Global Citizenship Education’ (CGCE) within inclusion-oriented teacher training.

The aim was to design an internationally compatible course concept that enables trainee teachers to critically reflect on inclusion and diversity in the context of global social injustice and to understand the role of teachers as ‘transformative intellectuals’ (Giroux).

Prof. Dr Zayd Waghid from CPUT Cape Town (South Africa) and Dr Mirona Stanescu from BBU Cluj (Romania) were guests throughout the workshop. In addition, Anastasia Gordon and Genevieve Lentz (both from CPUT), Dr Katharina Schneider-Bertan (University of Cologne; online) and Dr Manish Jain (Dr Ambedkar University Delhi; online) took part on individual days of the workshop. Representing the Ludwigsburg University of Education were Paula Fromm, Dr Katharina Witte, Prof. Dr Anselm Böhmer, Prof. Dr Stefan Jeuk and Prof. Dr Christoph Knoblauch. The workshop was initiated by the International Office of the Ludwigsburg University of Education (led by Charlotte Keefer) and coordinated by Jun.Prof. Dr Susanne Leitner.

In terms of content, a framework model was developed – based on presentations by the participating colleagues (covering topics such as critical global citizenship, decolonial perspectives, community engagement and inclusion) – which served as the basis for further work.

In addition to laying the theoretical foundations, a key focus of the workshop was on testing specific, particularly creative and artistic teaching and learning methods, which are to be used later in the joint course.

In parallel, organisational and structural issues relating to joint, internationally networked teaching were addressed.

A key outcome was the drafting of a proposal for a joint COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) course on Critical Global Citizenship Education for Master’s students. This is intended to mark the start of further collaborations and, where appropriate, the permanent integration of CGCE into the curriculum of the Ludwigsburg University of Education. It is scheduled to take place between April and June 2026. It is designed to fit within the different teaching frameworks at the participating higher education institutions. At the heart of the course are five synchronous online sessions and four phases of international group work, during which students from all participating countries will work together in mixed groups. In these groups, students will identify real-world issues of social injustice in their respective contexts, link these to critical theories, reflect on their own positionality, and develop symbolic ideas for transformation.

To ensure the continuity of this collaboration, further digital meetings will take place, aimed at helping to establish and consolidate a sustainable community of practice for power-critical and internationalised teaching on CGCE.

Anyone interested is warmly invited to join us.

Contact: susanne.leitner@ph-ludwigsburg.de