Global Citizenship Education in Initial Teacher Education: Problem-posing insights from Ireland’s Céim Standards

This paper offers a conceptual and critical exploration of the integration of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) within the standards for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Ireland, known as the Céim Standards, as set by the Teaching Council. While many international jurisdictions position GCE as peripheral, Ireland’s inclusion of GCE as a core element of ITE presents an interesting context. Using a Freirean ‘problem-posing’ lens, the paper examines the tensions and opportunities this presents for teacher educators in Ireland and beyond. It interrogates ideological challenges posed by neo-liberal policy contexts, conceptual ambiguities in GCE and the constraints of standards-driven curriculum design. The paper identifies three key areas for advancing critical GCE: Challenging dominant institutional ideologies, deepening conceptual clarity and rethinking curriculum purpose and intent. Ultimately, it argues that meaningful, transformative GCE requires teacher educators to navigate policy ambiguity while promoting equity and cultivating critical consciousness and social justice orientations among pre-service teachers.