Global citizenship education and war: the needs of teachers and learners

This article is based on the data from a 2 year Department for International Development (DfID) funded research project, and looks at the perceived needs of teaching and learning about global issues, particularly war and conflict. Students want to learn about complex contemporary issues, particularly war and conflict, and have sophisticated understandings and questions. Yet, for teachers, these topics were to be avoided if possible. They felt inadequately prepared and 'haunted stories' about upsetting children and other problems deterred them from teaching about sensitive issues. Teachers' fears also result from unclear government legislation and advice. This could be addressed by using the concepts of 'misrepresentation' and 'deceit', rather than 'promoting' a 'partisan' 'opinion'.