A continuum for global citizenship: Analyzing the complex transformations of service-learning

This article extends existing theoretical perspectives to present a continuum of global citizenship education that can be applied to explore the practice and outcomes of transformative Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) experiences encompassing service-learning. It draws data from three WIL case studies across the disciplines of Business, Social Work and Education to explore how this continuum elucidates understanding of students’ engagement with and reflection on critical and transformative notions of global citizenship. Using critical service-learning theory that positions students as agents of their own transformation, the authors found that global citizenship can be conceptualized as a multifaceted process of becoming underpinned by the development of student agency, rather than a linear destination of ‘knowing’. We provide examples of this agency while also considering the complexities in and for transformative learning for global citizenship.