Professor Karen Pashby
Professor Karen Pashby
Professor of Global Citizenship Education
Promoter and reflexive critic of global citizenship education. Extensive expertise as researcher and educator supporting decolonial approaches to ethical global issues in classrooms.
My profile
Biography
Karen Pashby is Professor of Global Citizenship Education and Lead for Research in the School of Education at ManMet. She is President of the Comparative and International Education Society of Canada (2023-2025) and Lead of the Education and Global Futures Research Group.
A former secondary school educator (in Canada and Brazil) and experienced teacher educator, her research combines theoretical and empirical research with teachers, drawing on postcolonial and decolonial theoretical resources to identify productive pedagogical tensions in education for global citizenship. Recent work look specifically at bridging with environmental and sustainability education through connecting decolonial concepts with practice.
Karen graduated from OISE/University of Toronto with her PhD in 2013 (Philosophy of Education + Comparative, International and Development Education) where she also taught in teacher education. She held postdoctoral research positions at University of Oulu (Finland) and the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Research at University of Alberta.
She publishes widely on the topic of critical global citizenship education, and her work has been drawn on by various educational organisations and non-governmental/civil-society organisation to support reflexive practice.
Professor Pashby is Docent at University of Helsinki and Adjunct Professor at University of Alberta.
Interests and expertise
President of Comparative and International Education Society of Canada/Société Canadienne d’éducation Comparée et Internationale
Leads Education and Global Futures Research Group
Publishes widely on global citizenship education, environmental and sustainability education, and ethical internationalisation.
Leads on international research in Ethical Global Issues Pedagogy, researching and co-producing resources (in multiple languages) with teachers.
Engages in multisectoral conversations about global citizenship education, and supports challenging conversations about educating about today’s pressing ethical global issues.
Participates in multisectoral networks in Europe and internationally working on Sustainable Development Goal 4.7.
Impact
Prof Pashby engages widely with multi-sectoral audiences to contribute to the wider, complex, ongoing discussions about the role of global citizenship education in today’s policy and practice.
The Gift that Doesn’t Stop Giving: Global Citizenship Education as an Aspirational and Contested Concept -Interview for the UNESCO Chair in Global Citizenship Education in Higher Education
Critical Internationalisation Master Class Series Contribution: Global Citizenship Education
Global Citizenship Education Interview Series with Emiliano Bosio
What’s in a Word? The Problem with ‘Development’ with Dr Karen Pashby
Making the impossible, possible: An interview with Dr Karen Pashby
Teaching
Professor Pashby started her career as an educator, and it continues to be the professional identity she holds most dear. She enjoys facilitating a classroom environment in which students can challenge their assumptions and engage directly with the complexity of our shared worlds.
Her teaching areas include educational theory and policy; critical pedagogy; citizenship education; international and comparative education; and education for global citizenship and sustainable development.
Courses
Supervision
Professor Pashby supervises doctoral students in the areas of global citizenship education/development education/environmental and sustainability education; comparative and international education; decolonial, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive pedagogies; critical policy studies in education; post/decolonial critiques of education.
Research outputs
Professor Pashby conducts theoretical and empirical studies of global citizenship education policy and practice. She researches the possibilities and constraints experienced by teachers when explicitly addressing colonialism and complex ethical relations in the teaching of global issues.
Her wider research investigates how to mobilise critical praxis in response to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 across ‘Global North’ contexts. She has a particular interest in intersections of critical global citizenship education and environmental and sustainability education. She has contributed to scholarship on ethical internationalisation in higher education and critical multiculturalism.
Key areas of research include:
- (Critical) Global Citizenship Education
- Environmental and Sustainability Education
- Citizenship Education
- Post/de-colonial engagements with education
- Global education/ Internationalisation of education
- (Critical) Multicultural education
- Critical Policy analysis
- Critical Curriculum analysis
- Critical Discourse Analysis
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Books (authored/edited/special issues)
Sant, E., Davies, I., Pashby, K., Shultz, L. (2018) Global Citizenship Education: A Critical Introduction to Key Concepts and Debates. Bloomsbury.
Davies, I., Ho, L.C., Kiwan, D., Peck, C.L., Peterson, A., Sant, E., Waghid, Y. (2017) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Education. Palgrave MacMillan.
O’Sullivan, M., Pashby, K. (2008) Citizenship Education in the Era of Globalization: Canadian Perspectives.
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Chapters in books
Pashby, K., Da Costa, M., Sund, L., Corcoran, S. (2020) 'Resourcing an Ethical Global Issues Pedagogy with Secondary Teachers in Northern Europe.' In Saúde, S., Raposo, M.A., Pereira, N., Rodrigues, A.I. (ed.) Teaching and Learning Practices that Promote Sustainable Development and Active Citizenship. IGI Global, pp. 47-66.
Pashby, K., da Costa, M., Sund, L., Corcoran, S.L. (2020) 'Resourcing an Ethical Global Issues Pedagogy With Secondary Teachers in Northern Europe.' Teaching and Learning Practices That Promote Sustainable Development and Active Citizenship. IGI Global, pp. 47-66.
Pashby, K., Sund, L. (2020) 'Critical GCE in the era of SDG 4.7: Discussing HEADSUP with secondary teachers in England, Finland, and Sweden..' The Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Education and Learning. Bloomsbury Academic,
Pashby, K.L., Engel, L. (2020) 'Global Citizenship and Teacher Education in the U.S. and Canada..' In Wolhuter, C.C., Schugurensky, D. (ed.) Global Citizenship Education in Teacher Education Theoretical and Practical Issues. Routledge,
Sund, L., Pashby, K. (2019) 'Taking up ethical global issues in the classroom.' Sustainable Development Teaching: Ethical and Political Challenges. pp. 204-212.
Pashby, K., Sund, L. (2019) 'Bridging 4.7 with secondary teachers: Engaging critical scholarship in education for sustainable development and global citizenship.' Teacher Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship: Critical Perspectives on Values, Curriculum and Assessment. pp. 99-112.
Pashby, K., Engel, L.C. (2018) 'Global Citizenship Education in Teacher Education in Canada and the US: Trends, barriers, and possibilities.' Global Citizenship Education in Teacher Education: Theoretical and Practical Issues. pp. 233-249.
Pashby, K. (2018) 'Identity, belonging and diversity in education for global citizenship: Multiplying, intersecting, transforming, and engaging lived realities.' The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Education. pp. 277-293.
Peck, C.L., Pashby, K. (2018) 'Global citizenship education in North America.' The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Education. pp. 51-65.
Pashby, K.L. (2018) 'Identity, Belonging and Diversity in Education for Global Citizenship: Multiplying, Intersecting, Transforming, and Engaging Lived Realities.' In Davies, I., Ho, L., Peck, C., Peterson, A., Sant Obilos, E., Waghid, Y. (ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Education. Palgrave,
Pashby, K.L., Peck, C. (2018) 'Global Citizenship Education in North America.' In Davies, I., Ho, L., Kiwan, C., Peck, C., Peterson, A., Sant Obilos, E., Waghid, Y. (ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Education. Palgrave Macmillan,
Pashby, K.L. (2016) 'Global, Citizenship and Education as Discursive Fields: Towards Disrupting the Reproduction of Colonial Systems of Power.' In Langran, I., Burk, T. (ed.) Globalization and Global Citizenship Interdisciplinary Approaches. Routledge, pp. 69-86.
Pashby, K.L., Andreotti, V. (2015) 'Critical global citizenship in theory and practice: Rationales and approaches for an emerging agenda.' In Harshman, J., Augustine, T., Merryfield, M. (ed.) Research on global citizenship education. Information Age Publishing, pp. 9-23.
Pashby, K.L. (2012) 'Questions for global citizenship education in the context of the ‘new imperialism’: For whom, by whom?.' In Andreotti, V., de Souza, L.M. (ed.) Postcolonial perspectives on global citizenship education. Routledge, pp. 9-26.
Pashby, K. (2008) 'Demands on and of Citizenship and Schooling: “Belonging” and “Diversity” in the Global Imperative.' Citizenship Education in the Era of Globalization: Canadian Perspectives. pp. 9-26.
O’Sullivan, M., Pashby, K. (2008) 'Introduction: Citizenship Education in the Era of Globalization: Canadian Perspectives.' Citizenship Education in the Era of Globalization: Canadian Perspectives. pp. 1-7.
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Reports
Pashby, K., Sund, L., Corcoran, S. Teaching for sustainable development through ethical global issues pedagogy: Participatory research with teachers.
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Journal articles
da Costa, M., Sinclair, Y., Pashby, K. (2024) 'Insufficient and inadequate democracy? Exploring coloniality and possibilities for the teaching of slavery in Europe.' Educational Philosophy and Theory, pp. 1-11.
Pashby, K., Sund, L., Tryggvason, Á. (2023) 'Global citizenship as taken-for-grantedness: reflecting on Swedish students’ trip to Tanzania.' Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp. 1-18.
Pavlounis, D., Pashby, K., Sanchez Morales, F. (2023) 'Linking digital, visual, and civic literacy in an era of mis/disinformation: Canadian teachers reflect on using the Questioning Images tool.' Education Inquiry, pp. 1-18.
Koh, A., Pashby, K., Tarc, P., Yemini, M. (2022) 'Editorial: Internationalisation in teacher education: discourses, policies, practices.' Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, pp. 1-14.
Pashby, K., Sund, L., Corcoran, S., Wicker, C. (2022) 'Teaching for sustainable development through ethical global issues pedagogy.' Impact, (14)
Pashby, K., da Costa, M., Stein, S., Andreotti, V. (2021) 'Mobilising global citizenship education for alternative futures in challenging times.' Globalisation, Societies and Education, 19(4) pp. 371-378.
Pashby, K., Costa, M.D. (2021) 'Interfaces of critical global citizenship education in research about secondary schools in ‘global North’ contexts.' Globalisation, Societies and Education, 19(4) pp. 379-392.
Pashby, K., da Costa, M., Sund, L. (2020) 'Pluriversal possibilities for global education in northern Europe.' Journal of Social Science Education, 19(4) pp. 45-62.
Idrissi, H., Engel, L., Pashby, K. (2020) 'The Diversity Conflation and Action Ruse : a critical discourse analysis of the OECD’s Framework for Global Competence.' Comparative and International Education, 49(1)
Sant, E., McDonnell, J., Pashby, K., Menendez Alvarez-Hevia, D. (2020) 'Pedagogies of agonistic democracy and citizenship education.' Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 16(3) pp. 227-244.
Pashby, K., Sund, L. (2020) 'Decolonial options and foreclosures for global citizenship education and education for sustainable development.' Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education, 4(1) pp. 66-83.
Sund, L., Pashby, K. (2020) 'Delinking global issues in Northern Europe classrooms.' The Journal of Environmental Education, 51(02) pp. 156-170.
Pashby, K., da Costa, M., Stein, S., Andreotti, V. (2020) 'A meta-review of typologies of global citizenship education.' Comparative Education, 56(2) pp. 144-164.
Mertanen, K., Pashby, K., Brunila, K. (2019) 'Governing of young people ‘at risk’ with the alliance of employability and precariousness in the EU youth policy steering.' Policy Futures in Education, 18(2) pp. 240-260.
Sund, L., Pashby, K. (2018) '‘Is It That We Do Not Want Them to Have Washing Machines?’: Ethical Global Issues Pedagogy in Swedish Classrooms.' Sustainability, 10(10) pp. 1-13.
Andreotti, V., Stein, S., Sutherland, A., Pashby, K.L., Susa, R., Amsler, S. (2018) 'Mobilising different conversations about global justice in education: toward alternative futures in uncertain times.' Policy & Practice : A Development Education Review, 26
Haapakoski, J., Pashby, K. (2017) 'Implications for equity and diversity of increasing international student numbers in European universities: Policies and practice in four national contexts.' Policy Futures in Education, 15(3) pp. 360-379.
Shultz, L., Pashby, K., Godwaldt, T. (2017) 'Youth voices on global citizenship: Deliberating across Canada in an online invited space.' International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 8(2) pp. 5-17.
Pashby, K., de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2016) 'Ethical internationalisation in higher education: interfaces with international development and sustainability.' Environmental Education Research, 22(6) pp. 771-787.
Dalene M Swanson, , Karen Pashby, (2016) 'Towards a Critical Global Citizenship?: A Comparative Analysis of GC Education Discourses in Scotland and Alberta.' Journal of Research in Curriculum Instruction, 20(3) pp. 184-195.
de Oliveira Andreotti, V., Stein, S., Pashby, K., Nicolson, M. (2016) 'Social cartographies as performative devices in research on higher education.' Higher Education Research & Development, 35(1) pp. 84-99.
Pashby, K. (2015) 'Conflations, possibilities, and foreclosures: Global citizenship education in a multicultural context.' Curriculum Inquiry, 45(4) pp. 345-366.
Pashby, K.L., Ingram, L., Joshee, R. (2014) 'Discovering, recovering, and covering-up Canada: Tracing historical citizenship discourses in K–12 and adult immigrant citizenship education.' Canadian Journal of Education, 37(2) pp. 1-27.
Pinto, L.E., Portelli, J.P., Rottmann, C., Pashby, K., Barrett, S.E., Mujawamariya, D. (2012) 'Charismatic, competent or transformative? Ontario school administrators’ perceptions of “good teachers”.' Journal of Teaching and Learning, 8(1)
Andreotti, V.D.O., Pashby, K. (2013) 'Digital Democracy and Global Citizenship Education: Mutually Compatible or Mutually Complicit?.' Educational Forum, 77(4) pp. 422-437.
Pinto, L.E., Portelli, J.P., Rottman, C., Pashby, K.L., Barrett, S.E., Mujuwamariya, D. (2012) 'Social justice: The missing link in school administrators’ perspectives on teacher induction.' Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, (129)
Eidoo, S., Ingram, L., MacDonald, A., Nabvai, M., Pashby, K.L., Stille, S. (2011) '"Through the kaleidoscope": Intersections between theoretical perspectives and classroom implications in Critical Global Citizenship Education.' Canadian Journal of Education, 34(4) pp. 59-85.
Pashby, K. (2011) 'Cultivating global citizens: planting new seeds or pruning the perennials? Looking for the citizen-subject in global citizenship education theory.' Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9(3-4) pp. 427-442.
Andreotti, V., Jefferess, D., Pashby, K., Rowe, C., Tarc, P., Taylor, L. (2010) 'Difference and conflict in global citizenship in higher education in Canada.' International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 2(3) pp. 5-24.
Pashby, K.L. (2009) 'The Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers-to-Grandmothers Campaign: A model for critical global citizenship learning?.' Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices, 3(1) pp. 59-70.
Pashby, K.L. (2008) 'Demands on and of citizenship and schooling: ‘Belonging’ and ‘diversity’ in the global imperative.' Brock Education : a Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 17pp. 1-21.
Pashby, K.L., O'Sullivan, M. (2008) 'Citizenship education in the era of globalization: Canadian perspectives.' Brock Education : a Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 17pp. i-iv.
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Conference papers
Sant Obiols, E., McDonnell, J., Menendez Alvarez-Hevia, D., Pashby, K., Hanley, C., Thiel, J. (2021) 'Pedagogies Of Agonistic Democracy And Global Citizenship Education.' 21/8/2017 - 25/8/2017. European Educational Research Association,
Pashby, K., Sund, L., Tryggvason, Á. (2021) 'The same but different: The taken-for-grantedness discourse in ethical global issues pedagogy.' In European Conference of Educational Research. online, 6/9/2021 - 10/9/2021.
Pashby, K., Sanchez Morales, F., Pavlounis, D. (2021) 'Visual media literacy as digital civic literacy: Assessing a teaching tool used during the 2019 Canadian federal election.' In Canadian Society for the Study of Education. online, 29/5/2021 - 3/6/2021.
Pashby, K., Sund, L. (2020) 'Critical Global Citizenship Education in the era of SDG 4.7: Discussing HEADSUP with secondary teachers in England, Finland and Sweden.' In European Conference of Educational Research. online, 6/9/2021 - 9/9/2021.
Pashby, K., Sund, L. (2019) 'Exploring critical global issues pedagogy with secondary teachers in Northern Europe: Mediating local contexts.' In British Educational Research Association. Manchester, UK, 10/9/2019 - 12/9/2019.
Pashby, K. (2019) 'Critical Global Citizenship Education within and beyond typologies: Engaging with teachers’ work.' In European Conference of Educational Research. Hamburg, 3/9/2019 - 6/2/2022.
Pashby, K., da Costa, M., Stein, S., Andeotti, V. (2019) 'Typology of typologies of global citizenship education: Methodological, epistemological and ontological implications of the descriptive imperative.' In Comparative International Education Society. San Francisco, 17/4/2019 - 18/2/2022.
Pashby, K., Sund, L. (2019) 'Putting the International Youth White Paper on Global Citizenship to Work: Participatory research with teachers.' In Comparative International Education Society. San Francisco, 14/4/2019 - 18/4/2019.
Pashby, K., Sund, L. (2018) 'Global issues pedagogy through HEADSUP: Participatory research with secondary teachers in England, Finland and Sweden.' 5/4/2019 - 9/4/2019.
Pashby, K., da Costa, M., Stein, S., Andreotti, V. (2018) 'Mapping the Tensions in Typologies of Global Citizenship Education: From Description to Critique.' In American Educational Research Association. Toronto, Ontario, 6/4/2019 - 9/4/2019.
Pashby, K.L., Sund, L. (2018) 'Bridging 4.7.: Combining critical research in environmental and sustainability education and global citizenship education through participatory work with teachers.' In European Conference on Educational Research (ECER). Bolzano, Italy, 4/9/2018 - 7/6/2018.
Pashby, K.L., Corcoran, S.L., Sund, L. (2018) 'Barriers and enabling factors to teaching ethical global issues in support of SDG 4.7: Participatory research with teachers..' In European Conference on Educational Research. Bolzano, Italy, 4/9/2018 - 7/9/2018.
Pashby, K.L., Khoo, S. (2018) '. Evidence, Interpretation and Ethos: (Re)Thinking Internationalisations of Higher Education: Lessons from the Ethics in Higher Education (In Times of Crisis) (EIHE) Cross-National Research Project..' In Research, Evidence and Policy Learning for Global Education Conference hosted by the Development Education Research Centre at IOE/UCL and the Global Education Network of Europe.. IOE/UCL, London, 10/4/2017 - 11/5/2017.
Drinkwater, M., Pashby, K.L., Ingram, L. (2018) 'Education for Youth Democratic Engagement: Report on a curriculum mapping of Canada’s civic education..' In Canadian Society for Studies in Education (CSSE). Ryerson University, Toronto, 27/5/2017 - 31/5/2017.
Pashby, K.L., Sund, L. (2018) 'Promoting ethical global issues pedagogy: Participatory research with teachers in Finland, Sweden and the UK..' In JustEd2018 international research conference. University of Helsinki, 22/5/2018 - 23/5/2018.
Sant Obiols, E., McDonnell, J., Pashby, K., Menendez Alvarez-Hevia, D., Sellar, S., Hanley, C. (2018) 'Agonistic Controversial’ Issues As A Pedagogy For Global Citizenship Education.' 13/4/2018 - 17/4/2018. American Educational Research Association,
Pashby, K.L., Sund, L. (2017) 'Rethinking Teaching Sustainability and Global Ethics for U.N. Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.7: Engaging Swedish Upper Secondary Teachers..' In American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. New York, 13/4/2018 - 17/4/2018.
Khoo, S., Pashby, K.L. (2017) 'Transformations of modern/colonial higher education: cartographies of domination and re(dis)order.' In Royal Geographical Association Annual Conference. London, 26/8/2017 - 1/9/2017.
Pashby, K.L., Tarc, P., Taylor, L.K. (2017) 'Ethical internationalization and teacher education: Curricular and pedagogical (im)possibilities..' In Canadian Society for Studies in Education (CSSE). Ryerson University, Toronto, 27/5/2017 - 31/5/2017.