Title:
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A case study on the effectiveness of an overseas thematic exposure programme in an international school in Hong Kong in fostering global citizenship for secondary school students
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Overseas thematic exposure trips are powerful, eye-opening, and engaging learning opportunities for
secondary school students. They encourage young minds to realize and to understand that knowledge
is readily available outside the confines of the classrooms and beyond the printed text. The
experience these students gain while travelling abroad and being fully immersed in a foreign culture
will inevitably change the way they see the world in the present time, as well as their individual lives in
the future. One of the core educational values of these enriching overseas thematic exposure trips is
the promotion of global citizenship through active engagement in service-learning opportunities for
secondary school students. This dissertation is a case study with a quantitative approach from
analyzing the results collected from survey questionnaires, as well as with a qualitative approach from
several interviews to understand and discover whether the current model in delivering these particular
overseas thematic exposure trips (i.e. CAS Week) in an international school in Hong Kong is serving
the educational needs to promote global citizenship and to nurture responsible global citizens.
The results of the survey questionnaires and the comments collected from the interviews have
revealed that the existing programme is a valuable experience for the students at the school.
However, the effect of the experience gained from the trips does not necessarily translate into other
related long-term service-learning activities to heighten the importance of global citizenship in the
school. One of the findings in this case study is the apparent absence of critical and guided reflections
to enable the students to understand the value and the meaning in their actions. The students, the
teachers, and the alumni at the school do not fully understand the true essence of global citizenship.
Hence, prior to designing these particular overseas thematic exposure trips so to educate students
about global citizenships as well as maximize their potentials, it is more critical and important for the
school to implement all necessary measures, including workshops, professional development
opportunities, and training, in order to ensure that all teachers understand the core values in
educating global citizenship. Likewise, in addition to these annual trips and other existing regularly
held school activities and events, the school must consider allowing additional formal instructional
time where students are to engage in dialogues and discussions which allow them to become fully
aware of their individual responsibilities in maximizing their own potentials and becoming global
citizens. Finally, similar to the recognition given for the achievement in competitive sports and in the
arts, there needs to be a fundamental change in the pedagogical understanding to celebrate global
citizenship in the school.
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