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In this paper I discuss a Kantian conception of cosmopolitan education. It suggests that we pursue the highest good -- an object of morality -- in the world together, and requires that we acknowledge the value of freedom, render ourselves both efficacious and autonomous in practice, cultivate our judgment, and unselfishly co-operate in the co-ordination and fulfilment of our morally permissible ends. Now, such an accomplishment is one of the most difficult challenges, and may not be achieved in our time, if ever. In the first part of the paper I show that we, according to Kant, have to interact with each other, and comply with the moral law in the quest of general happiness, not merely personal happiness. In the second part, I argue that a cosmopolitan design of teacher education in Kantian terms can establish moral character, even though good moral character is ultimately the outcome of free choice. Such a design can do so by optimizing the freedom of those concerned to set and pursue their morally permissible ends, and to cultivate their judgment through the use of examples. This requires, inter alia, that they be enabled, and take responsibility, to think for themselves, in the position of everyone else, and consistently; and to strengthen their virtue or self-mastery to comply, in practice, with the moral law. Adapted from the source document.

In the age of globalization, policy texts in, inter alia, the European Union emphasize the value and importance of enabling human beings to render themselves not merely flexible, movable, employable, and competitive as citizens on the market in knowledge-based societies, but also loyal and morally committed to European Union citizenship through education. It has also become common to stress -- for example, in policy texts issued by the United Nation and OECD -- the importance of enabling human beings to cultivate their creative capacity through education in order to promote economic growth in the world. However, these policy texts do not necessarily emphasize the need and value of enabling students to become cosmopolitan citizens in, inter alia, moral educational terms. On the contrary, there is a lack of focus on responding responsibly to the challenges we face in terms of globalization from a cosmopolitan perspective. The response to globalization in policy texts is, or at least seems to be, to educate people chiefly for the job market, promoting economic growth and creating the conditions for education, including teacher education, so that students render themselves efficacious, flexible, movable and creative on the job market within policy defined territories. However, how students should be educated as cosmopolitan beings on earth in imaginative, reflective, critical and moral terms in societies at large is not clear. Adapted from the source document.

This book offers an examination into the meanings of citizenship in the contemporary world, and trends that are forcing a rethinking of the concept in today's nation-states. These changing meanings, in turn, give rise to new understandings of, and approaches to, citizenship education. The underlying values of participation, deliberation, and loyalty or patriotism that define different notions of citizenship are under strain in a world increasingly defined by global processes, by the rise of transnational or supranational institutions, and by interconnections that bring different cultures and value systems into closer contact with each other. What does this new citizen look like? What does this new citizen need to know, or need to be able to do? To whom, and to what, is this new citizen loyal? One way to think about this new citizen is as a "cosmopolitan," a citizen of the world more than of any particular nation-state; another way to think about it is in terms of different kinds or levels of affiliation, existing simultaneously (to nation and to regional alliance, such as the European Union, for example). These conditions of citizenship, and of citizenship education, are rapidly changing and diverse -- and in some instances they come into conflict. This collection of essays by an outstanding international group of scholars examines the tensions between national, transnational, and postnational conceptions of citizenship, brought back always to the grounded question of citizenship education and how to go about it. The authors illuminate the complexity and subtlety of these issues, and offer helpful guidance for rethinking the meanings and values that inform our educational endeavours.

Education seems to have lost its orientation in Western culture and is in disarray all over the globe in time of global transitions. This book attempts to address the challenge of globalization to education in the broadest sense of the concept of education. The various texts are written by some of the most famous and interesting scholars in the field. This collection is unique and opens the door for further research and public discussion on the future role of education.