This is an award and site for all people that love the world and love to learn with it.  It is for people of all ages and in all professions but originates from an international school based context of recognising that young people actually never stop learning and should be encouraged to celebrate their adventures and achievements at all times and in all contexts of life.  By doing this you make learning smarter (and teaching easier) by personalising your own learning through challenging target setting and your own unique way of reflective practice – “reflection is what links our performance to our potential.”  Ultimately this award is a way to maximise transferable skills that benefit you in any learning experience and should not be compartmentalised to a specific academic subject or area of a curriculum.  Learning is a dynamic process and personal, involving every aspect of a persons mental, physical and emotional state – that is why this award focuses on the four ‘Pillars of Learning‘ as stated by UNESCO:

Learning to know

Learning to do

Learning to live together

Learning to be

You are invited to select 16 Identities of what could contribute to the characteristics of being a global citizen, four under each of the four Pillars of Learning to demonstrate a broad and diverse range of experiences and achievements – going out of your comfort zone #gooycz. This award is unique to each individual person and their own learning journey and is therefore not dictated by a set of predetermined outcomes or benchmarks.  To achieve the award and formal recognition (for a school, a university, at work, or just for personal motivation, whatever…) you should set (challenging) targets for an Identity, e.g. give a 3 minute speech or presentation in front of at least 100 people, record and reflect on the learning process and ideally setting a new and even more challenging target next time!  It is up to you how you record the process as this is all part of your own reflective practice and a large part of the award is discovering how you reflect best and how you use your reflective practice to achieve beyond your (perceived) limits.  Developing a growth mindset.  Ultimately you should record and celebrate your reflections in whatever format you desire, e.g. a blog, poetry, photography, artwork, multimedia, anything goes… it is all part of the learning and self expression.

Once you have participated in the one or more of the 16 Identities you can submit your reflections here.  We will never publish any of your content without your permission.

This Award encourages you to informally recognise your learning achievements beyond a formal education or work environment, and maximise your potential as a lifelong learner.  At the same time, we are confident that you will enjoy a much more holistic experience in everything that you see, hear and do.  So many more opportunities will appear and you will have the confidence to grab them.  It is a win win approach!  It is also a universal and free award for all schools and other organisations to use to track their students (and staff) participation and achievement across a learning programme and to help them, individually,  measure the real value added that a school should be providing as a learning community.

Paul Crouch, January 2021

The 16 Identities of the Global Citizenship Award: