Oman is a developing country which reformed its educational system in 1998 in order to meet the challenges of the 21 st century, especially economic challenges. Strength of national identity and developing a sense of global citizenship were among the priorities of the new educational reform. This paper is based on a review of current practices regarding global citizenship education in educational system. The purpose of this theoretical study was to explore the current provision of the aspects of global citizenship education in Omani schools. Specifically, the study attempts to identify the current practices that are implemented by Omani schools to help Omani students to develop a sense of effective global citizenship. The study indicates that Omani education is not nationally centered as it aims to develop students who have global awareness. The study shows employing different approaches to develop a sense of global citizenship, namely, a separate school subject; integrated theme in social studies education, participation in some international initiatives in global citizenship education, and celebrating the international days and decades.

No abstract

This study explored the state of social studies in basic education schools in the current reform. Particularly, it explored teachers' preferred rationales for teaching social studies, content areas emphasized in the social studies curriculum, instructional methods used by teachers, and the importance of social studies and other school subjects. Data were gathered by surveys from 451 social studies teachers from all Omani governorates. Findings showed that teachers supported all rationales for teaching social studies in schools. The most emphasized topics were Omani history, geography of Oman, rights and duties of citizens, population education, geography of the Arab world, and environmental education. There was a significant progress in implementing student-centered instructional methods. Unfortunately, social studies was not regarded as an important school subject. Implications of the study were discussed.

Since the early 1990s, citizenship education has occupied a high profile in educational policies worldwide. Yet, this area has not received similar attention in Arabic countries as has been shown by some studies that have until now focused on this area. This article is a first attempt to review the available literature in order to provide some indicators and insights regarding the current provision of citizenship education (CE) in Arab contexts. Specifically, the article starts by providing a brief geographical overview about Arab contexts and highlighting the right of education as one of citizenship rights. This followed by discussing some difficulties about studying education in Arab contexts. Then debates about the meanings of citizenship and CE and its aims will be presented. After that, the approaches of introducing citizenship education, its content and how it is delivered were discussed. The article ends by raising some challenges and drawing some conclusions.

No abstract