Extra-curricular signs of hope during social unrest? Young people ‘doing’ global citizenship through social media

DR HELEN HANNA, MANCHESTER INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

During times of social and political uncertainty and unrest, young people and education are often visible participants or visible targets. Over the past decade, countries like Hong Kong and Thailand have experienced upheaval stemming from social protest movements. At the same time, organisations like UNESCO have attempted to create unifying discourses that seek to help learners go beyond nationalism towards grander ideas of global citizenship and a sense of belonging to a global community. UNESCO (2014, p. 11) claims there has been a ‘shift’ in education, which ‘recognises the relevance of education and learning in understanding and resolving global issues in social, political, cultural, economic and environmental areas.’ One outcome of such discourses has been the rise in interest in Global Citizenship Education (GCE).


It has long been established that an effective education in a diverse society must incorporate some exposure to a variety of views on different topics, but the extent to which this should include contentious or controversial issues is not agreed upon (Hanna, 2019). GCE as understood by UNESCO and SDG 4 clearly conceives that education should involve allowing learners to grapple with a variety of views, working out how they feel about them, and how to respond in the world beyond the school gates. However, in some societies where young people have been involved in social and political protest, the state has targeted the education system as a way of controlling them. In Hong Kong, this has resulted in a citizenship curriculum that has become increasingly nationalistic, focused on patriotism and unity of Chinese identity, at the expense of fully recognising young people’s rights to multiple and local identities, as well as their rights and responsibilities to act on injustice in their communities. Teachers have been suspended for designing materials that discuss controversial ideas such as Hong Kong independence, teachers’ unions have disbanded, many have left the profession and moved overseas, and student leaders have been arrested. In Thailand, while the curriculum focuses on peace and analysing and even suggesting remedies for the human rights abuses in the country, there has been a show of force at student protests that has led to multiple arrests for those who have raised questions about the legitimacy of the government and the monarchy. Therefore, it is hard to see how the goals of GCE might be fulfilled in such a challenging climate.


But not all hope is lost. I have been reminded recently that not all education happens in school. For all its ills, social media like Twitter and Instagram offer an opportunity for young people in countries like Hong Kong and Thailand to connect across borders – young people who feel that their rights are not being respected, that they are not being listened to, and that they have no chance in school to express themselves or to change things. This connection has led to them being dubbed, along with some other Asian countries, as the ‘Milk Tea Alliance’ after the famous drink that is popular across East and Southeast Asia. Vanijiaka Voranai, a political analyst from Thammasat University in Bangkok, regards young people in both places as having ‘shared cultural values’, such as a love of freedom and ‘the courage to fight for change’ (cited in Chen & Taylor, 2020). While, as educationalists, we may be trying to play our part in improving the education system, through the curriculum or by other means, the use of social media here highlights the interconnectedness of young people that goes beyond what an education system might be able to provide for them. 


Global Citizenship Education in the 21st century seeks to go beyond the nation state, towards a cross-national global identity of common humanity and sense of belonging, based on universal values like human rights. Looking at Hong Kong and Thailand can give us hope that young people have agency of their own, and can make things happen for themselves, sometimes even in spite of what their education system desires.



References:


Chen, D.H. and Taylor, J. (2020). Young and restless: Hong Kong and Thailand protests parallels. Hong Kong Free Press, 19, October, 2020. Available at: https://hongkongfp.com/2020/10/19/young-and-restless-hong-kong-and-thailand-protest-parallels/?fbclid=IwAR0o9HPcCyTyhF_yuShmR-7a-wuOJDPcABgVZH9OusLG2wNDJxKjmLBf9Hc


Hanna, H. (2019). Young People’s Rights in the Citizenship Education Classroom. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Available at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-21147-9


UNESCO (2014). Global Citizenship Education: Preparing Learners for the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century. Paris: UNESCO. Available at: https://www.gcedclearinghouse.org/sites/default/files/resources/170053eng.pdf


Biography:


Helen is a Lecturer in International Education at Manchester Institute of Education, having previously worked in education in Hong Kong, Mainland China, South Africa and Russia. She is passionate about advocating for children and young people’s rights to, in and through education, especially freedom of expression and respect for their identities. 



This article was first published in Engage 25.


DR HELEN HANNA • January 9, 2023

36 Bicycles. Countless Futures in The Gambia.

By Ann Beatty • May 20, 2026
How a simple act of practical solidarity is transforming the journey to school in The Gambia’s Central River Region North Policies have been written. Schools have been built. Yet for many children in The Gambia’s Central River Region North, access to education is still measured in kilometres, not opportunity. 

Education for Hope in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Times

By Laura Griffin • May 13, 2026
‘In a single hour vast tracts of shaded woodland became a jumble of torn trees and upturned soil, exposed to the glare of the summer sun. Such land-clearing events are rare, but forests exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. I’m told that the Chinese character for ‘catastrophe’ is the same as that which represents the word ‘opportunity’. And, the blowdown, while catastrophic, presented opportunities for many species.’ (Wall Kimmerer, 2003: 89). In the context of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (Stein, 2021) what kinds of education for hope might support children’s and young people’s critical engagement in local and global issues? In the spirit of exploring the possibilities of hope further, this short article focuses on the area of global citizenship and sustainabilityrelated education. It will briefly open by sharing commonalities across pedagogical approaches that take up the concept and act of hope more critically, and close by offering reflective questions for educators, with suggestions for further reading. Perhaps it is a kind of hope that is grounded in the present, in future reimagining(s), in ethical solidarity, and an acknowledgement of our deep entanglement with the living metabolism of planet earth 1 our singular home (UNESCO, 2021); a hope that engages with complex root causes and lived realities of multiple overlapping crises in critically reflexive and contextually relevant ways. As McCloskey notes, ‘Hope can fire our collective imagination and critical consciousness as a mainspring to activism and intervention in the world.’ (2025: 3). Commonalities across critical pedagogical approaches to hope include: Acknowledging the context of a ‘seamless single story of progress, development and human evolution’ (Andreotti, V.D.O., 2021b Relating to social and ecological justice and the wellbeing of people and planet Using participatory, action-orientated and inquiry-based learning processes Exploring diverse worldviews and perspectives Practising grounding in the present with opening up possibilities for change (relational, embodied, response-able 2 ) Experiencing ‘struggle’ in different forms (dialogical, selfreflexive, open-ended) Engaging individual and collective agency, action and activism Looking for lifelong and life-wide learning and unlearning. 1 See ‘Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness’, in Machado de Oliveira Andreotti. 2021a 2 See ‘Crossing Borders’ in 2 Depth Education “Depth Education and the Possibility of GCE Otherwise, 2021b. Source: Andreotti, V. 2021a & 2021b., Atif, A. (2025)., Bourn, D. 2021., Bryan. A. and Mochizuki,Y., 2024., Giroux, H.A. 2025., Meade, E. 2025. Whilst engaging in the concept and act of hope more critically reflect upon: What kinds of education for hope might you explore further and why? How might you provide generative spaces for engaging in diverse worldviews and perspectives? In what ways can you facilitate individual and collective agency? How might you support learners’ practice grounding in the present in order to relate differently? In what ways can you support learners in navigating complex root causes and lived realities of local and global issues? As Chief Ninawa Hini Kui affirms, ‘The future depends much less on the images we project ahead than on our capacity to repair relations and build relationships differently in the present.’ (Andreotti et al, 2023: 73. An invitation for further reading: Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future . d’Abreu, C., Belgeonne, C., Bourn, D. and Hatley, J. (2025) ‘Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future’. DERC Research Paper 24. London: UCL Institute of Education. Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism. Machado de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2021a) ‘Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism’ , London: Penguin Random House. Development Education and Hope . McCloskey, S. (2025). (ed) ‘Development Education and Hope’. ‘Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review’ , Vol. 41, Autumn. Centre for Global Education, Belfast. Link to and download the full reference list here

I heard it said today by a friend that “You learn a language best when you use it to speak and write about things that are important to you. ”

By Susan Piper • May 6, 2026
This summed up to me about why I volunteer for the Hands Up Project. HUP is a charity trust which, through its network of volunteers, connects children around the world with young people in Palestine. By means of online interaction, drama and storytelling activities, it enables the use of creativity and selfexpression to promote mutual understanding, personal growth, and the development of English language skills. I joined HUP in 2020 during COVID. After going to Palestine in 2017, I wanted to get more involved in working with Palestinian children in schools. HUP gave me the opportunity to link up with schools in the West Bank and Gaza. Every week I’d tell them stories from all over the world, then we’d discuss it, play games and I’d get them to retell it. Sometimes we would work from their coursebook English for Palestine’ in mutual team teaching sessions with their teacher. The simple act of telling a story became much more than entertainment. It became connection, healing, and a bridge to the world beyond their immediate reality to help them improve their language skills, and to give them a platform to speak about their lives in a language that connects them to people everywhere. I loved it, every week, seeing their smiling faces on the screen and building long lasting friendships with their teachers. I even went to Gaza in 2023 and met some of the kids I’d only seen on Zoom. It was a beautiful experience and something I will never forget. As hostilities escalated, I lost contact with everyone. I thought about where the kids were and what had happened to them. As I watched schools being bombed, universities flattened, and people killed in their thousands, I thought about where the kids I’d met were and what was happening to them. I kept in contact with many of the teachers I knew and heard daily news of displacement, destruction, hunger and bombing. Recently, I’ve started to link up again with children in Gaza, and it feels wonderful to be back helping them learn after being denied an education for over two years. Connecting with children in Palestine is more than just words. When a child in Palestine confidently tells their story to someone on the other side of the world, bridges are built, empathy grows, and the world gains a fuller picture of childhood in contexts far from peace and privilege. My work with these children is rooted in the belief that education and voice are inseparable. Through storytelling and English language learning, I witness children not just learning new vocabulary, but reclaiming their narratives, believing in their potential, and finding human connection in a world they perceive has abandoned them. And more than anything, this work reminds us all that children — everywhere — deserve to learn, to speak, and to be heard. Links to HUP information, books and resources: The Hands Up Project BY SUSAN PIPER Susan Piper is currently an ESOL teacher in Oldham, Greater Manchester and has worked in education for over 30 years. She is also a volunteer for the Hands Up Project and is the International Solidarity Officer and President of her NEU district. She believes in quality education for all and aims to make her lessons creative and inclusive so that effective language learning can take place.