Global Citizenship Education Elements in Elementary Social Studies Textbooks: An Analysis of the ‘Social Change and Cultural Diversity’ Unit in the Korean Nat’l Curriculum 2022

This study analyzed global citizenship education (GCE) elements in the ‘Social Change and Cultural Diversity’ unit of third-grade social studies textbooks under the 2022 revised Korean curriculum. Analysis of 371 GCE elements from eight government-authorized textbooks using UNESCO's three learning domains and Andreotti's soft-critical framework revealed that the socio-emotional domain dominated (49.6%), emphasizing respect and empathy for cultural diversity, followed by cognitive (35.3%) and behavioral domains (15.1%). From Andreotti's perspective, 97% aligned with soft GCE focusing on individual attitude change, while only 3% addressed critical elements concerning structural inequality, all appearing within the socio-emotional domain as value judgments about prejudice and discrimination. Qualitative analysis identified three layers of cultural understanding: superficial, interactive, and reflective. Despite lacking explicit ‘global citizenship’ terminology, core GCE components—multiple identities, interdependence, and community consciousness—were developmentally appropriate, establishing foundations for upper-grade global issues learning. The findings demonstrate how emotional and value-based GCE foundations form in lower elementary grades and highlight the need to strengthen behavioral dimensions and introduce preliminary critical thinking in future curriculum development.