The North-South Centre promotes global education as an interdisciplinary approach where human rights, democratic citizenship and intercultural dialogue represent its main elements and where global education is intended as a dynamic concept evolving according to the contemporary political, economic, social, cultural and environmental developments and challenges of the global society. In this sense, it is particularly relevant to mention the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), not only because they are the main international reference framework linking human rights with sustainable development, but also because SDG 4 – Quality Education, in its target 4.7, mentions specifically that “by 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development^[1]”, applying as main indicator the “extent to which global citizenship education and education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in national education policies; curricula; teacher education and student assessment.”

Global educators emphasise that global education is a pedagogical approach, not just a new teaching technique, and they usually designate the fields of peace education, human rights education, development education and environmental education as the four content areas of Global Education - transversal among many teaching subjects. This is partially true but not enough for defining such a wide and complex perspective. Global Education is a paradigm, a starting point for understanding world issues and how they can be interconnected. Global education explores the four pillars of education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be. The challenge is to focus on the concept of community, which embraces local, national, regional and international contexts where individuals live in and share a common destiny, rather than restricting to the concept of the nation-state. This involves issues relating to rights and duties, and notions of equality, diversity and social justice. There is a growing concern to include global issues in formal education curricula, with an increasing range of initiatives in intercultural education, peace and conflict resolution education, gender education, environmental education, development education, aboriginal studies, inter-religious education and pastoral care, and human rights education.

Broadly based global themes and educational attempts for addressing worldwide problems and explore collective solutions at all levels have been introduced and extensively experimented in non-formal education settings, influencing contemporary movements for curriculum innovation. However, global education is not yet reflected in consistent and accessible educational policies, though it is part of the political discourse, through covenants, declarations and campaigns promoted by international organisations and civil society increased commitment.