GCP Curriculum & Metro

The basis for the Global Citizenship Programme at Rysensteen Gymnasium

Rysensteen Gymnasium’s underlying values since the 1990s have been democratic, both in the classroom and in the school’s culture in general. Students have always had a say in many decisions. They have participated in the formation of evaluations, and have often taken responsibility for the planning of the school’s activities and events.

Both the democratic culture and the high academic level, which is another characteristic of the school, did earlier have an international perspective through student participation in, fx,MEP (Model European Parliament) and MUN (Model United Nations) as a way to implement the Danish Ministry for Education’s paragraph 1.5 of the national high-school curriculum for STX (gymnasium), which states that:

“Students should… acquire the prerequisites for active participation in a democratic society and an understanding of the possibilities for individually and collectively, to contribute to the development and change, and understanding of both the local, the European and global perspective”

But the initiatives were individualiised and not part of a fully structured programme, until Rysensteen in 2011 chose to approach the implementation of the paragraph in a much more ambitious and structured way – through the introduction of the Global Citizenship Programme

The Global Citizenship Programme, or just GCP, provides a framework in which the school’s students can broaden their understanding of the challenges that exist in educating and developing oneself in a globalized world, and where the local, the regional and the global meet, with all the dilemmas and demands on cultural understanding that this creates. The GCP should be understood as a providing a perspective to the students’ education within subjects that they already receive during their 3 years at gymnasium.

The programme is adjusted according to the students’ course of study. However, it also involves projects, to which all classes are introduced, where students gain an understanding of the implicit educational perspectives and values, which are characteristic for and particular to Danish culture.

Read the Curriculum for Global Citizenship Programme here.

Read our international folder here.

The clickable GCP-Metro

The GCP-Metro is a graphic presentation of how the students meet the Global Citizenship Programme and acquire their Global Citizenship throughout their time at Rysensteen Gymnasium - through both curricular, cross-curricular and extra-curricular activities.

Click on the different "stops" on the GCP-Metro to learn more about each specific course.

Or hover the mouse over the different "stops" to read a sample of the course.

The goal of the entire GCP-project is to develop an understanding of global citizenship within the students. As the final step in the students' education as a global citizen, they will have a concluding reflective and evaluative conversation. Example of GCP-course - social studies: All 3rd year social studies-students go through a course on international politics. Here the students will use the competencies they have developed through their GCP-courses to explore global challenges in their destination. The fourth and final course about cultural understanding directly prepares the students for the GCP-trip to their partner-country in their 3rd year. Example of GCP-course - classical studies: Through analyses of antique sculptures, we examine the white colour's significance for the western self-perception. During the autumn of their second and third year, students have the option to do an internship outside of school In the voluntary projects students work on enhancing their social engagement through participation in voluntary work. Example of GCP-course - classical studies: Through analyses of antique sculptures, we examine the white colour's significance for the western self-perception. In the innovation-course students will be developing an innovative solution to one or several of the issues related to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Rys-MUN (Modul United Nations) is a simulation game of the UN's General Assembly. In the global trends-course students will work across different subjects with a global issue. In the voluntary projects students work on enhancing their social engagement through participation in voluntary work. On the Science-day students work with relevant scientific topics in a global perspective. Example of GCP-course - Danish: In relation to the course on the Romantic Movement, the 2nd year students work with the concept of "danishness". In the third course about cultural understanding students will be working with meetings of cultures through their second foreign language Example of GCP-course - Danish: In relation to the course on the Romantic Movement, the 2nd year students work with the concept of "danishness". Example of GCP-course - Danish: In relation to the course on the Romantic Movement, the 2nd year students work with the concept of "danishness". In the second course about cultural understanding students will be working with ethical questions as a part of the global citizenship. In the innovation-course students will be developing an innovative solution to one or several of the issues related to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Example of GCP-course - history: All 1st year students work with the evolution of the concept of "citizenship" from Ancient Greece until today. In the course on perceptions of human nature students will work across subjects with different notions of what it means to be human. In the global health course students will work in both social studies and PE. In the voluntary projects students work on enhancing their social engagement through participation in voluntary work. In the destination studies-course students will get a taste of how the different subjects work with GCP. In the first course about cultural understanding we will focus on the students' own cultural starting-point. Example of GCP-course - chemistry: All 1st year chemistry students work with vegetable oil as a case and examine the issues linked with vegetable oil. Example of GCP-course - physics: All 1st year physics students work with sustainable energy as a case and examine they can save energy themselves. Here students receive a general introduction to the UN, the sustainable development goals and the structure of the UN. The basic course in natural sciences is the high school's introduction to the scientific subjects and work-methods. In addition to the many GCP-projects students will also meet GCP in the individual subjects' curricula. Students will also meet GCP in several extra-curricular activities. This means that the project is not in natural continuation of the subjects and their methods, but rather directs itself towards a larger focus. In the cross-curricular activities students will be working with multiple subjects at a time. Global perspective means that students gain insight into the relations of natural foundations, climate, history, politics, economy and social groups in the world in general and especially in the partner-country of their class. Values & behaviour refers to the ability to, not only know and be able to analyse something, but also develop a feeling of responsibility over great, global questions as well as small, local questions. During the course of a student's time at Rysensteen Gymnasium they will develop their self-reflection, meaning that they will gain a better understanding of themself as a human, a citizen, a consumer etc.