Idealtipi per una definizione empirica di educazione alla cittadinanza globale

This article proposes a new analytical tool to navigate the complexity of Global Citizenship Education (GCE) by providing an empirically grounded analytical frame- work organized around ideal types and keywords. Over the last decade, the GCE approach, strongly advocated by international organizations, particularly UNESCO, has significantly influenced educational policies and practices worldwide. In Italy, measures have also been introduced to implement GCE in both formal and non-formal education, beginning with the adoption of the Italian Strategy for Global Citizenship Education. However, despite the adoption of policies and growing academic interest, the term itself and its theoretical elaboration remain marked by definitional indeterminacy and conceptual ambiguity, as highlighted by numerous studies. The lack of a unified definition of GCE poses a challenge not only for academic research but also for practitioners and policymakers tasked with trans- lating this approach into activities and policies. This contribution proposes an analytical compass to navigate the field, based on four ideal types of GCE. These not only offer concep- tual clarity to facilitate theoretical positioning but also serve as a useful tool for analyzing policy documents and designing educational programs.