The different educational environments that contextualize the social, political, and economic development of youth into global citizens are defined by level. The individual-level educational environment is the immediate context in which a young person is taught and learns. This can be the classroom, the family, the church or other institutionalized settings.
The school-level educational environment is the context characterized by the dominant school policies and community norms.
The national-level educational environment is the overall ideology and value placed on schooling and the purposes envisioned for schooling by policymakers who determine and make decisions about education and schooling at that level.
Although the goal of schooling as a national project is to enhance the overall development and status of a nation-state, the contribution of the educational environment at each level is important. Of particular importance to global citizenship development is the development of individual youth. The prevailing idea is that the whole is the sum of its parts. Individuals are the core ‘part’ of the larger community and even larger nation, so individual youth must be ‘developed’ to ultimately bring about national development