Exploring the possibilities of extending the global dimension of DE in compulsory secondary education. A diagnostic study of Galician schools (2014-2015)

6 micro case studies were carried out in natural settings, from the perspective of the protagonists, through semi-structured narrative interviews –adapted to the profile of the informants–, with the aim of creating new knowledge (Kvale, 2011).

At least three key agents were interviewed at each center to provide contrasting visions:

(i) teachers involved in a GCE project developed in collaboration with the NGO Galician International Solidarity

(ii) school librarians, who usually organize school-wide projects

(iii) a member of the management team

All interviews were conducted in the school, to maintain the original context.

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Participants were guaranteed anonymity and the interviews were analyzed using the software Atlas.ti 7.1. Primary documents were first analyzed by inductively descriptive coding, then tags were assigned deductively to topics; the second level analysis was through memos that allowed an axial coding between categories and codes, which allowed us to interrelate recurring themes, key ideas and hypotheses.

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5 semi-structured narrative interviews were also conducted with international specialists selected for their relevance to identify strategies for including GCE in the curriculum, collaborative school-based methodologies, and teacher training needs. 
The interviewees were Douglas Bourn and Frances Hunt (DERC-University College London), Vanessa Andreotti (University of British Columbia), Rene Suša (Oulu  Universuty) and Alejandra Boni (Polytechnic University of Valencia). 
Subsequently, we held a discussion group with Vanessa Andreotti, UDC researchers, Galician International Solidarity staff, and teachers, to identify conditions that limit the implementation of GCE in schools, teacher motivations, training needs and the implications of introducing “subversive and anti-hegemonic discourses” (Serantes, Zapico, & DePalma, 2019: 124). 
In both cases, inductively emerging categories of analysis were used. The current policy framework in Galicia, Spain and the United Kingdom was taken as a reference (Digón, 2019).