Purpose: To analyse prospective teachers’ interest in global citizenship education (GCE) and the inclusion of GCE-related issues in a teaching programme in Italy.

Design/methodology/approach: Administration of an online questionnaire to pre-service teachers attending a course for becoming pre-primary and primary school teachers, and discussion of the main results.

Findings: Pre-service teachers are provided with basic discipline-related and pedagogical knowledge that is not directly linked to GCE but allows the implementation of GCE in their classrooms. Findings also suggest the influence on prospective teachers’ self-preparedness and confidence of the learning opportunities that occur in non-formal and informal contexts.

Research implications: There should be further analysis of the relations between GCE and students’ interests, their opportunities to learn about GCE, their degree of global engagement, and civic and citizenship education for the enhancement of pre-service training curricula.