Let us today take a look at global education in secondary schools from the perspective of British global educators.
In the U.K., the secondary curriculum includes the cross-cultural component, "Global Dimension and Sustainable Development." This dimension is organized around eight key concepts which apply to all the subjects in the secondary curriculum.
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP: The awareness that in today's world we are not only citizens of a nation, but also citizens of the world. This self-perception is at the core of today's global reality.
INTERDEPENDENCE: The awareness that human actions on one side of the planet impact other humans around the world. Whether we talk about food production, climate change or nuclear proliferation, we are all inter-connected and interdependent to a degree never before seen in the history of the planet. Unilateral, self-centered actions by short-sighted nation-states are not likely to advance the human prospects on the planet.
SOCIAL JUSTICE: As humans develop morally and ethically, we recognize that principles of social justice (such as those embraced by most major religious denominations) should define human behavior around the world. This is a key link between global education and religious beliefs. Too often, the members of religious denominations appear to ignore their own religious leaders' calls for justice and peace. Global educators should, within the scope of the curriculum, clearly identify such links and build on their implications.
HUMAN RIGHTS: The quest for human rights for all is a never-ending struggle. We now have in our possession the key document to advance such universal rights: the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document has been endorsed by practically all the nations of the world. While we can bemoan the wholesale lack of compliance around the planet, global educators should use it as a core document signifying our present best judgment of the rights of each and all humans; it is an indispensable document, and one of the hallmark achievements of humankind.
CONFLICT RESOLUTION: While destructive armed conflict was never a good thing in human history, the nature of present conflict -- exacerbated by the explosion of warfare technology -- makes it imperative that we develop alternative, effective means to resolve conflict. Reliance on international agreements and a supra-national legal apparatus with global reach and effective enforcement powers should in time replace the "cow boy" mentality of individual nation states. Much progress has already been made on the visualization and the conceptual framework that would support such legal structures, but progress lags in the implementation of the obvious necessary steps, largely due to the hesitation of the powerful countries of the planet.
DIVERSITY: Humans have an unending capacity for prejudice. Possibly stemming from our evolutionary past, we tend to distrust, demean and fear others who are not exactly like us. This attitude might have helped some human groups survive and procreate in our evolutionary past, but is today a key barrier to understanding and cooperation. The sciences, particularly biology and psychology, should take a leading role in explaining the "oneness" of humankind. Our oneness as human beings is overwhelmingly superior to the very minor attributes that by nature or nurture make us different. A global educator must combat the human tendency to feel superior to others and build on the foundations of science to ensure that our students embrace diversity and eschew prejudice and discrimination of all types.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Could there be any doubt about our descendant's amazement of our present passive acceptance of hunger, poverty, malnutrition, sickness, lack of education, and so many other socio-economic ills? Won't their reactions be similar to our own amazement at the evils that our ancestors accepted as normal? The statistics of under-development are so horrifying that we calmly face a daily silent holocaust. "Silent," because we do not want to think or talk about it -- but that should be the tell-tale indicator that our present situation is not acceptable under any ethical or moral code known to humankind. The complex problem of under-development must be understood and squarely faced by our students.
VALUES AND PERCEPTIONS: "We see what is behind our eyes," says an ancient Chinese proverb; we perceive what our mind tells us to perceive. The real world outside of our own minds must battle our expectations, preconceptions, schemas and conditioning before it can be accepted by our minds. The reality outside our minds must battle the desired reality within our minds before it can gain admission to our cognitive awareness. This is a battle often lost. Psychological foundations of perception, conditioning, cognition and critical thinking will help our students to understand the real world.
Our value systems create "macro-schemas" through which all perceived reality is "sifted." That which is not acceptable to our value system is rejected. Awareness of this peculiar human cognitive process should help our students come to terms with reality and human rationality (or lack thereof.)
Global educators should consider starting their courses with these considerations before moving on to other complex issues.
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Go to http://www.globaldimension.org.uk/ for much more of this valuable contribution from British global educators, including specific ways that you can introduce a global dimension into any subject that you teach. We would also like to invite educators from around the world to share other national perspectives and schemas of global education.
Showing posts with label global dimensions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global dimensions. Show all posts
September 7, 2009
August 17, 2009
WHAT MAKES IT GLOBAL? PART ll
In our last blog we introduced Robert Hanvey; let's now focus on what Hanvey called the 5 "Global Dimensions" that, if implemented in the classroom, will make our instruction "global."
(1) PERSPECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. Most people go through their entire lives holding beliefs and opinions that they have never questioned. Neither do they stop to reflect on the fact that those beliefs and opinions -- that collectively form their "worldviews" -- are indeed part of their own personal, cultural and historical perspective.
My perspective on global warming, human rights, or any other global issue reflects my cultural/ historical conditioning, my personal experiences, and even my personality structure. It may very well be a valid perspective; Hanvey nudges us to realize that, no matter how solid we feel our perspective is "the right one," it is still one perspective among many possible valid perspectives about reality that people can rationally and logically hold. He doesn't want us to renounce our perspective; he simply wants us to acknowledge that it is one among many.
This simple, commonsense cognitive step is surprisingly difficult for many people to take, for it requires a measure of intellectual humility that we often don't want to embrace. There is comfort in complete, dogmatic certitude. Acknowledging that my perspective is not the only universally valid one requires intellectual strength and a degree of personal security.
We have often heard that "there are 2 sides to every story," and most people will give lip service to that assertion. The trick is to allow ourselves to go from lip service to an honest emotional and intellectual acceptance of its deep significance. Based on my own personal experience, cultural conditioning, personality structure, etc., I can comfortably hold a certain opinion or value. Hanvey invites us to acknowledge that if I had a different personal experience, cultural conditioning, or personality structure, I might hold a different opinion or value and be just as convinced of its intrinsic validity -- as indeed, many people do.
We must acknowledge that reality is affected by the perceiver. My perception is likely to be different from that of others -- especially if those others come from a different culture and a different historical context. This simple realization is at the core of the ability to become "globally aware." Without it, nothing else is possible. Intellectual humility and a strong logical foundation will enable us to open ourselves to the complex global reality.
(2) STATE OF THE PLANET AWARENESS. Sadly, in many societies and cultures around the world, the average person simply does not know what is happening on the planet; people live in their own personal, local, or national cocoons, insulated from the real world. Such individuals cannot be global citizens. We need to be acutely aware of what is happening in our global village -- particularly in our time, when events in one side of the world affect the entire planet.
Along with the many opportunities that our present reality brings us, we have very significant issues and problems that we must face and conquer, or risk a very uncertain future. These issues and problems are never simple; they offer very complex, intertwined and difficult challenges. Whether we talk about climate change, nuclear proliferation, threats to human rights, or any of the many significant challenges that we face today as a human species, we must become aware of what is happening in our neighborhood -- planet earth.
We ignore our problems at our great peril. Ignorance or passivity are likely to lead to disaster. If the majority of humans do not appear interested in becoming educated about our present challenges, those who do become the leaders of future humanity. Knowledge is, indeed, power. As our students acquire the basic knowledge to identify and define the major issues faced by humanity, they will also be building their leadership curriculum vitae and placing themselves in a position for future global leadership.
Naturally, as we set-out to learn about the very significant issues that we must face, Hanvey's earlier words about "perspective consciousness" must come to the fore. Without perspective consciousness, our attempts to understand our global issues is doomed to failure.
In our next blog we will continue to review Hanvey's list of 5 "global dimensions." Until soon, then.
(1) PERSPECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS. Most people go through their entire lives holding beliefs and opinions that they have never questioned. Neither do they stop to reflect on the fact that those beliefs and opinions -- that collectively form their "worldviews" -- are indeed part of their own personal, cultural and historical perspective.
My perspective on global warming, human rights, or any other global issue reflects my cultural/ historical conditioning, my personal experiences, and even my personality structure. It may very well be a valid perspective; Hanvey nudges us to realize that, no matter how solid we feel our perspective is "the right one," it is still one perspective among many possible valid perspectives about reality that people can rationally and logically hold. He doesn't want us to renounce our perspective; he simply wants us to acknowledge that it is one among many.
This simple, commonsense cognitive step is surprisingly difficult for many people to take, for it requires a measure of intellectual humility that we often don't want to embrace. There is comfort in complete, dogmatic certitude. Acknowledging that my perspective is not the only universally valid one requires intellectual strength and a degree of personal security.
We have often heard that "there are 2 sides to every story," and most people will give lip service to that assertion. The trick is to allow ourselves to go from lip service to an honest emotional and intellectual acceptance of its deep significance. Based on my own personal experience, cultural conditioning, personality structure, etc., I can comfortably hold a certain opinion or value. Hanvey invites us to acknowledge that if I had a different personal experience, cultural conditioning, or personality structure, I might hold a different opinion or value and be just as convinced of its intrinsic validity -- as indeed, many people do.
We must acknowledge that reality is affected by the perceiver. My perception is likely to be different from that of others -- especially if those others come from a different culture and a different historical context. This simple realization is at the core of the ability to become "globally aware." Without it, nothing else is possible. Intellectual humility and a strong logical foundation will enable us to open ourselves to the complex global reality.
(2) STATE OF THE PLANET AWARENESS. Sadly, in many societies and cultures around the world, the average person simply does not know what is happening on the planet; people live in their own personal, local, or national cocoons, insulated from the real world. Such individuals cannot be global citizens. We need to be acutely aware of what is happening in our global village -- particularly in our time, when events in one side of the world affect the entire planet.
Along with the many opportunities that our present reality brings us, we have very significant issues and problems that we must face and conquer, or risk a very uncertain future. These issues and problems are never simple; they offer very complex, intertwined and difficult challenges. Whether we talk about climate change, nuclear proliferation, threats to human rights, or any of the many significant challenges that we face today as a human species, we must become aware of what is happening in our neighborhood -- planet earth.
We ignore our problems at our great peril. Ignorance or passivity are likely to lead to disaster. If the majority of humans do not appear interested in becoming educated about our present challenges, those who do become the leaders of future humanity. Knowledge is, indeed, power. As our students acquire the basic knowledge to identify and define the major issues faced by humanity, they will also be building their leadership curriculum vitae and placing themselves in a position for future global leadership.
Naturally, as we set-out to learn about the very significant issues that we must face, Hanvey's earlier words about "perspective consciousness" must come to the fore. Without perspective consciousness, our attempts to understand our global issues is doomed to failure.
In our next blog we will continue to review Hanvey's list of 5 "global dimensions." Until soon, then.
August 9, 2009
WHAT MAKES IT GLOBAL ? PART l
As the global consciousness of teachers (and students) increases in response to planetary realities, more and more teachers are becoming de facto global teachers -- often without using that particular label. They are doing so as a response to the obvious educational needs of our students. Many of these global teachers wish for a clear template to apply to their classroom. When is our teaching "global"? What makes it so?
In the next three posts, we will attempt to provide some guidelines that will confirm to ourselves that our teaching is indeed "global." We will seek 3 different approaches to determining what makes our instruction global: (1) "Instinctive" globality; (2) Robert Hanvey's five dimensions of global understanding; and (3) the global dimensions that guide teaching for global awareness in the UK.
Many teachers, particularly older teachers who went to college before global education became fully established, simply follow what a colleague has called the "instinctive" approach to global awareness (here the term "instinctive" is used in its "spontaneous," or "visceral" meaning, rather than in its narrower psychological meaning.). "Instinctive" global teachers implement global education by using a comprehensive philosophical outlook to inform their pedagogical decisions. Often motivated by thoughtful internationalism or humanism, they arrive at common sense decisions about the educational needs of their students and apply them to classroom instruction using usually self-developed ways and means. They were global teachers before they adopted the term "global."
These teachers are guided by strong guiding principles and beliefs, such as, "we are all equal members of one common humanity," or "there is more that unites us than separates us as human beings," or "we should advance humanistic attitudes in our teaching," or "prejudice is not a rational or acceptable way of dealing with others who are different from us." Instinctive global teachers normally are surprisingly effective, since they have typically arrived at the global dimensions of education on the strength of their own convictions -- often relying on powerful self-reflection, logic, and a thoughtful analysis of our planetary reality. In the classroom, they employ the same tools of every successful teacher, simply adding a thoughtful question, an incisive comment, or a key global insight as they cover the required material.
Teachers more formally grounded on the conceptual frameworks of global education may occasionally underestimate these "self-made" or instinctive global teachers; that would be a serious mistake. The sincerity of their outlook and the power of their convictions most often make this group of teachers extremely effective. Yet, even these self-made global teachers can improve their effectiveness by adding a more structured conceptual framework to their teaching -- this is where Robert Hanvey comes in.
Just as we can perceive beauty in a painting or a piece of music, we can also perceive the beauty of clean, clear, and simple conceptual frameworks in the world of ideas. Robert Hanvey (1976) has given us one such approach. It is "beautiful" in its clarity, simplicity, and applicability to any classroom situation. Although many people have sought to revise, modify, or add to Hanvey's dimensions, they remain the single most powerful model of global education available to us. Hanvey maintains that there are 5 "dimensions" of global understanding. The implementation of any one of those dimensions at any moment in our teaching can make our instruction "global." They are not esoteric variables, but clear, simple guidelines that are easy to relate to.
In our next blog,we will focus on Robert Hanvey's dimensions. One day, history books will acknowledge the power of his inductive thinking and the enormous value of his contribution to education.
Until soon, then.
In the next three posts, we will attempt to provide some guidelines that will confirm to ourselves that our teaching is indeed "global." We will seek 3 different approaches to determining what makes our instruction global: (1) "Instinctive" globality; (2) Robert Hanvey's five dimensions of global understanding; and (3) the global dimensions that guide teaching for global awareness in the UK.
Many teachers, particularly older teachers who went to college before global education became fully established, simply follow what a colleague has called the "instinctive" approach to global awareness (here the term "instinctive" is used in its "spontaneous," or "visceral" meaning, rather than in its narrower psychological meaning.). "Instinctive" global teachers implement global education by using a comprehensive philosophical outlook to inform their pedagogical decisions. Often motivated by thoughtful internationalism or humanism, they arrive at common sense decisions about the educational needs of their students and apply them to classroom instruction using usually self-developed ways and means. They were global teachers before they adopted the term "global."
These teachers are guided by strong guiding principles and beliefs, such as, "we are all equal members of one common humanity," or "there is more that unites us than separates us as human beings," or "we should advance humanistic attitudes in our teaching," or "prejudice is not a rational or acceptable way of dealing with others who are different from us." Instinctive global teachers normally are surprisingly effective, since they have typically arrived at the global dimensions of education on the strength of their own convictions -- often relying on powerful self-reflection, logic, and a thoughtful analysis of our planetary reality. In the classroom, they employ the same tools of every successful teacher, simply adding a thoughtful question, an incisive comment, or a key global insight as they cover the required material.
Teachers more formally grounded on the conceptual frameworks of global education may occasionally underestimate these "self-made" or instinctive global teachers; that would be a serious mistake. The sincerity of their outlook and the power of their convictions most often make this group of teachers extremely effective. Yet, even these self-made global teachers can improve their effectiveness by adding a more structured conceptual framework to their teaching -- this is where Robert Hanvey comes in.
Just as we can perceive beauty in a painting or a piece of music, we can also perceive the beauty of clean, clear, and simple conceptual frameworks in the world of ideas. Robert Hanvey (1976) has given us one such approach. It is "beautiful" in its clarity, simplicity, and applicability to any classroom situation. Although many people have sought to revise, modify, or add to Hanvey's dimensions, they remain the single most powerful model of global education available to us. Hanvey maintains that there are 5 "dimensions" of global understanding. The implementation of any one of those dimensions at any moment in our teaching can make our instruction "global." They are not esoteric variables, but clear, simple guidelines that are easy to relate to.
In our next blog,we will focus on Robert Hanvey's dimensions. One day, history books will acknowledge the power of his inductive thinking and the enormous value of his contribution to education.
Until soon, then.
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