A MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
“The source of America's prosperity has never been merely how ably we accumulate wealth, but how well we educate our people. This has never been more true than it is today. In a 21st-century world where jobs can be shipped wherever there's an Internet connection, where a child born in Dallas is now competing with a child in New Delhi, where your best job qualification is not what you do, but what you know—education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success, it's a prerequisite for success.
“Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for. In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity—it is a prerequisite.
“The world is changing rapidly. American students need to graduate from school not only ready for college, but globally competent. We must prepare the rising generation to connect, compete and cooperate with their peers around the world.
“This is a prescription for economic decline, because we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow.” —President Barack Obama
A GLOBAL EDUCATED STUDENT CAN:
Investigate the World
- Generate and explain the significance of locally, regionally or globally focused researchable questions.
- Identify, collect and analyze the knowledge and evidence required to answer questions using a variety of international sources, media and languages.
- Weigh, integrate and synthesize evidence collected to construct coherent responses that is appropriate to the context of issues or problems.
- Develop an argument based on compelling evidence that considers multiple perspectives and draws defensible conclusions.
Recognize Perspectives
- Recognize and articulate one’s own perspective on situations, events, issues or phenomena and identify the influences on that perspective.
- Articulate and explain perspectives of other people, groups or schools of thought and identify the influences on those perspectives.
- Explain how the interaction of ideas across cultures influences the development of knowledge and situations, events, issues or phenomena.
- Articulate how the consequences of differential access to knowledge, technology and resources affect the quality of life and influences perspectives.
Communicate Ideas
- Recognize that diverse audiences may perceive different meanings from the same information.
- Use appropriate language, behavior and strategies to effectively communicate, both verbally and non-verbally, with diverse audiences.
- Explain how effective communication impacts understanding and collaboration in an interdependent world.
- Select and effectively use appropriate technology and media to communicate with diverse audiences.
Take Action
- Recognize one’s capacity to advocate for and contribute to improvement locally, regionally, or globally.
- Identify opportunities for personal and collaborative action to address situations, events, issues or phenomena in ways which can make a difference.
- Assess options for action based on evidence and the potential for impact, taking into account varied perspectives and potential consequences for others.
- Act creatively and innovatively to contribute to improvement locally, regionally or globally both personally and collaboratively.
SUBJECT AREAS OF GLOBAL EDUCATION
- Economic Systems—comparative economic systems, international trade, foreign aid, needs of the developing world
- Political Systems— International Structures/Institutions/Actors/Procedures Cultural Systems/Global
- Belief Systems— Ideologies/Religions/ Philosophies
- Human Rights and Social Justice/ Human Needs and Quality of Life
- Planet Management— Resources/Energy/Environment
- Population— Demographic Growth/Patterns/Movements/Trends
- Race and Ethnicity— Human Commonality and Diversity
- Technology Revolution— Science/Technology/Communications,
- Sustainable Development— Political/Economic/Social
- Conflict and Its Control— Peace Studies, Conflict Resolution
GLOBAL EDUCATION AS TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING PROCESS
Global education is about implementing the vision required to move to a model of partnership between peoples, cultures and religions at micro and macro levels. Transformative learning through global education involves a deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thoughts, feelings and actions. It is an education for the mind as well as for the heart. This implies a radical change towards interconnectedness and creates possibilities for achieving more equality, social justice, understanding and cooperation amongst peoples.
Three main stages of transformative learning are strongly linked to global education:
• An analysis of the present world situation
• A vision of what alternatives to dominant models might look like
• A process of change towards responsible global citizenship
Global education can contribute to the visioning process, but it can also play a role in the creation of new methods where social movements and non-formal learning processes are essential as they make room for values, issues and approaches not central to formal learning and give voice to all people, including the marginalized ones. By shifting the focus onto the transformation from a culture of reproduction and dominance to one of partnership based on dialogue and cooperation, global education modifies established global economy rules by restoring human dignity as a central value.
GLOBAL LEARNING DEFINITIONS AND OPINIONS
The Maastricht Global Education Declaration (2002) states:
"Global education is education that opens people’s eyes and minds to the realities of the globalized world and awakens them to bring about a world of greater justice, equity and Human Rights for all.
“Global Education is understood to encompass Development Education, Human Rights Education, Education for Sustainability, Education for Peace and Conflict Prevention, Intercultural Education, and Education for Citizenship.
"Global education is essential for all citizens to acquire the knowledge and skills to understand, participate in and interact critically with our global society, as empowered global citizens.”
Pennsylvania International Education Council:
“International Education seeks to promote both global literacy (how to understand) and global competency (how to interact).”
NJ Dept. of Education
“Global Awareness: The recognition and understanding of interrelationships among international organizations, nation-states, public and private economic entities, socio-cultural groups, and individuals across the globe.”
Sauvé, Lucie, 1997, For an Environmental Education, Guerin, p. 67:
"Global education is based on the principles of universality, plurality and diversity. It adopts a systemic approach to complex realities. It fits into a perspective both historical and global in scope. It seeks a better understanding of interrelated systems: physical, biological, social, economic, political and informational. It pays special attention to the various cosmovisions, cultures and civilizations. It proposes the development of skills related to civic education and it aims at strengthening of genuine democracy in order to develop responsible actions in the public domain. In short, for a global world, where there is a global community, we need to developing a global citizenship, marked by of global responsibility."
Medard Gabel, Global Education 101:
“Global education is education about the globe where the world is the unit of analysis. It takes a systems view of the whole Earth. It focuses on connections, patterns, and systems. It deals with global issues, problems, trends, resources, history; and it deals with local, regional and national culture, music, languages, literature, and history in a global context. It is integrative, cross-disciplinary and has an ethical vision of the world.
"Global education includes learning languages, global history, geography, current events, science, service learning, problem/project based learning and social justice. From one perspective, it can be seen as an outgrowth from and a convergence of multiculturalism, environmental sustainability, service learning and social and economic justice.
"Global education is all about global awareness and perspective.”
ARTCILES RELATED TO GLOBAL EDUCATION
Various international documents are related to the development of the concept of global education. We have listed some of them because each, in its own way, focuses and enriches this approach:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Educating shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations,racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
Article 26, United Nations, General Conference, San Francisco, 10 December 1948. www.un.org/education
Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect forhuman rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations,racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
UNESCO, General Conference, Paris, 19 November 1974
www.unesco.org/education
Agenda 21, Chapter 36: Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training
Education, including formal education, public awareness and training should be recognized as a process by which human beings and societies can reach their fullest potential. Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues.
United Nations Conference on Environment &. Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3 to 14 June 1992
www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents
UNESCO - Declaration and Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy. Paris 1995
Introduction: Education has to develop the capacity of appreciation of the value of freedom and the capacities needed for facing the challenges associated to it. This means to educate citizens for resolving difficult and uncertain situations, to build in them aptitudes for autonomy and individual responsibility. This is linked with the appreciation of the value of civic involvement and the capacity of association with other persons for resolving problems and for working towards the building of an equitable, peaceful and democratic society.
UNESCO, General Conference, Paris, November 1995
www.unesco.org/education
United Nations Millennium Declaration, 2000, Chapter: Values and principles
We belief that the central challenge we face today is to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for the world’s people. While globalization offers great opportunities, at present its benefits are very unevenly shared, while its costs are unevenly distributed. We recognize that developing countries and countries with economies in transition face special difficulties in responding to this central challenge. Thus, only through broad and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based upon our common humanity in all its diversity, can globalization be made fully inclusive and equitable.
Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, New York, 8 September 2000
www.un.org/millenniumgoals
United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014
The basic vision of Education for Sustainable Development is a world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from education and learn the values, behavior and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation.
United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, International Implementation Scheme, January 2005
www.unesco.org/education
Sources: Asia Society, "What is Global Competence" & http://www.iuventum.org/download/GE.pdf
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