By Russell Peagram
Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Learning and Teaching blog. I wanted to share some research that reflects a good deal of the international experience I have gained in education about Global Citizenship in Education (GCE). I found an article about the Global Citizenship Compass written by Nicolas Palmer and published by researchgate.
Objective: Can schools implement COMPASS as a framework for further developing Global Citizenship in Education?
Summary:
The author sets the scene for the global need for a framework citing Article 4.7 of the UNs Sustainable Development Goals. Further to this, the author reminds us that UNESCO explained in 2012 that “The world faces global challenges that require global solutions. It is not enough for education to produce individuals who can read, write and count. Education must be transformative and bring shared values to life. It must cultivate care for the world and for those whom share it.”
The author conducted research into schools for a six-month period interviewing staff, students, parents, and support staff about their understanding of what Global Citizenship is and how they are developing future global citizens.
Conclusions of the study:
Staff can be confused as to what Global Citizenship in Education should and could look like in the curriculum and, in general, “school life” for students and staff.
To develop better GCE, schools can follow the newly developed COMPASS model to improve the development of Global Citizenship.
Co-Creation: All stakeholders can be given the chance to talk about what Global Citizenship means in their school, subjects areas and classrooms.
Orientation: Explore what unique perspectives the student body can bring to the school.
Mapping: Evidence of Global Citizenship can be mapped from the written curriculum and the school can identify learning opportunities that can be improved.
Pathfinding: The school can promote and develop activities that promote international mindedness at the school and in the classroom that are practical, and students can engage in.
Allocentrism: The school and teachers can look for opportunities to make global connections with organisations, schools, and events from around the world.
Substantiating: Global Citizenship can be evidenced in the future from students and staff who can discuss and debate issues from multiple global value systems with confidence.
Sustaining: Schools can continue the development of GCE which may change over time.
How does this impact me and my practice?
How am I currently supporting global citizenship in my classes by exploring the unique attributes of my students?
Do I allow time to frame globally minded questions in class to allow students to think about and explore global problems and solutions?
What elements of global citizenship can work well with my subject(s)?
Are elements of global citizenship explored within the written curriculum and are there some opportunities to really develop some learning activities.
Do I have any opportunities to connect with other schools to widen the scope for students to make more global connections in their learning.
Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!
Thank you so much for this post, Russell, and welcome to the T&L blog. This is such an important aspect of why WA adopted the IB programmes in its sixth form from the very beginning. The COMPASS framework is one that might very usefully contribute to our programmatic development. As always, an important consideration is how might it support our curriculum (or ECA) without making the curriculum too crowded and without being a disconnected add-on? An interesting discussion to have with Ruhina, I'm sure...
ReplyDelete