Global Awareness

Global 

  

            Education

The World Economic Forum ranks the United States 52nd in the quality of mathematics and science education, and 5th (and declining) in overall global competitiveness [v]

The United States ranks 27th in developed nations in the proportion of college students receiving undergraduate degrees in science or engineering [vi]

There are more foreign students studying in U.S. graduate schools than the number of U.S. students [vii] and over 2/3 of the engineers who receive Ph.D.’s from United States universities are not United States citizens [viii]

Global Performance Ratings in Reading, Math, and Science, click here…

Global education is an education perspective which arises from the fact that contemporary people live and interact in an increasingly globalized world.

This makes it crucial for education to give learners the opportunity and competences to reflect and share their own point of view and role within a global, interconnected society, as well as to understand and discuss complex relationships of common social, ecological, political and economic issues, so as to derive new ways of thinking and acting.

However, global education should not be presented as an approach that we may all accept uncritically, since we already know there are dilemmas, tensions, doubts and different perceptions in an education process when dealing with global issues.

There are many definitions of global education. 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 and Intercultural Education; being the global dimension of Education for Citizenship.

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.

Transformation 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 inter-connections and creates possibilities for achieving more equality, social justice, understanding and cooperation among peoples.

Three main stages of transformation 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 as transformative learning implies participatory decision-making processes at all these stages. The goal of this kind of learning is to foster mutual knowledge and collective self-awareness.

Global education challenges greed, inequality and egocentric interests through cooperation and solidarity instead of dividing people through competition, conflict, fear and hatred.

Global education as transformation learning offers a way to make changes at local levels to influence the global in the sense of building citizenship through participatory strategies and methods, so that people learn by taking responsibilities that cannot be left only to governments and other decision makers.

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.

Sounds ever so simple, 

doesn't it?