Being An Agent Of Change

“BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD” - M.K. Gandhi

The adage that we often get to hear and quote. Resonating with the thoughts of M.K. Gandhi, Fernando M. Reimers (2009) emphasizes that “ good educators know that the real world is ever more interconnected and interdependent.” (2009, para 1). While we share the global problems, we also share opportunities for global collaboration in areas such as scientific and artistic creation, trade, and international cooperation. Yet, there are only a few students around the world who have the opportunity today to become globally competent. And that is the sad truth.

How do we define global competency? Reimers (2009) defines “Global Competency as the knowledge and skills people need to understand today’s flat world and to integrate across disciplines so that they can comprehend global events and create possibilities to address them” (2009, para. 3). Mansilla & Jackson (2011) also agree with the same that “Global competence is the capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance” (2011, p. xiii). Let us then attempt to analyze ‘the need for global awareness as part of the essential 21st Century Skills’ and emphasize the characteristics of change-adept educators and educational institutions to meet current demands.

Image source: UNESCO.org

Reimers (2009) argues that “ Most recently, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills—an advocacy coalition of educators and business, community, and government leaders—has identified global awareness as one of the six core skills that all students need to acquire (along with information and communication skills; thinking and problem-solving skills; interpersonal and self-direction skills; financial, economic, and business literacy; and entrepreneurial and civic literacy). The partnership defines global awareness as the ability to understand global issues; learn from and work with people from diverse cultures; and understand the cultures of other nations, including the use of non-English languages.” (2009, para. 4). To understand global issues and understand cultures, an interdisciplinary outlook is required. Mansilla & Jackson (2011) also confirm that globally competent students understand the Earth as a system. They understand multiple local contexts and that can happen only when teaching and learning take place from an interdisciplinary point of view. Understanding the world requires an interdisciplinary outlook. There are four key features of an interdisciplinary understanding; it is purposeful, integrative, grounded in disciplines, and thoughtful. (Mansilla &Jackson, 2009. p.15). This would also require teachers to collaboratively plan and ideate on the big concepts. Lynn Erickson (2008) also advocates for integrative thinking through a concept-based curriculum, where the focus will be on big, transferable, universal ideas rather than mere content.

Mansilla & Jackson (2011) argue that issues of global significance and the 21st Century Skills that the learners have to inculcate would require an interdisciplinary approach rather than mere disciplinary grounding. “Students demonstrate interdisciplinary understanding when they integrate knowledge, methods, and languages from different disciplines to solve problems, create products, produce explanations, or ask novel questions about a topic of global significance in ways that would not be feasible through a single disciplinary lens” (2011, p. 13). It is essential for classrooms, teaching, and learning, and schools to promote global competence that pivots on “students’ ability to understand particular contexts, telling phenomena, and revealing transnational connections.” (2011, p. 16). By undertaking interdisciplinary work, students are able to reason cases with nuanced sophistication. They will be able to integrate multiple modes of thinking and sources of information critically to convey a personal stance on various issues that mar the world.

Teachers would need to adopt a more comprehensive and flexible worldview where they would need to collaborate with educators, resource personnel, and experts across disciplines and the world to give a more holistic dimension to teaching and learning. The need is more pressing than ever before.

References

Erickson, H. L. (2008). Stirring the head, heart, and soul: redefining curriculum, instruction, and concept-based learning. Corwin Press.

Iborganization. MYP interdisciplinary study. International Baccalaureate®. https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/curriculum/interdisciplinary/.

Mansilla, V., & Jackson, A. (2011). Educating for global competence. New York, NY: Asia Society. Retrieved from https://asiasociety.org/files/book-globalcompetence.pdf

Reimers, F. M. (2009). Leading for Global Competency. Leading for Global Competency - Educational Leadership. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept09/vol67/num01/Leading-for-Global-Competency.aspx.