Your Name and Title: Noble Kelly, President of EBB
School or Organization Name: Education Beyond Borders
Co-Presenter Name(s): various (panel style)
Area of the World from Which You Will Present: Canada
Language in Which You Will Present: English
Target Audience(s): Educators, Policy makers
Short Session Description (one line):
Learn about the work of EBB and their peer-led professional development model in developing countries. Also let's discuss creating a school attitude/policy towards a cross-curricular approach to global education.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
As educators, we are entrusted with the task of developing global citizens. In this new century there is a need for new curriculum, policy and attitude to help create these “global citizens”. In the developed world where a majority of its citizens have access to resources, infrastructure and technology to communicate and travel worldwide, the definition of “globalization” may seem obvious. But what about a nation that has no comparable access? The term ‘global citizen’ is most likely not part of their vocabulary. Knowing that other countries, landscapes, people, and cultures exist is one thing—being able to interact with them is another. Global education is as much about the audience as it is about the content. Global education becomes static, limited to surfing the Internet as opposed to first‐hand dialogue or classroom discussions, even though the technology exists to facilitate the latter. And how “global” are we if we limit our reach to only our classroom or a few other developed regions and we do not have the interaction with more developing nations on a regular basis? As educators, no matter where we live, we have a few key responsibilities. We must not only teach the usual academics but also be role models for and nurture our students to be able to communicate, collaborate and cohabitate with the world’s citizens. As participants of this conference we already infuse global perspectives in our subject areas or want to. Part of the mission of this conference is to also spur each other to take action; in this case advocating for integration of global projects, references and collaborations (from “I” to “We”) across all curricula. It is in this way we can address global issues and prepare the next generations for the interconnectedness of globalization. In other words, how to: work towards solutions, build global relations that will disprove cultural myths and stereotypes, and once and for all break down the borders and lack of access that prevent us from speaking with a truly global voice. This panel session of participants and educators from around the world will discuss the importance of global collaborations and the need for school policy for the full integration of global references and perspectives in all subject areas and what steps are needed to achieve this.
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session: www.educationbeyondborders.org
Replies