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Despite what many may believe, a discussion of global education does not, and should not revolve around what happens within a Social Studies classroom. True, Social Studies does perhaps lend itself more easily to the tenants of global education, but the reality is that global education is interdisciplinary. Certainly, the skills learned in school must be transferable from one job to another, and thus should be the knowledge base.
Students enter a real world shaded different hues of grey with plenty of blurred lines and overlap, not a neat world where math stays in math class and history stays in history class. Many of the curriculums designed for a global education try to facilitate a contextual understanding of this confusing overlap, in addition to skill-based knowledge.
In some cases, these curriculums are designed by non-profits or educational management companies and are internationally touted. In other cases, individual schools are working to create their own global education curriculum.
The International Baccalaureate Curriculum
The International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum is a world renowned program that involves more than 3,290 schools, 962,000 students, teachers, parents, and personnel in 141 countries.33 A non-for-profit, the IB mission is to:
Develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. . .These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.34
In 2006, IB launched a community theme project to engage members of its school community around the globe. The theme of “Sharing our Humanity” is used as a way for IB schools to share current and inspire future initiatives around the topics of global poverty, peace and conflict, education for all, global infectious diseases, the digital divide, and disasters and emergencies. Through its community theme project website, IB has linked students, teachers, and parents in a dialogue centered around real-world problems that are challenging the humankind at both a local and international level.
Beyond such innovative projects, the core of the IB curriculum is its three programs of study for students between ages 3 to 19. Developed by the International Schools Curriculum Project, the rigorous IB curriculum delivers a global education, or as referred to by IB an “international education,” through some of the following criteria:
- developing citizens of the world in relation to culture, language and learning to live together
- fostering students’ recognition and development of universal human values
- equipping students with the skills to learn and acquire knowledge, individually or collaboratively, and to apply these skills and knowledge accordingly across a broad range of areas
- providing international content while responding to local requirements and interests
- encouraging diversity and flexibility in teaching methods
- providing forms of assessment and international benchmarking
Comparing the criteria of the IB curriculum with the goals of global education, it is of little wonder why many look to IB as a yardstick in creating global citizens and a 21st century workforce. Schools are increasingly looking to incorporate the IB curriculum, or at least components of it, into their own teachings.
Expansion of IB Curriculum and IB Schools
With thousands of IB schools around the world, students studying the IB curriculum have access to a truly international educational network. This is demonstrated by schools located in even some of the most remote areas of the world.
The International School of Ulaanbataar (ISU) in Mongolia provides an example of the geographic reach of IB in fostering global education. Located in one of the world’s most isolated capital cities with a population of only 800,000 people, ISU has offered all three IB programs since 2002. In addition to activities such as the Model United Nations, the school also promotes community service projects and work with international non-governmental organizations at the local level.
Before his last term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair offered a plan to dramatically expand the IB program within the UK. Although his plan did not come to fruition before leaving office in 2007, the number of schools teaching IB in the UK is expected to double in next two years.35
Critics of International Baccalaureate
While many would agree that the IB program prepares its students to compete in a global economy, it is not without critics. Some have argued that the IB curriculum, originally created so that the children of diplomats could earn a degree that would be internationally recognized, is accessible to an elite group of students.
Others contend that programs such as the IB “create potential dissonance by the importation of international education programmes, which have been developed in particular areas of the world and are consequently infused with culturally specific pedagogical expectations, to other regions of the world where different economic, political and cultural conditions exist.”36 Barry Drake, head of the Secondary Leadership Team at the Chinese International School in Hong Kong, argues that while the goals of the IB are commendable, it is in fact disseminating a western model of education that may be the equivalent of educational imperialism on non-western societies.
At the same time, there are staunch American critics of IB. Many of these critics have ideological reasons for not supporting IB and would mostly identify themselves within the conservative right of the political spectrum. Some of their criticisms speak out against IB endorsement of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the promotion of global citizenship.37
Public School Initiative to provide a Global Education: John Stanford International School
The John Stanford International School in Seattle, Washington is a public elementary school that provides an innovative global curriculum that includes a dual-language immersion program. Founded in 2000, this elementary school conducts its math and science classes in Spanish or Japanese. In addition to language immersion, the school provides an exemplary model of a global curriculum that also integrates the arts and technology.38
Video from Edutopia.com on John Stanford International School from this website:
http://www.edutopia.org/john-stanford-international-school-video
In addition to language immersion, the school provides students the opportunity for international experience through its partnership with a primary school in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. Throughout the year, students and parents raise money to help this school with supplies and other needed resources. Once a year during their winter break, students can travel to Mexico for a weeklong trip to volunteer and attend this school. Students are not only completely immersed in the language, but also the culture and a global experience to broader their perspective.39
33 http://www.ibo.org/facts/fastfacts/index.cfm
34 http://www.ibo.org/mission/
35 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/why-parents-need-to-prepare-for-the-international-baccalaureate-1788275.html
36 Drake, Barry. “International education and IB programmes: Worldwide expansion and potential cultural dissonance.” Journal of Research in International Education.
37 Quist, Allen. http://www.edwatch.org/updates06/040706-IBaq.htm
39 World Class Education DVD, Asia Society
* Picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/felibrilu/4192010216/