People

=Globalization and Curriculum- The People...=

WHO is responsible for bringing Global Education to our classrooms?
//**“What we do affects others, and the actions of others affects us.”**// (Stewart, 2010). Nothing could be truer when discussing the “who” questions of globalization and curriculum. Globalization affects all of us, making it a key element to include in any curriculum reform whether we are planning to prepare our students for their contemporary life today or for their future. The need for global education has become paramount. Our classroom walls have opened up to the world through the porthole of the internet, social media and the news. Never before have our students been more connected to the issues of the world and never before has the issues of the world made such an impact on their daily lives. How can we prepare our students for this highly global connectivity and need for global competence and more importantly, **who is responsible for making it happen?** CANADA: Our own Canadian government has been concerned with our country’s educational aptitude when it comes to global education since the rise of globalization in the past few decades. Two windows of thought appeared in the 1990s regarding Global Education in Canada; that of curriculum reform that focused on global economic competitiveness and the other on education for global competence (O’Sullivan, 1999). The business and economic institutions of Canada supported curriculum reform that focused on improving students’ skills related to the work place; math, science and technology to prepare for the globally competitive market whereas the CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) and the OTF (Ontario Teacher Federation) were more concerned about developing students’ awareness of global issues and global concepts of social justice, peace, human rights and the environment (O’Sullivan, 1999). Unfortunately, with changes in the parties ruling over the provincial government of Ontario, any chances for global education to make any strongholds in curriculum reform were easily dashed. PROVINCES: Once again with our provincial governments being responsible for initiating and implementing any radical curriculum changes, varying political agendas have made it difficult to make any true headway. Global Education has certainly been touch upon as it is not a new phenomenon in Canadian curriculum. The Social Studies curriculums across Canada have included world issues under various headings and outcome titles. However, these outcomes are seen at specific grade levels and for short units of study. Through our earlier discussions, it is clear that global education can no longer be looked at in such a narrowly framed window of instruction. It’s time to take things further and infuse global education into the outcomes we are already addressing as educators. TEACHERS: A committed group of secondary teachers in Ontario have been working to “find space within an increasingly prescriptive curriculum to treat global citizenship issues” (Schweisfurth, 2006, p.42). A research study funded by the Faculty Research Program of the Government of Canada based out of the University of Toronto studied six teachers who had been identified as progressive in their cross-curricular instruction of GCE (Global Citizenship Education). By following the Civics curriculum at the grade 10 level in Ontario, these “globally minded teachers” (p. 48) managed to infuse GCE into the standards based curriculum they were given in order “to promote a social justice and/or global citizenship agenda and influence young learners in these directions” (p.46). Eventually their commitment to global citizenship expanded to include other curriculums and extra-curricular activities such as raising awareness of different cultures through concerts, hosting street parties to promote fair trade coffee, putting environmental impact pamphlets on SUVs and running assemblies about the harm of landmines. Although these actions motivated many of the teachers surrounding them to make GCE a part of their instruction (or facilitation), more often it was the students themselves that were driven and interested in making a global difference. STUDENTS: Who else should have the largest impact on what they are learning... but the students themselves! Is this not the inquiry approach we are celebrating and adopting in education today? In my own experience, I have been blown away with the student driven initiatives that have exploded in our school division over the past several years, from global relief efforts for Haiti, Japan and Australia to playground equipment drives for schools in Africa. Nothing has moved me more than the work of Craig and Marc Kielburger and their commitment to Free the Children, an organization that inspires children to help other children around the world through education. Check out the video about Free the Children below...

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Reflective question:
 When we consider those responsible for teaching Global Education and making it a part of our curriculum today, who do you feel needs to be taking the reins? Is it a question of Federal responsibility, provincial curriculum developers, the inquiry units driven by the teachers or do we leave it in the hands of today's youth?

//Please post your comments using the DISCUSSION tab at the top of this page. After commenting, please learn forward by clicking on the link to our next page on// //Implications of Globalization//.

**References: ** Free the Children. (Producer). (2010). //Free the children// [online video]. Available from []

 O'Sullivan, B. (1999). Global change and educational reform in Ontario and Canada. Canadian Journal of Education. 24(3), 31-39. Retrieved from ProQuest Education database.

 Schweisfurth, M. (2006). Education for global citizenship: Teacher agency and curricular structure in Ontario schools. //Educational Review//. 58(1), 41-50. doi: 10.1080/00131910500352648

Stewart, V. (2010). A classroom as wide as the world. In H. Hayes Jacobs (Ed.), //Curriculum 21: Essential education for a changing world//. (pp.97-114). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.