{"id":13009,"date":"2020-07-09T06:00:55","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T10:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/?p=13009"},"modified":"2020-07-08T11:52:31","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T15:52:31","slug":"derek-wenmoth-on-the-development-of-global-competencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/derek-wenmoth-on-the-development-of-global-competencies\/","title":{"rendered":"Derek Wenmoth on the Development of Global Competencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

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This post was originally published on Derek’s Blog<\/a> on July 4, 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n

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A new generation of students requires different skills from the generations that came before. The world is changing fast. Boundaries\u2014literal as well as figurative\u2014 are shifting and even disappearing altogether. The culture that once lived halfway around the world now lives just down the block. The ability to thrive in this new and rapidly changing environment is grounded in a globally focused curriculum.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

-Asia Society – Five Reasons Why Global Competence Matters<\/a><\/p>\n

The quote above is from the Asia Society\u00a0Global Competence<\/a>\u00a0website and is one of the five reasons they provide as to why global competencies matter. The significance of this came to mind this morning as I was speaking with a group of principals and teachers from NW Arkansas. This is a conversation I\u2019ve been a part of with them on a regular basis for some months now \u2013 the power of which is the deep sharing among and between the teachers in different parts of the state, and with one of the members in another state \u2013 plus me from New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The benefit for each of us in having the opportunity to speak in person, in real-time, with others in a completely different context, cannot be underestimated. The impact of what we hear and the depth of understanding that develops as we question each other and learn about each others\u2019 context is very powerful \u2013 and certainly adds a richness, depth, and clarity beyond anything we can gain from reading newspaper reports or TV articles.<\/p>\n

In our most recent discussions, we were sharing about the ways in which teachers and learners have been learning to use communications potential of the internet during the COVID-19 lockdown period \u2013 and how the value and potential of using these online tools and environments made it so much easier to traverse the limitations of place and time that we experience in the regular classroom. So now it is entirely possible and reasonable to expect that our learners might communicate directly with someone living in Hong Kong, for example, to understand in more profound ways just what the situation is like there for school-aged young people while there is so much civil unrest as portrayed on our media here.<\/p>\n

This ability to connect people from quite different contexts, different cultures, and different socio-political belief systems creates an exciting new way of developing levels of understanding and behaviors that may be described as Global Competence<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Global competence is the capacity to examine local, global and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others, to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being and sustainable development.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – PISA 2018 Global Competence<\/a><\/p>\n

Andreas Schleicher, Director of the Directorate for Education and Skills for the OECD, unpacks the four dimensions of the Global Competence framework in more detail in an article on educating our youth to care about each other and the world. In summary, he suggests that globally competent learners will have the skills and knowledge to:<\/p>\n