You’ll be surprised!
Those teachers who implement wide ranging global programmes are not influenced by their formal teaching programmes and curriculum influences but rather by these factors
Bethink Global offers a deeper understanding of global education through professional learning and is a support system in the amplification of teachers’ global perspective.
I recently met up with four freelancers at my first co-working breakfast.
Fr
om HR, L&D, the arts and education backgrounds, we introduced ourselves and got straight down to talk. Multi tasking whilst sending caffeine through our chilled bodies we working onour own and yet together. The chat centred round systems and processes and how workplace hierarchies and management affect organisation outcomes. Social learning and visibly shared thinking seemed to be the indicator of importance to each of our industries. To what extent did this and collaboration take place? Were desired outcomes instigated and produced by input from all or from leadership only? After photos, tweeting, new followers and the excitement that comes from hearing new perspectives over good coffee, we ventured out into the Melbourne winter, richer and wiser, ready to head back into our own domains.
How can sustainability enhance the learning areas in curricula?
My favourite picture storybook is The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley (Thank you Nuella.) You MUST read it. The message I took away was live simply so others can simple live. (Thank you Gandhi.)
A curriculum that has sustainable futures at its core will be a dynamic and value enriched program of learning. The ways in which we can meet our current needs without diminishing the environment or reducing the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs is what a sustainable future is about.
So as a learner and facilitator, I brainstormed all the concepts of a global curriculum centred around the functions of sustainability – cultural sustainability, economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and social sustainability …..so here goes…….needs and wants, human rights, politics, Millenium Development Goals, belief systems, value systems, gender equity, poverty reduction, global cooperation, interconnection, human well being, peace, resolving conflict, partnerships, trade, water, forests, natural hazards and disasters, biodiversity, food security, endangered species, energy, desertification, effects of climate and its change, trading fairly, education, identity, child Rights, Agriculture, ethical consumerism, migration, immigration, refugees, population, intercultural understanding, cultural diversity, connections to the past, indigenous culture, global health…… phwew!! And that’s just for starters.
Write down these learning areas- Civics and Citizenship, Geography, Science, History, Technologies, Maths, The Arts, English, Health and Phys Ed, Languages and Economics.
Now try and fit any one of the concepts above under just one learning area. Can’t choose? That’s because sustainability and global learning cross all areas of the curriculum. A rich curriculum has interconnected learning.
The best way to work out where you can work with these concepts in your curriculum is to do a concept map.
Take a look at your existing curriculum. Could you enhance it and open the eyes of your learners a little wider by including a concept around sustainability?
I have been reminded of the variation and importance of culture during a film festival I have been attending over the last 12 days. Some aspects of the cultures and values of others have been entirely new to me.
Cultures among people have developed over millenia in every corner of the world. The distinctions and nuances between people as they form groups to live, to work and to create have been the means by which we form values, understand the human form, learn from the past and inform the future. The diversity of a myriad of cultures underpins how individuals and groups and communities develop, grow and flourish.
Whilst I know and cherish the values and cultural influences on my life, why should I learn about the cultures of others? Cultural upbringing is an inherently important aspect of my identity; it is part of who I am. When I am proud and confident of who I am, I can understand why others might feel the same about themselves. The more we delve into intercultural understanding, the richer and stronger are the groups that make up our society.
Recognizing the importance of building human solidarity, our rich diversity, which is our collective strength should be used for constructive partnership for change and for the achievement of the common goal of sustainable development. (Johannesburg Declaration, 2002)
