How can we create learning environments in schools where students acquire the skills and information needed to thrive in today's interconnected world?

 

How can we create learning environments in schools where students acquire the skills and information needed to thrive in today's interconnected world?

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

The ability of today's students to think globally is essential for creativity in the twenty-first century. It is because students today live in a more interconnected world than ever before. The ongoing task for all educational leaders is to design schools that are tolerant, nurturing, and sensitive to the challenges of diversity and the wider world. The challenges schools face today are their response to diversity and other global issues. I feel that diversity in the school and understanding global issues are essential for national security, environmental sustainability, and economic development where the role of education and the school is considered vital (Jackson, 2022). For these reasons, students should be made competent locally and internationally.

 

Some of the changes we can make to school communities to foster the knowledge and skills required for thriving and learning in a globally interconnected environment include the following:

 

·      To help students become more competent, I believe that the school should instill in them the necessary knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and values. It should also address any global issues or cross-cultural circumstances that affect people, with greater implications for future generations (OECD, 2018). Given that the world is changing quickly, the school should push its teachers to use technology effectively in their regular lessons to incorporate cross-cultural knowledge and global awareness (VIF International Education, n.d.). Simultaneously, they should be engaged deliberately and responsibly to meet the challenges of today's changing world by constructing the curriculum and engaging in pedagogical exchanges that are relevant to the issue at hand (Evans, Montemurro, Gambhir, & Broad, 2014).

·      Every member of the school community, including the students, should be made aware of how the world functions and encouraged to become curious about it by asking probing questions and conducting studies on pertinent global concerns that connect locally to global challenges. The school should do this to promote cultural awareness and courteous interactions that promote intercultural understanding. The school should also be aware of and actively work to combat cultural prejudices and preconceptions before properly guiding students toward peaceful coexistence in multicultural settings.

·      To effectively instill in students the values, attitudes, and behaviors that support responsible global citizenship through creativity, innovation, and commitment to peace, human rights, and sustainable development at local, national, and international levels, teachers should be supported in incorporating lessons on diversity, global citizenship, and measures addressing social, political, economic, and environmental challenges into the curriculum. Because they are educated to be sympathetic, adaptable, and culturally aware as they have the opportunity to deal with children from different cultural backgrounds, schools with diversity in their educational system are reported to be more understanding, tolerant, and contain less bias. (Matthiessen, 2018).

·      Teachers should be given a training program based on the Education for International Understanding so that they are equipped to teach in the classroom.

·      Teachers should be encouraged to use an appropriate assessment system to promote global learning in which teachers can design a rubric that fulfills global needs. The learning in the classroom should be based on the process of engaging students in data collection, analysis of data, and panel discussions, not simply the process of leveling students.

·      For students to become aware of the similarities and differences between cultures and to comprehend how behaviors and values are frequently influenced by culture, schools should establish a forum where they can reflect on their own cultures as strengths and seek to understand those of others. It is crucial to provide the students enough time to learn about the backgrounds, interests, and learning preferences of their classmates so they can grow to respect one another's culture, traditions, interests, way of life, etc. Teachers can simultaneously help the students develop a sense of global community while also providing them with a deeper understanding of implementation processes. (Sharma, 2022).

·      By inviting local guest speakers from many backgrounds, children will be able to learn about a variety of beliefs, cultures, traditions, etc.

·      Schools should seek necessary resources that are useful for building global competency.

·      Teachers should promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the classroom by promoting the educational philosophy that the SDGs promote and by motivating students to act in the more extensive interests of sustainable development and the well-being of all people (OECD, 2018).

 

In conclusion, since it enables students to recognize themselves as vital members of the global community, education should always place a strong emphasis on global competency. The ability to think internationally is crucial for students' development of a sensibility for creating local and global solutions that take into account all people and generations, and they can be well-prepared if the school takes real action.

 

References

Evans, M., Montemurro, D., Gambhir, M., & Broad, K. (Eds.). (2014). Inquiry into practice: Learning and teaching global matters in local classrooms. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE). http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/oise/UserFiles/File/TEACHING_GLOBAL_MATTERS_FINAL_ONLINE.pdf

Jackson, A. (2022). Global Competence: The What, The Why, and The How. https://asiasociety.org/education/educating-global-competence

Matthiessen, C. (2018, August 27). Why diversity in classroom matters. Greatschools. https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/why-diversity-in-classrooms-matters/

OECD. (2018). PISA 2018 Global Competence. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/innovation/global-competence/

Sharma, D. (2022). Why diversity in the classroom matters. https://www.educationworld.in/why-diversity-in-the-classroom-matters/

VIF International Education (n.d.). Teacher guide. K-12 global competence grade-level indicators. Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P12). https://s3.amazonaws.com/com.appolearning.files/production/uploads/uploaded_file/818f97c9-21e2-4de3-82fa-30b2e63aecc6/K-12GlobalCompetenceGrade-LevelIndicators.pdf