On December 7, education leaders in the field of intercultural learning and global citizenship education gathered at a webinar to discuss “Teaching and Learning in an Interconnected World.” Hosted by the Center for Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN), the webinar defined the construct of global competence and its importance for today’s learners and introduced practical programs promoting global and intercultural competencies and global citizenship.
UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Ms. Stefania Giannini, urged education stakeholders to work together multilaterally for transformative education addressing current challenges such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, she guided the implementation of global citizenship elements--solidarity, the value of respect, and a sense of humanity--into learning activities to tackle vulnerability and interdependency of the world.
In his keynote, Dr. William Gaudelli, Dean and Professor of the College of Education of Lehigh University, explained the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4.7 on global citizenship education. As essential attributes of global competence, he emphasized having openness, humility, and critical orientation in taking actions toward personal and social change. “We should all work for a better understanding of both ourselves and the world we live in and do so without arrogancy,” said Dr. Gaudelli.
Dr. Eunhee Jung, President of IVECA International Virtual Schooling, joined as a panelist and presented how schools can sustainably provide globally connected virtual exchange activities. Dr. Jung demonstrated IVECA’s curriculum integration model and the example activities that enable students to achieve curriculum goals as well as to develop the intercultural competence of global citizens. To implement SDGs, she underlined “designing the activities that students feel compassion to take action.”
Introducing her TeachSDGs movement, a panelist, Dr. Jennifer Williams shared available tools for teachers to bring the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to classrooms. Ms. Jill Woerner, Director of Education and Outreach for AFS-USA, also showed global and intercultural resources on its website.
Quoting a third-grade student’s reflection, Principal Trina Haygaru at the International School of Indiana accentuated the importance of cultivating students' compassionate integrity when they collaborate with peers on real-world projects at school. “It is important because we shouldn’t just care about ourselves. You shouldn’t just go ‘me me me me like you should care about the other people around you because every person, even people that you don’t even know, is one whole family.”
More details about CTAUN’s annual conference at the United Nations, please visit this page: https://teachun.org/conference/2021-un/