Welcome
For better or worse, we may look back at 2015 as the year when global education transformed North Carolina public schools.
CommenTerry
For years, the N.C. State Board of Education has focused on producing "globally engaged" public school students. Admittedly, I have only a vague idea what "globally engaged" or similar terms mean, but I hear a lot about it in education circles. Sophisticated-sounding terms with the word "global" in them inform the State Board of Education’s vision and strategic plan, as well as academic content standards.
Now the focus is on producing schools and teachers that are globally connected.
Starting this year, public schools may earn a Global-Ready Schools Designation. The designation requires schools to achieve acceptable ratings on the ten areas addressed in the N.C. Global-Ready School Attributes rubric. Schools must also have test scores and student growth measures that are at or above the state average. Given that this is the first year of the program, it is not known how many schools will apply for the designation and receive it.
In addition, North Carolina educators may now earn a Global Educator Digital Badge, a special recognition awarded to teachers who meet requirements outlined by the N.C. State Board of Education late last year. It is quite an undertaking. To obtain a badge, teachers and administrators must "create a professional development plan focused on embedding global education in instruction." Teachers then have two years to complete a minimum of 100 hours or 10.0 continuing education units and a capstone project.
In the spirit of the Global Educator Digital Badge, LEARN NC is offering online courses on Globally Competent Teaching. LEARN NC is a program of the UNC School of Education that provides lesson plans, learning materials, and professional development to North Carolina teachers and administrators. It appears that their two-part course in globally competent teaching is well suited for schools and teachers who are working toward global mastery or proficiency or whatever.
The LEARN NC courses employ the Longview Foundation’s Globally Competent Teaching Continuum, described as a series of dispositions, knowledge, and skills that constitute global competence.
Intrinsically, there is nothing wrong with learning about other nations and cultures. Teachers and parents should ensure that all children know the history, politics, economics, and social movements that have shaped our world. Being proficient in one or more foreign languages is essential. But videos and online resources provided make it pretty clear that the Globally Competent Teaching Continuum (and much of the globalization push generally) is leftwing social activism masquerading as pedagogy. Teachers are called upon to encourage their students to champion radical environmentalism, resource redistribution, and moral relativism in the name of equity, empathy, and global engagement. (See Quote of the Week below.)
Shockingly, only one of the 12 elements of the program addresses the economic, political, historical, and social factors that underlie differences among cultures and nations. The lack of attention given to the acquisition of basic knowledge and facts is the most objectionable aspect of this training.
On the 2014 National Assessment of Educational Progress U.S. history, geography, and civics tests, for example, 33 percent of sampled American eighth-graders thought that Canada, France, and Australia were dictatorships. Another 55 percent of students could not correctly calculate time zone differences between cities using an atlas. There may be public school children right now empathizing with the citizens of Canada for suffering under the iron fist of Stephen Harper! They will demand democratic elections to overturn the tyrannical rule of Tony Abbott! On a serious note, children have good reason to be concerned about the well being of France’s citizenry. Just do not ask them to identify the country on a map.
Perhaps ignorance is integral to the success of the Globally Competent Teaching Continuum. Knowledge about the complexities of global interaction may be inconsistent with classroom instruction aimed at earning symbolic credentials and inculcating simple-minded values. At this point, however, it is difficult to determine the trajectory of the global education movement in North Carolina public schools. It may indoctrinate a generation of public school students or simply give way to the "next big idea."
Acronym of the Week
GE — Global Education
Quote of the Week
From LEARN NC Globally Competent Teaching Online Courses:
This course focuses on developing the dispositions and knowledge that characterize globally competent teachers. Specifically teachers will learn how to interact with a self-reflection tool, The Globally Competent Teaching Continuum, to advance in the following areas:
- Empathy and valuing multiple perspectives
- Commitment to promoting equity worldwide
- Understanding the way the world is interconnected
- Understanding global world conditions and current events
- Understanding intercultural communication
- Experiential understanding of multiple cultures
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