Suzanne Macqueen

Pre-service teacher perspectives on the importance of global education: world and classroom views

In an era of international multimedia exposure and a global economy, there is no question that global education (GE) must be part of the school curriculum. Effective delivery of GE is reliant on adequate teacher preparation. A group of teacher educators at one University sought to raise the profile of GE with pre-service teachers through the integration of global perspectives in various courses. This paper explores pre-service teacher perceptions of the importance of GE and their learning as a result of this emphasis. Additionally, pre-service teacher preferences for further learning about GE are examined. It is apparent that pre-service teachers are interested in GE, especially in terms of how they can incorporate it in their teaching and, with exposure over a number of semesters student understandings develop, creating better prepared teachers of GE. Not surprisingly, these students were primarily focused on their future classroom practices rather than their role in the world more generally. Additionally, it was clearly evident that unique GE approaches were linked to specific teaching disciplines, an indication that GE continues to be a difficult concept to incorporate without explicit guidance for integration, something not always easy in a university setting.

Grouping for inequity

The inequity of streaming as a method of organising classes was established by research conducted in the 1960s and 1970s. While the practice produces small advantages for limited groups of students, it hinders the academic and social advancement of the majority. Although streaming has declined, new forms of achievement grouping have emerged, with the intention of being more equitable. Recent research in the UK suggests, however, that these grouping methods have similar equity issues to streaming. Drawing on research in Australian primary schools, this article examines the practice of regrouping primary students in some schools into separate classes according to achievement levels for literacy and mathematics lessons. Results from a mixed method study collated through interviews with principals and teachers, student surveys, state-wide academic test results and classroom observations are examined in relation to equity. The findings suggest that the regrouping practice is no more equitable than streaming, albeit more politically palatable.

Contesting and Constructing International Perspectives in Global Education

This volume addresses the need for an international perspective on global education, and provides alternate voices to the theme of global education. The editors asked international educators in different contexts to indicate how their own experience of global education addresses the broad and contested concepts associated with this notion. Following the lead of the internationally acknowledged authors from North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia, perspectives were provided on a wide variety of contexts including tertiary education, and teacher education; various pedagogies for global education, including digital pedagogies; and curriculum development at school, tertiary and community levels. Contesting and Constructing International Perspectives in Global Education explores the tensions inherent in discussions of global education from a number of facets including spatial, pedagogical, temporal, social and cultural; and provides critical, descriptive and values-laden interpretations. The book is divided into five sections, “Temporal and Spatial Views of Global Education”; “Telling National Stories of Global Education”; “Empowering Citizens for Global Education”; “Deconstructing Global Education”; and “Transforming Curricula for Global Education”. It is envisaged as a starting point for a stronger international conception of global education and a way to build a conversation for the future of global education in a neo-liberal and less internationally confident time.

Older Women, Deeper Learning, and Greater Satisfaction at University: Age and Gender Predict University Students' Learning Approach and Degree Satisfaction.

The present study explored the interactive effect of age and gender in predicting surface and deep learning approaches. It also investigated how these variables related to degree satisfaction. Participants were 983 undergraduate students at a large public Australian university. They completed a research survey either online or on paper. Consistent with previous research, age was a positive predictor of both surface and deep learning. However, gender moderated this age effect in the case of deep learning: Age predicted deep learning more strongly among women and not among men. Furthermore, age positively predicted degree satisfaction among women but not among men, and deep learning mediated this moderation effect. Hence, older female students showed the greatest deep learning in the present sample, and this effect explained their greater satisfaction with their degree. The implications of these findings for pedagogical practices and institutional policy are considered.

Integrating Curriculum: A Case Study of Teaching Global Education.

Abstract Despite widespread support for integrated approaches to teaching, classroom practice reveals a lack of implementation. This paper explores challenges and opportunities in teaching an integrated curriculum, and connects this with the contemporary notion of a twenty-first century curriculum and pedagogy. A case study of Global Education (GE) is used to delineate the complexity of issues when teachers attempt to move beyond disciplinary-based teaching approaches. We examine curriculum documents, advice for teachers on curriculum implementation, preservice teachers’ experiences in schools during Professional Experiences and national guidelines for Professional Experience. Through these data, a broad picture emerges of influences on integrating curricula in classrooms. Opportunities to integrate curriculum incorporating twenty-first century pedagogies were limited by pressures on teachers with preservice teachers rarely exposed to authentic integration. Teachers’ professional standing requires clear guidelines, which allow them to pursue important twenty-first century content and skills , for young citizens and this must begin in preservice education.

The 4Cs of Global Education for Teacher Education Students: Culture, Confidence, Context, and Crowded Curriculum

Global citizenship is an important attribute in our interconnected world, with children’s first formal introduction to global perspectives mostly occurring through schooling. Accordingly, teacher general knowledge and curricula skills around global perspectives are pivotal. We present findings from a study of preservice teachers’ global education (GE) observations and experiences during professional experiences in schools. We used qualitative data from surveys administered after they had been in schools teaching over four weeks to determine what GE teaching they had observed and conducted during their placements and what barriers to the teaching of GE they perceived. Results show that much work is needed to ensure an adequate GE focus in schools.

“Players in the World”: Action for Intercultural Competence in Classroom Pedagogy

A key aspect of teaching students in the twenty-first century is preparing them for an increasingly global community, global economy and global workplace. Intercultural competence is essential for such a future. As Boix-Mansilla and Jackson (2011, p. 11) observed, it is crucial that young people view themselves as “players in the world”, participating in global events – not simply observing them; taking action “to improve conditions” in the world – not simply agonising over them; and reflecting on their actions and their participation, with a view to continue to improve and enhance this participation. This requires a pedagogy for agency – an active pedagogy. The need for the development of skills for interacting and communicating with diverse audiences, including with those from diverse cultural groups, is obvious if we are to develop twenty-first century learners. This chapter investigates the extent to which the notion of some kind of “action” in the development of Intercultural competence is communicated in educational policy and curriculum, and how “action” is enacted within school and classroom contexts. Using Australia as a case study, we present data from analysis of relevant education documents, as well as surveys with pre-service teachers related to their classroom experiences with Intercultural competence. Results suggest that despite the good intentions of policy-makers, more explicit direction about implementing action is necessary in syllabus documents, including ideas for active pedagogy, in order to ensure students fully develop true Intercultural competence and become global “players”.

Where’s the Action in Global Education?

Despite the well documented variance around definitions of global education, it is generally agreed by global educators that one role of global education is to make students aware of and sensitive to the inequities which exist globally, and to encourage them to be future focussed and willing to take action for change.