The Vision of a Global Studies Education

Fostering Global Studies education for the 21st century helps to break down barriers of indifference, intolerance, and injustice, and acknowledges life’s most basic responsibilities, rights, and needs for all beings of the world.  It requires a renewed vision for learning that challenges students and educators to assess and redefine their roles, practices, and worldviews, in light of a new, more global and humane era of education. 

Global Studies honours young people as important members of a family, school, and community; citizens who can relate to both beauty and injustice, and who can think and act thoughtfully to make positive differences in their lives, and the lives of others.

Educational spaces are critical for understanding, discussing, and developing a sense of democracy for children where they see themselves as active agents, are able to make changes, and are desirous of making changes, understanding their responsibility and role in community and greater society.  It is the responsibility of schools to create those spaces, to create education for democracy, to involve children and their communities at an early age, to involve children in taking action, to transcend boundaries created by language and political difference. (Sanford & Hopper, in press)

This Global Classroom Initiative provides a framework for teachers to follow that embraces Global Studies as an integral part of a students’ program.  Essential to cultivating global citizens is providing the opportunities for them to think critically (fostering understanding), feel compassionately (provoking awareness),andto act responsibility (inspiring participation).  The broad range of unifying and inquiry-based activities put forth through this framework have been designed to enrich these goals and objectives. 

Young people need to feel that they can do something in society that is respected, that they can influence the reality in which they live - in short, that they matter.  They need a framework to gain experience in investigating, reflecting, and acting on their environment.  This is most important... because meaningful activities motivate learning (Williams & Taylor, 1999)