Alcione Tavares gives her thoughts on Ben Goldstein’s talk on developing global competence and how we can bring the concept into classroom.
In the first two minutes of Ben Goldstein’s talk at the Better Learning Conference, which was held last July in Cambridge, UK, I became aware that I had never heard of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). However, I was quickly impressed.
PISA is a triennial international survey that is run by the OECD. The survey aims to evaluate worldwide education systems by testing the knowledge of 15-year-old students in Science, Maths and Reading. According to Gabriela Ramos, OECD Chief of Staff and Sherpa to the G20, “the OECD is actively working on assessing global competencies in PISA 2018 and finalizing an assessment framework.”
What is global competence?
Ben started his talk by discussing what it means to be ‘globally competent’ and what sort of tasks foster global competence. He then went on to talk about how we can incorporate global competence into materials. So, what is global competence?
According to the OECD, “global competence is the capacity to analyze global and intercultural issues critically and from multiple perspectives, to understand how differences affect perceptions, judgments, and ideas of self and others, and to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with others from different backgrounds on the basis of shared respect for human dignity.”
The dimensions of global competence
There are three dimensions of the proposed assessment of global competence:
- Knowledge and understanding
- Skills
- Attitudes
The first two dimensions will involve assessment of the cognitive components, such as: analytical and critical thinking; knowledge and understanding of global issues; and intercultural knowledge and understanding. Attitudes, the third dimension, will then be analyzed in the questionnaire through student self-reporting. Students will also self-report on their skills and values.
A single scale for relationships and perspectives
So, the PISA 2018 assessment aims to build a single scale that measures the extent to which students are able to use their knowledge to understand and recognize relationships and perspectives. It also assesses student’s abilities to think critically about a specific global or intercultural issue.
Ben talks about how we can incorporate intercultural issues into materials. An example that he gave was McDonald’s ‘glocal’ strategy, or the adaptation of their menu worldwide to suit cultural norms. One idea would be to get students to match what meals they are familiar with to other similar meals in different countries. For example, the ‘McTurco’ burgers in Turkey compared with ‘McMolletes’ in Mexico.
The value of human dignity and cultural diversity
Ben ended his talk by discussing the value of human dignity and cultural diversity, which he sees as inherent to global competence. We need to avoid the context of ‘othering’ different cultures and stereotyping through emphasizing differences.
To hear more about Global Competence, watch Ben Goldstein’s talk.
If you are interested in learning more about PISA, read PISA’s ‘Global Competency for an Inclusive World’ report.