Do the philosophy, concepts and goals of the four core grade eight Saskatchewan curricula require teachers to be global educators?
Date
2008
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
The twenty-first century is a globally interdependent society, with people connected on a political, cultural, environmental and economic level. To prepare students to graduate into this interconnected community, global education is integral to their schooling. A global education program includes three equally important components: ‘Content’, that promotes knowledge of and respect for the pluralistic and diverse world; learning to take ‘Action’, which encourages students to recognize and respond to global needs; and ‘Pedagogy’, which should incorporate collaboration and allow students too develop as critical thinkers . When the first two categories are taught and learned using an appropriate pedagogical style, students are empowered to find and use their own voices to contribute in their global community.While research demonstrates that Saskatchewan teachers believe that global education is important, studies indicate that global education is not implemented by Saskatchewan teachers. What inhibits implementation of global education? The written curriculum is a document that guides teachers in planning and delivering subject content mandated by Saskatchewan Learning. For this study I inquired into whether the Grade 8 curriculum of the four core subject areas (Mathematics, English Language Arts, Social Studies and Science) require and assist Saskatchewan teachers in being global educators.A text analysis was done to determine if the goals, philosophies and objectives of the Grade Eight Core Curriculum reflected the three components of a global education program, thus requiring Saskatchewan teachers to be global educators. Quantitative analysis was used to determine the number of times global education concepts appeared in the curricula and a qualitative analysis was carried out to determine how the concepts were used. Analysis of the curricula determined that global education concepts are found predominantly the Social Studies document, meaning that teachers of other subject areas do not receive much assistance to be global educators. Analysis also revealed that while global education concepts appeared in the philosophies and goals sections of all curricula, the concepts were lacking or absent in the objectives sections, meaning that the curricula do not provide direct assistance to teachers in implementing global education.
Description
Keywords
curriculum, global education, curriculum analysis
Citation
Degree
Master of Education (M.Ed.)
Department
Curriculum Studies
Program
Curriculum Studies