Global Perspectives for Teacher Education

“Global education involves (1) the study of problems and issues which cut across national boundaries and the interconnectedness of cultural, environmental, economic, political, and technological systems and (2) the cultivation of cross-cultural understanding, which includes development of the skill of “perspective-taking,” that is, being able to see life from someone else's point of view. Global perspectives are important at every grade level, in every curricular subject area, and for all children and adults.(Tye & Tye, 1992)The literature generally suggests that the best way to infuse global perspectives into teacher education programs is by modeling pedagogy through the use of not just readings and lectures, but role plays, case studies, and collaborative investigation of useful resources among colleagues. Merryfield (1997) sets out methods for pedagogy for global perspectives that include exploration of self-knowledge, cross-cultural experiences and skills, perspective consciousness, values analysis, and authentic learning. Given the wide range and capacities for educating large numbers of new teachers in many countries, infusing global perspectives into otherwise technically oriented training programs is often poorly managed.