{"id":7099,"date":"2017-11-16T08:35:32","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T08:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=7099"},"modified":"2017-11-17T11:06:14","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T11:06:14","slug":"why-i-worry-about-the-global-learning-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2017\/11\/16\/why-i-worry-about-the-global-learning-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I worry about the Global Learning Programme"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NAEE website has had a global learning theme over the last few days; see, for example,\u00a0here,<\/a>\u00a0here<\/u><\/span>\u00a0and here<\/a>.<\/a> \u00a0 A key element of this has been the work of\u00a0Harriet Marshall (who works for the Global Learning Programme \u2013 GLP). \u00a0In a blog<\/a> she addresses the practice of global learning in England, and\u00a0identifies five\u00a0common themes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. the SDG framework is often used as the starting point to engage students, school leaders, and other staff. ...<\/li>\n
  2. the core values of the SDGs are often linked to schools\u2019 pre-existing values and ethos statements. ...<\/li>\n
  3. the idea of a global learning \u2018journey\u2019 is often at the heart of approaches to engagement with the SDGs in schools \u2013 especially those that build in models of behaviour or attitudinal change, and knowledge development. ...<\/li>\n
  4. the the SDGs provide a useful framework for bringing in more complex or controversial local or national issues into the classroom. ...<\/li>\n
  5. many\u00a0methods of engagement with the SDGs in schools are aligned to critical thinking\u00a0and the need to promote associated pedagogies like critical literacy and critical numeracy. ...<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Not all of these possibilities are unique to global learning, but the fit is remarkably good nonetheless. \u00a0 It does better, for example, than environmental education does in this regard.<\/p>\n

    The GLP is a rare thing these days: a national, cross-curricular educational project. \u00a0Even more rarified, it's UK-wide although there are, of course, four versions of the programme. \u00a0All this is only possible because its funded by DfID. \u00a0It's\u00a0managed by: Pearson (lead), the Geographical Association, UCL Institute of Education, Oxfam UK, the Royal Geographical Society, the\u00a0Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, and Think Global. \u00a0Pearson<\/a> says that about 5500 schools are involved across the UK, adding:<\/p>\n

    GLP supports teachers to help pupils learn about the challenges our world faces and think critically about issues such as poverty, inequality and sustainability. It helps pupils make sense of the world in which they live and understand their role in a global society.<\/p>\n

    \"By using global learning to enrich the curriculum, GLP schools are finding that global learning is helping to develop critical thinking skills, promote SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development), and foster values such as respect and empathy.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    This is, of course, in many ways quite laudable, so why do I worry about it? \u00a0I suppose there are three main reasons:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. it's run by DfID and not the mainstream (and largely disengaged) DfE \u2013 try looking on the DfE website for 'global learning'<\/li>\n
    2. its view of\u00a0global<\/em> is unbalanced \u2013 its main emphasis is on social justice and not on sustainability in the round. \u00a0Try searching for 'species loss' and 'ocean acidification' on the GLP website.<\/li>\n
    3. Surely helping \"pupils [begin to] make sense of the world in which they live and understand their role in a global society\" is the role of school as a whole, and not some here today, gone tomorrow project, no matter how well-connected and impeccably correct.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Actually, these reasons are not unrelated as [2] can be seen as a consequence of [1] and because of the built-in interests (ie, biases) of the management group, and [3] is only possible (some say necessary) because DfE has lost interest in curriculum. \u00a0All this reminds me of TVEI in the 1980s when the Manpower Services Commission [sic<\/em>] threatened to set up its own schools if the Department for Education didn't take an active interest. \u00a0How have we got into this (another fine) mess?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The NAEE website has had a global learning theme over the last few days; see, for example,\u00a0here,\u00a0here\u00a0and here. \u00a0 A key element of this has been the work of\u00a0Harriet Marshall (who works for the Global Learning Programme \u2013 GLP). \u00a0In...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}