Teacher Tutor Nova Scotia

It's not that our students live in bubbles of self-absorption. My Global Geo class was well aware that their clothes had been made in Bangladesh. What they didn't put together was that cheap labour means horrifying conditions for workers. In a CBC "Fifth Estate" episode, they heard the stories of desperate youth, half their ages. These kids were on the payroll for a factory that produces for Joe Fresh, Levi's, and other popular brands. They get paid 24 cents an hour. Some were badly hurt. The connection to other kids was enough to have half my class considering changing their buying habits. They were shocked. Even angry.

I've since read hundreds of pages on the topics of "citizenship" and "global citizenship education". In collaboration with the Atlantic Council for International Cooperation and Global Affairs Canada, I was tasked to develop a workshop to introduce Canadian students to global citizenship. These hundreds of pages were simmered over the course of weeks into the following published conceptual definition:

Notions of “global citizenship” and “global citizenship education” have evolved, to some extent, from the United Nations’ efforts to promote peace education in classrooms and schools around the world. In 2001, the groundbreaking text, “Learning the Way of Peace: A Teachers’ Guide to Peace Education” was published in New Delhi, with the direct involvement of over a dozen member countries. It has, at its core, the aims of developing peace within oneself, peace with society, and peace with nature.

While peace education is considered with some urgency in less-developed countries, its scope has not been embraced by education in the West.  There are an increasing number of economic and political ties between the nations of the world, though these connections have mostly worked to increase gaps between rich and less well-off countries. This results in cultural distance, a shocking disparity in the labour force worldwide, and very little awareness on the part of consumers about how their habits of consumption play vital roles in perpetuating injustice. Global citizenship attempts to address the disconnect.

Global citizenship is an approach that fosters understanding of local and global issues and offers tools for action that are practical and impactful. Though peace education has been criticized for being context dependent, global citizenship education has been touted as universal. It is not merely a topic of study.  It is a platform from which all other curriculum can be considered.

What remains for us as educators is a rather pervasive responsibility. It's not so much a curriculum change as it is that platform from which to extend content. In having students' best interests at heart (and I believe all interested teachers do), educating to connect beyond the walls of schools and neighbourhoods means incorporating global issues into all subjects taught. Even in the phrasing of math and science problems. It's in the language we use. It's in the ways we augment justice and equality in our behaviors and in the type of content we choose to introduce.

How much about citizenship gets reflected in the study of World War II if we stop at dates and places? It's at the expense of exploring peoples lives, decision making and the consequences on societies of those decisions. The curriculum we teach is predisposed to a citizenship perspective, whether introducing multi-cultural elements in literature or pointing out gender privilege in a junior high healthy living class. It's not merely something to keep in mind. I've learned that there's a lot at stake if we don't advance our teaching towards habits like these. Towards habits that inspire action.

It's not more work. It's in the choices and delivery. It's a slant on the prep you're doing already, and it can come naturally.

The Nova Scotia Department of Education has recently updated it's Citizenship definition for approval by CAMET. It will be published as an Essential Graduation Competency. In the following pages, you will find a fully-prepped lesson on Global Citizenship. It was co-designed with a colleague, Jamie Wilkinson, from MSVU, Halifax. The resources available have been carefully chosen, and they can be used for a single class or spread out in more depth over weeks. All resource links from the "student portal" are cell phone optimized.

Let's all work together for healthy relationships and a healthy respect for the environment. We can't afford less.

From the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development: