Mental representations of global awareness Stakeholder perspectives in the Dutch canon process for global citizenship Tine Beneker*, Rob van der Vaart* *Department of Human Geography and Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Contact: t.beneker@geo.uu.nl; r.j.f.m.vandervaart@uu.nl Global education: the problem of content Knowing things about the world matters. Although much of the current academic debate about global education focuses on attitudes, values, pedagogy, perspectivity, or strategy than on content, most authors agree that reflection about the knowledge and understanding component of global education is equally important (see for example: Marshall, 2005; Ibrahim, 2005; Davies, 2006; Schattle, 2008). Oxfam, for example, describes education for global citizenship as consisting of the interrelated components knowledge and understanding, skills, and attitudes. In its Guide for Schools, Oxfam presents five categories for the knowledge & understanding component: social justice and equity, diversity, globalization and interdependence, sustainable development, peace and conflict (Oxfam, 2006, 4). The problem of the cognitive component of global education is its sheer endlessness. Even when categorized under five headings, as in the Oxfam example, it contains myriads of potential examples, concepts, ideas, aspects, and themes. Faced with the overload of concrete learning materials about the global made available by textbook publishers and NGOs, teachers may have difficulty in deciding what to select and
what to emphasize. Heuristic devices such as Oxfam s five categories may be helpful for teachers and teacher educators in order to support choices in content selection and emphasis. When properly understood and internalized, such devices help teachers to actively create balance in what they bring up and discuss in class, instead of being passive consumers of the teaching and learning materials that happen to be at hand. The Dutch project for creating a canon for global citizenship aims at providing teachers and teacher educators with such a heuristic device. In 2007, the National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development installed a commission that was supposed to design a canon for global citizenship. In the process, the commission consulted various stakeholder groups, including teachers, students in teacher training, parents, global education experts, and non-western professionals. Workshops with these groups focused on the question what young people should learn, think, and discuss about in global education. What we found was an interesting diversity of perspectives. The various groups clearly had very different mental representations of what global learning should be about. These representations are the core of this article. The idea of using the canon concept for this project can only be understood from the specific Dutch context. In the Netherlands, a highly successful historical and cultural canon was published in 2006, commissioned by the national government. 1 A general and well-documented lack of historical and cultural awareness among the Dutch - politically perceived as problematic was at the basis of this initiative. The use of the 1 An English version of the report was published in 2007, see: Oostrom et al., 2007. The website is also available in English: http://www.entoen.nu/en
notion of a canon for global citizenship was in fact a form of hitchhiking, on the waves of success of the historical canon. The outcomes of the canon for global citizenship project were manifold. The canon is available as a publication as well as online, both in Dutch and in English (Béneker, van Stalborch & Van der Vaart, 2009). 2 Various national conferences for school teams have taken place about the canon. School teams, teacher trainers, or individual teachers have taken up ideas from the canon and use the device in their own contexts and ways. Available evidence about this will allow us to discuss the actual use of the canon as a heuristic device, which will provide extra insights into users mental representations of global education and its content. The perspective of students in a teacher training institution One of the workshops was with about thirty students in a teacher training institution in Dordrecht, not far from Rotterdam (primary school teacher training). The workshop was focused around the following questions: - What topics or themes should at least have a place in learning about the world? In order to get the discussion going, a deliberately loose list of 25 potential topics was handed out (see Figure 1). Students were invited to identify topics that they consider essential and to add themes that in their opinion were missing in the list. For this part of the workshop, the approach was mainly deductive. - Within (a number of) these general themes, what could be concrete icons or examples that will probably trigger interest of the (primary school) children? 2 See: http://en.www.venstersopdewereld.nl/lang/en
Here, the approach was inductive: coming up with concrete content examples that might induce (primary) pupils imagination and attention. Figure 1 List of themes, used for workshop brainstorming 1. Rich and poor in the world 2. Climate change 3. Refugees 4. War and peace 5. Internet 6. International tourism 7. World religions 8. Multicultural society 9. Migration 10. United Nations 11. Human / children s rights 12. Energy and resources 13. Cultural habits 14. Trade 15. Terrorism 16. Media 17. Food, hunger 18. Health 19. Population growth 20. Education 21. Money 22. Biodiversity 23. Cultural heritage 24. Consumption 25. Democracy / dictatorship Multicultural society was given most votes (17) by the students as a top priority content theme of global education. Second came human and children s rights (11 votes), followed by rich and poor and war and peace (10 votes each). Cultural habits and world religions ended fifth and sixth, with 8 and 7 votes respectively. None of the other themes had more than a few votes as a top priority theme. Students were also invited to come up with extra themes. More than 50% of the suggestions for extra themes were related to issues in (Dutch) multicultural society: discrimination, freedom of expression, identity, lifestyle, norms & values. Another 40% of the suggestions were about history: mainly Dutch history (with special reference by the students to colonialism and slavery), sometimes world history (but with the same reference to slavery and colonialism). In fact, all the extra theme suggestions support the students preference for multicultural society and human rights as dominant themes in global education. When asked what they prioritize as subject matter of global education, the students clearly show a socio-cultural perspective in their thinking. Moreover, the local Dutch
context is evidently their point of reference. The cliché themes of rich & poor and war and peace rank relatively high in their priority list, but all other theme voting and theme brainstorming points in the direction of one very dominant cluster: (Dutch) multicultural society with its diversity (cultural habits, religions, lifestyles, identities) and its issues (discrimination, rights, links to historical facts such as slavery and exploitation). The students hardly mentioned any themes related to economy (trade), population (growth, migration), or earth and sustainability (climate, energy & resources, biodiversity). The brainstorming exercise about concrete examples, icons, or starting points, that might be good entry points for global learning, made even more clear that the students frame of reference and imagination is very much determined by their personal experience of living in the Netherlands, including exposure to Dutch media. Many of the ideas that students consider interesting for children relate to popular media (especially television) icons and images. For example: - For population / health : a young woman in a popular Dutch soap series playing an HIV-Aids patient; - For resources : all suggested icons derived from well-known TV images and ads (African woman with pitcher on her head, whale spouting oil, Dubai skyline, Shell Company logo, polar bear on floe). Many other ideas of the students depart from the local, the familiar or the personal. For the umbrella theme of cultural habits and exchange, for example, students mentioned: signposting in various languages in a well-known Dutch theme park; poster showing many different ethnic restaurants in a Dutch city; children s own holiday pictures.
The students gaze in their thinking about global education content is predominantly socio-cultural, locally inspired, and highly mediated. There is no reason to assume that the thirty students from Dordrecht differ from teacher training students elsewhere in their mental representation about what global learning should be about. The perspective of Dutch professionals The set-up of the workshops with mixed groups of professionals (teacher trainers, global educators, school teachers with a specific interest in global education) was more elaborate than the students workshop. Altogether, over 30 persons participated in the two sessions. All participants were asked to think about the following questions before the actual workshops: - What do you consider to be core content domains in global education? (deductive approach) - What do you consider to be iconic concrete examples of global education content (good starting points, such as iconic persons, places, events, products, et cetera, that could open avenues for classroom learning and discussion about global development and issues)? (inductive approach) - When you confront your lists of content domains and of possibly interesting icons, will this lead to additions or changes to both lists? During the workshops, participants worked in groups of four to five persons in order to compare and discuss their personal preferences, and to produce one group list of priority global education themes accompanied by exemplary icons. Figure 2 shows
the results for three discussion groups; these results are representative for the outcomes of the workshops in general. Figure 2 Main outcomes of expert group brainstorming Ideas for priority Potential iconic examples themes Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Global Bill Gates Mobile phone Esperanto communication Global governance UN logo UN logo UN logo Global economy Big Mac Coca Cola Crash of 1929 Global / fair trade - Tea / coffee Tea / coffee Tony s Chocolonely (De-) colonization Gandhi Gandhi Cape of Good Hope Slavery Gandhi Treaty of Tordesillas Migration Princess Maxima Princess Maxima - (Un-) sustainability Cartoon (energy) Polar bear Amazon Chief Seattle Earth from space Population issues Contraceptive pill Granddad (ageing) - Gender & rights Aletta Jacobs Gender (icon Martin Luther King undecided) War / peace (implied in UN logo narrative) Anne Frank (implied in UN logo narrative) It is interesting to see that the priority themes suggested by the Dutch experts are more or less the mirror image of what the students suggested as core global education themes. The experts, among them many teachers, stress the standard major global issues and themes, such as global economy (globalization), global governance, trade, migration, and sustainability. Issues of multicultural society, diversity and identity, focal areas for the students, are quite marginal in the representation of the experts. What is not visible in Figure 2, is the fact that the expert groups had considerable difficulty in coming up with priority lists of global education themes: a fact that shows that reflection about the knowledge and understanding component of global education is not something that even the expert group normally engages in. At the
level of iconic examples, experts apparently believe in personalization: they mention many well-known individuals who are iconic and often inspiring (Bill Gates, Gandhi, the Dutch princess Maxima immigrated from Argentina, Chief Seattle, the Dutch fore fighter of women s rights Aletta Jacobs, Martin Luther King, Anne Frank). The preference for positive examples is also visible in the choice for fair trade brands as icons (for coffee, tea, chocolate). The choices of the experts are obviously more diverse in time (also historical figures and events) and space (examples from non- Dutch settings), but nevertheless they also suggest some icons, like the students, that are close to personal and local (Dutch) life experience (Big Mac, mobile phone, contraceptive pill, family [granddad]). A final observation, at the level of the core themes, is that all expert groups see the network society (global communication in Figure 2) as a core theme for global education. The implications of 21 st century global communication flows are of course enormous. It might be a generation gap issue that experts prioritize this theme, whereas the students very active users of new communication platforms never mentioned global communication as a theme for global education. The perspective of professionals from the global South The canon commission had the opportunity to consult with a group of 30 professionals from a range of African, Latin-American and Asian countries, who happened to be in the Netherlands as southern members of the so-called Third Chamber (Derde Kamer in Dutch), a shadow parliament of 150 members (among them thirty from southern countries), elected for one year, who jointly elaborate innovative proposals for development cooperation. This NCDO initiative aims at
dialogue, involvement of young people in political processes, and media exposure for the cause of development cooperation. During a long session with the southern representatives, the canon commission invited them to give their perspective on what young people in the Netherlands should learn, think, and discuss about with regard to the global perspective. There was a high degree of common opinion as the outcome of extremely lively discussion: - Apart from geographical and historical entry points, the canon should also include a philosophical entry point in order to make young Dutch people think about premises and assumptions (concerning growth, development, perspectivity, fairness, et cetera); - Awareness of and respect for (global) diversity and multi-perspectivity should have a central place; - A canon for global citizenship should be such that it helps in overcoming the many resistant stereotype images about the global condition that still prevail in Western societies; - If the canon would use icons for attracting attention to core themes, the group would recommend to utilize particularly great (historical) personalities as inspirational icons; - Historical awareness is important in global education; - Students should develop an awareness of what is going on in other parts of the world; the group advised against overrepresentation of the local (Dutch context) in learning about the world; - Avoid a canon of catastrophes and include promising initiatives and perspectives towards the future.
It was refreshing to notice that the non-dutch professionals stressed a few of the basics about the content dimension of global education: that knowledge about global interdependencies and global issues should be preceded by basic knowledge and understanding of the diversity of places, people and practices around the world; that widespread tacit assumptions (particularly about the third world ) and stereotypes should be part of the content of global education; that global education should transcend the bad news reflex of Western media and popular development discourses. Moreover, the non-dutch professionals seem to agree with the Dutch experts that historical awareness, inspiring individuals, and non-dutch iconic examples should be taken into account in the elaboration of global education. Choices of the canon commission On the basis of these and other consultations, the canon commission made its own choices in its canon for global citizenship. This canon is mainly an instrument for all involved in global education for supporting their thinking and reflection about content choices. The canon does certainly not have the ambition to be a prescriptive or final proposal for global education content. The commission identified eight core themes, each with three subthemes, plus iconic examples or windows that may be helpful in opening classroom activities about these themes (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 - Windows at the World, the Dutch canon for global citizenship Themes (1-8) and Subthemes (A-B-C) 1. Diversity A.historical & cultural B.biodiversity C.in daily life 2. Identity A. religious B. national C. coexistence 3. Human rights A. commitment to hr B. hr violations C. socio-economic rights 4. Sustainable development A. population growth & urbanization B. availability of natural resources C. climate change 5. Globalization A. worldwide economic relations B. global migration flows C. cultural exchange 6. Equity & distribution A. combating poverty B. unequal access to basic needs C. food shortages, food prices 7. Peace and conflict A. peacekeeping missions B. international terrorism C. conflict induced refugees 8. Global involvement A. international political community B. consumption and lifestyle C. role of modern media A - iconic example B - iconic example C - iconic example Taj Mahal Amazon Chinese language Hinduism Spain Paramaribo Amnesty International Mexico City Slavery monument (Amsterdam) Drinking water in Middle East Education Kenya North Pole Shanghai Ceuta The Djembé Millennium Goal 1 Child mortality Bolivia Food riots Indonesia Srebrenica (blue helmets) United Nations Twin towers attack Max Havelaar (fair trade) Afghan refugees Pakistan Al Jazeera The commission s choice includes the five themes that were also proposed by Oxfam (2006) (see opening section of this article), but adds the categories of identity, human rights, and global involvement. The commission thereby invites global educators to
include socio-cultural themes (highlighted by the students) and reflexivity about personal and collective assumptions and choices (highlighted by particularly the non- Dutch professionals). The inclusion of subthemes resulted from the observation that many participants in the workshops and panels tend to treat broad concepts such as globalization, diversity, or sustainable development as container themes without much precision about aspects of such themes that should at least be taken into account in global education. The subthemes are designed as an instrument for thinking about dimensions or important aspects about core themes. The commission has attempted to create time and space balance in the iconic examples that may be used as starting points (or as a help to identify similar staring points) in classroom discussions and activities. The icons include places, events, organizations, et cetera, but not inspiring persons. Some of the commission members believed that it can best be left to educators to identify personalities that they believe trigger the attention and imagination of their learners (some suggestions are given in the canon report). Discussion The canon process has made clear that workshops about the content dimension of global education are extremely useful. For the participants, the workshops helped to develop and structure their thinking about what is essential or worthwhile in global education. Such a form of content discussion is not common practice, at least in the Netherlands, during teacher training or among colleagues in the field. The exercise also showed that the distinguished groups (here: students, teachers and other global education professionals, professionals from the south ) have different mental images of what is important in global education. Knowledge about these diverse perspectives is very important in the design of global education, for
example in order to avoid the use of expert perspectives that do not resonate in young people s or beginning teachers minds. Many schools, individual teachers, NGOs, teacher training departments, publishers and others have ordered the canon publication, visited the canon website, or participated in follow-up events. What became evident during follow-up events, is the strong reflex among teachers to focus on one (appealing) aspect or theme of the canon and to elaborate that aspect in the form of classroom activities, thereby ignoring the larger picture of the canon and jumping over the phase of more fundamental reflection about overall content of global education. It is therefore essential that especially teacher training programmes and postgraduate further training events use the canon for taking a distance and encourage pedagogical reflection. References Béneker, T., M. van Stalborch & R. van der Vaart (2009) (Eds). Windows on the world. Report of the Canon for Global Citizenship Committee. Amsterdam: NCDO / Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University. Davies, L. (2006). Global citizenship: abstraction or framework for action? Educational Review, 58-1, 5-15. Ibrahim, T. (2005). Global citizenship education: mainstreaming the curriculum? Cambridge Journal of Education, 35-2, 177-194.
Marshall, H. (2005). Developing The Global Gaze In Citizenship Education: Exploring The Perspectives Of GlobaL Education NGO Workers in England. International Journal of Citizenship Education vol 1-2, 76-92. Oxfam (2006). Education for Global Citizenship. A Guide for Schools. Retrieved from: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/gc/files/education_for_global_citizenship_a _guide_for_schools.pdf Schattle, H. (2008). Education for global citizenship: Illustrations of ideological pluralism and adaption. Journal of Political Ideologies 13-1, 73-94. Van Oostrom, F. (2007). A Key to Dutch History. The Cultural Canon of The Netherlands. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. (Publication of the Committee for the Development of the Dutch Canon)