The overall challenges of globalization to the professional teacher

http://www.erej.ua.es/rdd/article/view/25/22



The globalisation process and the social changes associated with it demand the introduction of permanent changes and reforms in the educational systems. The teacher’s new role is undisputable. It is the challenge of modern times and social needs. In their new role, teachers should support both the students and their parents. Teachers should act as guides for their students and direct them in their individual processes of development, taking into consideration the challenges of the globalisation process.


What kind of teacher does the modern society, and, in particular, the modern 
school need? Does the system of teacher education really meet the needs of the school, the society and the challenges of the modern world? Issues like these are considered and analyzed permanently regardless of the time when they are put under discussion. The globalisation process is a process in which the markets and economies of individual countries become more and more dependent on one another as a result of the continuous increase in the dynamics of goods, services, capital and people exchange. In a very simplified way, the globalisation process can be described as the process of creating one economy and one market on our globe. 
Integration within the framework of the European Union is one of the stages of globalization. However, it is worth noting that some processes, like for instance regionalisation, are contradictory to the globalization process. Similar reference can be made to the European economy which in a peculiar way ‘shuts itself’ away from the economies outside the European Union. As emphasized by Elizabeth Helen Essary, globalisation has become a component of social public dialogue (Essary, E.H. 2007). That is the reason why it has a direct influence on the tasks of school. The globalisation process requires the school to prepare students to play future social roles, and in particular for effective functioning in a modern democratic society, with special emphasis on effective functioning on the labour market. The point is to make them able to compete for a position with other potential candidates, not only from their own country, but from any country. According to Yang (2004) the school should equip students with suitable knowledge and skills that must 



be perceived as understanding the reality through personal experience and 
emotional reactions with the surrounding world of objects and specific situations. Such knowledge should be preceded by appropriately designed and organised learning process 

– learning that brings about substantial 
changes in the perspective of individual 
vision and perception of the world.

Tolerance

Activity 

We had this very interesting activity, where every one had to only have one word for their experience in another culture. What we had to do was that everyone were gathered and had to see if the word was compared to some other word.When a word had similarities with another word then we had to pass the turn  the person carrying the respective work. They had to then explain why the specific word has been chosen. It was the lived experiences that were shared within the group.



Activity

Who am i ?

- How do you present youself in your culture?
besides you name, what is self evident in the way you present youself in your culture?
- Why is it self evident?

We had to go around and talk with a person we don't talk with normally, and thereafter asked them the above-mentioned questions.
We used those questions to ask each other about culture. It was very interesting to hear about how the other people present themselves and their culture. I talked with a boy from my own class, he was danishand his way of greeting was for example very simmilar to mine, that was so because we live in the same country even though we are from two different cultures and roots, he is origin is danish and mine pakistani.

Learning through accommodation 
Accomodation which takes place when impressions from the enviornment cannot fit into existing schemes consists of dissociation and reconstruction, by which means the schemes are altered so that the impressions can be taken in. Accommodation this implies a going beyond.

- It is important that we acknowlegde other cultures, and when we meet a new culture we should accept their way of living and mindset. When exploring other cultures by visiting other countries, we don't always understand the mindset and life style very much, but a person needs to the open-minded and accept that other cultures has their own values which they live by. This misunderstanding of interncultureal concept leads to culture shock since we live by following different values, which is why we also have to accept their values.

Identity mind map

What is identity ?

Identity may be defined as the distinctive characteristic belonging to any given individual, or shared by all members of a particular social category or group. The term comes from the French word identité, which finds its linguistic roots in the Latin noun identitas, -tatis, itself a derivation of the Latin adjective idem meaning "the same." The term is thus essentially comparative in nature, as it emphasizes the sharing of a degree of sameness or oneness with others in a particular area or on a given point. Identity may be distinguished from identification; the former is a label, whereas the latter refers to the classifying act itself. Identity is thus best construed as being both relational and contextual, while the act of identification is best viewed as inherently processual.

However, the formation of one's identity occurs through one's identifications with significant others (primarily with parents and other individuals during one’s biographical experiences, and also with 'groups' as they are perceived). These others may be benign such that one aspires to their characteristics, values and beliefs (a process of idealistic-identification), or malign when one wishes to dissociate from their characteristics.

Asked to explain the meaning of "identity" in the sense of personal identity, one is again tempted to begin with a formulation like how a person defines who he or she is; self-definition or self-understanding." Once again, however, it is apparent that there are many

different ways that a person might define who he or she is. Which one corresponds to personal

identity? And "self-understanding" is really too broad and vague to be right. Many things might reasonably be included in "self-understanding" that we would not say are matters of identity.

When we say that my identity is "who I am," we mean "who I really am," in some sort of essential or fundamental way. We are talking about an aspect of ourselves that is in some way important to us. It would go against usage and our understanding of the concept to say that some aspect of one's (personal) identity was a matter of complete indifference that one could take it or leave it with total equanimity. The problem of explaining what personal identity is (as we talk about it) is the problem of stating what aspects of a person it refers to and precisely in what sense these are important or "essential."

Global Education

http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/nscentre/GE/GE-Guidelines/GEgs-chap1.pdf

When i started reading that i found it very interesting, i got a very clear definition about Global education. So please do read all of it, i know it is very long, but i am sure that you might get alot information out of that.
So please enjoy.

Definitions and declarations

Global education is an education perspective which arises from the fact that contemporary people live and interact in an increasingly globalised world. This makes it crucial for education to give learners the opportunity and competences to reflect and share their own point of view and role within a global, interconnected society, as well as to understand and discuss complex relationships of common social, ecological, political and economic issues, so as to derive new ways of thinking and acting. however, global education should not be presented as an approach that we may all accept uncritically, since we already know there are dilemmas, tensions, doubts and different perceptions in an education process when dealing with global issues.
there are many definitions of global education. the Maastricht  global  education  declaration (2002)
states:
Global education is education that opens people’s eyes and minds to the realities of the globalised world and
awakens them to bring about a world of greater justice, equity and Human Rights for all.
Global education is understood to encompass Development Education, Human Rights Education, Education for Sustainability, Education for Peace and Conflict Prevention and Intercultural Education; being the global dimension
of Education for Citizenship.

Global education as transformative learning process in these guidelines we want to look at the role of global education and question attitudes, moving from the culture of individualism, often associated with dominance, to a culture of partnership based on dialogue and cooperation.

 The first cultural model characterises educational systems in many countries where global themes and building consciousness of world realities are not thought to be relevant to national visions. On the other hand the partnership model can lead to international understanding and cooperation between nations and peoples aspects of domination exist in so many different facets of our societies and are deeply rooted in the structures of education systems the present model of education reflects this dominance to a large extent. 

Criticism against it underlines that this model leads to adversarial relationships between individuals and between peoples, particularly if they belong to different cultures, religions, social groups or ways of thinking.What is global education? 13 by separating subjects and categorising them we have created hierarchies of knowledge and devalued other ways of learning the detachment that is created by this process of compartmentalised education does not place us in a connected world and so we have been unable to build bridges to approach, get to know and understand others.

Global education is about implementing the vision required to move to a model of partnership between peoples, cultures and religions at micro and macro levels transformative learning through global education involves a deep, structural shift in the basic premises of thoughts, feelings and actions. Tt is an education for the mind as well as for the heart. This implies a radical
change towards interconnectedness and creates possibilities for achieving more equality, social justice, understanding and cooperation amongst peoples.

Three main stages of transformative learning are strongly linked to global education:
• An analysis of the present world situation
• A vision of what alternatives to dominant models might look like
• A process of change towards responsible global citizenship
global education as transformative learning implies participatory decision-making processes at all these stages.
 The goal of this kind of learning is to foster mutual knowledge and collective self-awareness.

 Global education challenges greed, inequality and egocentrism through cooperation and solidarity instead of dividing people through competition, conflict, fear and hatred.
Global education as transformative learning offers a way to make changes at local levels to influence the global in the sense of building citizenship through participatory strategies and methods, so that people learn by taking responsibilities that cannot be left only to governments and other decision makers.
At both micro and macro levels global education brings together the agendas of different fields of education:
development  education, human rights  education,  education for sustainability,  education for  peace and Conflict prevention, intercultural and interfaith education, the global dimension of education for Citizenship
etc. - in order to define the common grounds of global education.
This will create a real impact on both formal education and non-formal education, which has a huge role to play in bringing people towards a wider understanding of their real power to shape the future.but global education is not only about global themes, world problems and how to find solutions all together.
It is also about how to envision a common future with better life conditions for all, connecting local and global perspectives, and how to make this vision real and possible, starting from our own small spot in the world.

Transformative learning enables people to shape a common vision for a more just, sustainable world for all. A focus on the kind of future we want is therefore crucial in such a transformative vision.
Global education can contribute to the visioning process, but it can also play a role in the creation of new methods where social movements and non-formal learning processes are essential as they make room for values, issues and
approaches not central to formal learning and give voice to all people, including the marginalised ones.
By shifting the focus onto the transformation from a culture of reproduction and dominance to one of partnership based on dialogue and cooperation, global education modifies established global economy rules by restoring
human dignity as a central value.