Bringing the world to your classroom

Last year, the world passed an historical milestone – for the first time in history, more people lived in towns and cities than in the countryside. This fact alone tells us the world is undergoing massive changes – and fast.

The technology we rely on – the internet, cell phones, air travel – lets us talk, play and work with people from places so far flung we may never even have heard of them. Yet the fact is we often rely on those people for our clothes, food, media and even our very survival.

In this new, globalised, world, we are all connected – through our food, through our economies, through our social systems. But what do these relationships mean for us in Aotearoa New Zealand? And why is it so important to engage our students in these complex ideas?

Maureen Gillies, an education advisor for the non-profit organisation Global Focus Aotearoa, says that for children and young people to construct meaningful paths for themselves and their communities, they need the skills to think critically about the issues that affect them, and this is exactly what the new curriculum will ask teachers to do from next year.

“When engaging young people in global issues like human rights or climate change, we need to connect them as individuals, to show them they are a part of this world and that what they do matters. We somehow have to gain their interest and allow them opportunities to exercise the real influence they may not know they have,” Ms Gillies says.

Until December 2009, Global Focus Aotearoa operated as the Development Resource Centre, running the Global Education Centre and Dev-Zone programmes.

Over its 16 year history, Global Focus Aotearoa has earned a reputation as a specialist provider of education resources on issues such as human rights, climate change and globalisation.

“Global education is all about participating through learning, reflecting and taking action,” Ms Gillies says.

“For example, urbanisation issues include significant social, economic and political struggles. In NZ, the struggle for environmental sustainability is casting a spotlight on urban lifestyles, from transport planning to food production and consumption.

“By understanding how our lives are shaped – for better and worse – by integral issues like what we eat, and how we travel, even very young students can be inspired to create a more just and sustainable world,” Ms Gillies says.

“Although this might seem like a complex ask, it is exciting and empowering for students and teachers to understand and connect with real influences in their own lives, which link them with the global community.

“Global Focus’ specialist resources give teachers the tools they need to interest learners of all ages in the world around them, and their connection to it.

“For example, year 9-12 learners will love our multi-media­ resource ‘Urbanisation & urban transport’ which helps them think critically about issues here in Aotearoa NZ and globally.

“Primary school learners will enjoy ‘Food for Thought’ cartooning resource, designed with the help of professional cartoonists, and illustrated by school children’.

For more information, or any of Global Focus’s teaching resources, contact:
education@globalfocus.org.nz