Education for an Imperfect World:

Engaging Students in the Ethics of

Global Issues

Andrea Bullivant

Liverpool World Centre/Liverpool Hope University

Liverpool World Centre

To empower people in Merseyside to work for

global and social justice in their local and global

community.

Liverpool Hope University

Wider Perspectives in Education Students are encouraged to....reflect on

their beliefs, the purpose of education

and the needs of children growing up in

a global context….

TEESNet (Teacher Education for Equity and Sustainability) A unique collaboration of HE, NGO’s schools and other education

bodies, to promote Education for Sustainable Development/Global

Citizenship

Key idea:

‘Global learning’ as a pedagogical approach for engaging

students

Two examples of global learning approaches:

Philosophy for Children (Communities of Enquiry)

Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry (OSDE)

Global learning

should be seen as a pedagogical approach that is

relevant and appropriate to the construction and

application of knowledge within a subject, fit for the

21st century, that

……………….recognises the relevance of global

processes, the value of differing voices and

perspectives, and above all that includes critical

reflection.

Bourn D 2012 Global Learning and Subject Knowledge

And…….. ……an approach that moves from reproducing bodies of

knowledge to one that recognises learners’

engagement with this knowledge and their different

starting points, influenced by a range of external

factors.

(including) learners’ own sense of place and identity in

the world

Bourn D 2014 The Theory and Practice of Global Learning

Fairness and equality

Sustainable living

Diversity, identity and belonging

Rights and responsibilities

Peace and conflict

Starting points……..

How might we think beyond an education that merely

seeks to inculcate knowledge toward just education that

provokes insight into the conditions of freedom, justice

and responsibility themselves?

Todd S 2009

Philosophy for Children

What kind of ethical issues?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmbcrnXD1DM

Our stimulus

What kind of ethical issues?

Global solidarity versus global competition

Reconciling local and global identities and interests

Responsibility for or responsibility towards

‘Soft’ versus ‘critical’ global citizenship education

Andreotti, V (2006)

Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry (OSDE)

P4C is based on a tradition that emphasises morality and rationality

(i.e. analytic philosophy), the basic principle is that if people reason

better, they will see the same thing (a universal morality/truth/way of

being/etc.).

The philosophical tradition that is the basis of

OSDE…..emphasises ethics and difference, the basic principle

is that there will always be difference, that difference and

conflict are extremely important for change/learning and that

the better we reason, the more we understand that there are no

universal parameters ……... In practical terms, OSDE facilitation

has the specific objective of developing critical literacy and an

ethical relation to difference,

Andreotti V 2006

Bourn D 2012 Global Learning and Subject Knowledge

Bourn D 2014 The Theory and Practice of Global

Learning

P4C is based on a tradition that emphasises morality and

rationality (i.e. analytic philosophy), the basic principle is that if

people reason better, they will see the same thing (a universal

morality/truth/way of being/etc.).

The philosophical tradition that is the basis of OSDE

(i.e.continental philosophy) emphasises ethics and difference, the

basic principle is that there will always be difference, that

difference and conflict are extremely important for change/learning

and that the better we reason, the more we understand that there

are no universal parameters as at different periods of time,

different cultures/peoples/individuals will invariably see things in

ways that are based on different assumptions about reality and

being. In practical terms, OSDE facilitation has the specific

objective of developing critical literacy and an ethical relation to

difference,

Education that puts learning in a global

context……………fostering:

• critical and creative thinking

• self-awareness and open-mindedness towards difference

• understanding of global issues and power relationships

• optimism and action for a better world.

www.think-global.org.uk

……….content-focused, information-based, and grounded in everyday practice,

providing guidance about behaviours, shifts in habit, ……exemplified by approaches

where problems are explained to people and guidance about solutions provided. (Scott W &

Vare, P Due 2014)

Little Red Riding Hood – what questions

might a philosopher ask?

What does it mean to be wicked?

Is everyone capable of both good and evil?

How much freedom should parents give their children?

Is it always wrong to talk to strangers?

To what extent should people take responsibility for relatives who are old or infirm?

What do our clothes say about the sort of person we are?

Is it right to kill an aggressor in order to save an innocent victim?