MULTICULTURAL AND

GLOBAL LITERACY
 Multicultural Literacy
 Multicultural literacy consists of the skills and ability to
identify the creators of knowledge and their interests
(Banks, 1996)
 To reveal the assumptions of knowledge, to view
knowledge from diverse ethnic and cultural perspective,
and to use knowledge to guide action that will create a
humane and just world (Boutte, 2008).
 Multicultural literacy then, brings attention to diversity,
equity and social justice to foster cultural awareness by
addressing difficult issues like discrimination and
oppression towards other ethnicities (Boutte, 2008).
 Education for multicultural literacy should help students
to develop the 21st century skills and attitudes that are
needed to become active citizens who will work toward
achieving social justice within communities. (Boutte).
 Boutte (2008) reiterated that making small changes
within the classrooms can create big changes globally.
 Banks (2003) asserted that teaching students to be
advocates of multiculturalism is also a matter of sending
a message of empathy and tolerance in schools to
develop a deeper understanding of others and
appreciation of different cultures.
 (Banks, 2003). Developing these attitudes and skills
requires basic knowledge prior to teaching students
how to question assumptions about cultural knowledge
and how to critique and critically think about these
important cultural issues, which is what essentially
makes multicultural literacy a 21 Century literacy.
 Global Literacy
 (Guo, 2014) Global literacy aims to address issues of
globalization, racism, diversity and social justice. It
requires awareness and action, consistent with a broad
understanding of humanity, the planet, and the impact
of a human decision on both. It also aims to empower
students with knowledge and take action to make a
positive impact in the world and their local community.
 According to the Ontario Ministry of Education (2015), a
global citizen should possess the following
characteristics:
 (1) respect for humans regardless of race,
gender, religion or political perspectives;
 (2) respect for diversity and various
perspectives;
 (3) promote sustainable patterns of living,
consumption, and production; and
 (4) appreciate the natural world and demonstrate
respect on the rights of all living things.
Interconnecting multicultural and global
literacy. Every classroom contains students of
different races, religions and cultural groups. Guo
(2014) averred that students embrace diverse
behaviors, cultural values, patterns of practice, and
communication, yet they all share one commonality,
which is their educational opportunity.
 As classrooms become increasingly more diverse, it is
important for educators to analyze and address
diversity issues and integrate multiculturalism
information into the classroom curriculum (Guo, 2014).
THE OECD GLOBAL COMPETENCE
FRAMEWORK
 The framework depicts the four
dimensions of global competence
encompassing the development of
knowledge of global attitude and
skills that flow along parameters of
attaining such competency.
 Global Competence
 The OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
developed a framework to explain, foster and assess students' global
competence. This design serves as a tool for policymakers, leaders
and teachers in fostering global competence among students
worldwide.
 Global competence is a multidimensional capacity. Therefore,
globally competent individuals can analyze and rationalize local,
global and intercultural issues, understand and appreciate different
perspectives and worldviews, interact successfully and respectfully
with others, and take responsible action toward sustainability and
collective well-being (OECD publication).
 Promoting global competence in schools.
 Schools play a crucial role in helping young people to develop global
competence. They can provide opportunities to critically examine
global developments that are significant to both the world and to their
own lives. They can teach students how to critically, effectively and
responsibly use digital information and social media platforms.
 Schools can encourage intercultural sensitivity and respect by allowing
students to engage in experiences that foster an appreciation for
diverse peoples, languages and cultures (Bennett, 1993; Sinicrope,
Norris and Watanabe, 2007). Schools are also positioned to enhance
students' ability to understand their place in the community and the
world and improve such ability to make judgments and take action
(Hanvey, 1975 in PISA, 2018).
The Need for
Global
Competence
 The following are the reasons why global competence.
1. To live harmoniously in multicultural communities. Education for global
competence can promote cultural awareness and purposeful interactions in
increasingly diverse societies (Brubacker and Laitin, 1998; Kymlicka, 1995;
Sen, 2007). People with diverse cultures are able to live peacefully, respect
differences, find common solutions, resolve conflicts and learn to live
together as global citizens (Delors, et. al., 1996; UNESCO, 2014b). Thus,
education can teach students the need to address cultural biases and
stereotypes.
2. To thrive in a changing labor market. Education for global competence
can boost employability through effective communication and appropriate
behavior within diverse teams using technology in accessing and connecting
to the world (British Council, 2013).
3. To use media platforms effectively and responsibly. Radical
transformations in digital technologies have shaped young people's outlook
on the world, their interaction with others and their perception of
themselves. Online networks, social media and interactive technologies
give rise to new concepts of learning, wherein young people exercise to
take their freedom on what and how they learn (Zuckerman, 2014).

4. To support the sustainable development goals. Education for global

competence can help form new generations who care about global issues
and engage in social, political, economic and environmental discussions.
e their freedom on what and how they learn (Zuckerman, 2014).
 Dimensions of Global
Competence: Implications
to Education
 Education for global competence is founded on the ideas of different
models of global education, such as intercultural education, global
citizenship education and education for democratic citizenship
(UNESCO, 2014a; Council of Europe, 2016a)
 Despite differences in focus and scope, these models share a
common goal of promoting students' understanding of the world and
empower them to express their views and participate in the society.
PISA proposes a new perspective on the definition and assessment of
global competence that will help policy makers and school leaders
create learning resources and curricula that integrate global
competence as a multifaceted cognitive, socio-emotional and civic
learning goal (Boix Mansilla, 2016).
 PISA proposes a new perspective on the definition and assessment of
global competence that will help policy makers and school leaders
create learning resources and curricula that integrate global
competence as a multifaceted cognitive, socio-emotional and civic
learning goal (Boix Mansilla, 2016).
 This definition outlines four
dimensions of global competence
that people need to apply in their
everyday life just like students
from different cultural
backgrounds are working
together on school projects.
Dimension 1: Examine issues of local,
global and cultural significance
- This dimension refers to globally competent people's
practices of effectively utilizing knowledge about the
world and critical reasoning in forming their own
opinion about a global issue.

- Globally competent people effectively use and create

both traditional and digital media (Boix Mansilla and
Jackson, 2011).
Dimension 2: Understand and appreciate
the perspectives and world views of
others
- This dimension highlights that globally competent people
are willing and capable of considering other people's
perspectives and behaviors from multiple viewpoints to
examine their own assumptions.

- They retain their cultural identity while becoming aware

of the cultural values and beliefs of people around them
(Fennes and Hapgood, 1997).
Dimension 3: Engage in open, appropriate
and effective interactions across cultures
- This dimension describes what globally competent
individuals can do when they interact with people from
different cultures.

- It emphasizes individuals' capacity to interact with others

across differences in ways that are open, appropriate and
effective (Barrett, et. al., 2014).
Dimension 4: Take action for collective
well-being and sustainable development
- This dimension focuses on young people's role as
active and responsible members of society and refers to
individual's readiness to respond to a given local, global
or intercultural issue or situation.
The assessment strategy for global competence
The PISA 2018 assessment of global competence
contributes development, while considering challenges
and limitations. It has two components:

1) a cognitive test exclusively focused on the construct of

"global understanding"; and
2) a set of questionnaire items collecting self-reported
information on students' awareness on global issues and
cultures, skills (both cognitive and social) and attitudes, as
well as information from schools and teachers on activities
that promote global competence (OECD, 2018).
Curriculum for global competence: Knowledge, skills,
attitudes and values
Schools can provide opportunities for students to
explore complex global issues that they encounter
through media and their own experiences. The
curriculum should focus on four knowledge domains:

(1) culture and intercultural relations;

(2) socio-economic development and interdependence;
(3) environmental sustainability; and
(4) global institutions, conflicts and human rights.
Skills to understand the world and to take
action
Global competence builds on specific cognitive,
communication and socio-emotional skills.
Effective education for global competence gives
students the opportunity to mobilize and use their
knowledge, attitudes, skills and values together
while sharing ideas on global issues in and
outside of school or interacting with people from
different cultural backgrounds.
 Knowledge about the world and other
cultures
Global competence is supported by the knowledge of
global issues that affect lives locally and around the
globe, as well as intercultural knowledge, or knowledge
about the similarities, differences and relations among
cultures. This knowledge helps people to challenge
misinformation and stereotypes about other countries
and people, and thus, results in intolerance and
oversimplified representations of the world.
This can be done through the following
strategies (OECD, 2018):

Perspective-taking refers to the cognitive and social

skills of understanding how other people think and feel.

Adaptability refers to the ability to adapt systems

thinking and behaviors to the prevailing cultural
environment, or to situations and contexts that can
present new demands or challenges.
 Openness, respect for diversity and
global-mindedness
Globally competent behavior requires an attitude of
openness towards people from other cultural
backgrounds, an attitude of respect for cultural
differences and an attitude of global-mindedness. Such
attitudes can be fostered explicitly through
participatory and learner- centered teaching, as well as
through a curriculum characterized by fair practices
and an accommodating school climate for all students.
 Openness toward people from other cultural backgrounds
involves sensitivity towards curiosity about and willingness
to engage with other people and other perspectives on the
world (Byram, 2008; Council of Europe, 2016a).
 Respect consists of a positive regard for someone based on
judgment of intrinsic worth. It assumes the dignity of all
human beings and their inalienable right to choose their
own affiliations, beliefs, opinions or practices (Council of
Europe, 2016a).
 Global-mindedness is defined as a worldview, in which one
sees him/herself connected to the community and feels a
sense of responsibility for its members (Hansen, 2010).
 Valuing human dignity and diversity
Valuing human dignity and valuing cultural diversity
contribute to global competence because they
constitute critical filters through which individuals
process information about other cultures and decide
how to engage with others and the world. Hence,
people, who cultivate these values, become more
aware of themselves and their surroundings, and are
strongly motivated to fight against exclusion,
ignorance, violence, oppression and war.
Clapham (2006) introduced the four aspects of
valuing equality of core rights and dignity. To wit:

(1)the prohibition of all types of inhuman treatment,

humiliation or degradation by one person over another;
(2) the assurance of the possibility for individual choice and
the conditions for each individual's self-fulfillment, autonomy
or self- realization;
(3) the recognition that protection of group identity and
culture may be essential for that of personal dignity; and
(4) the creation of necessary conditions to have the essential
needs satisfied.
 Global understanding
Understanding is the ability to use knowledge to
find meaning and connection between different
pieces of information and perspectives.
The framework distinguishes four interrelated cognitive
processes that globally competent students need to use
to understand fully global or intercultural issues and
situations (OECD, 2018).
1. The capacity to evaluate information, formulate
arguments and explain complex situations and
problems by using and connecting evidence,
identifying biases and gaps in information and
managing conflicting arguments
2. The capacity to analyze multiple perspectives
and worldviews, positioning and connecting their
own and others' perspectives on the world
3. The capacity to understand differences in
communication, recognizing the importance of
socially appropriate communication and adapting it
to the demands of diverse cultural contexts.
4. The capacity to evaluate actions and
consequences by identifying and comparing
different courses of action and weighing actions on
the basis of consequences.
Integrating Global and Intercultural Issues
in the Curriculum
For global education to translate abstraction into action,
there is a need to integrate global issues and topics into
existing subjects (Klein, 2013; UNESCO, 2014). In
practice, content knowledge related to global
competence is integrated in the curriculum and taught in
specific courses. Therefore, students can understand
those issues across ages, starting in early childhood when
presenting them in developmentally appropriate ways
(Boix Mansilla and Jackson, 2011; UNESCO, 2015).
 Gaudel (2006) affirmed that teachers must have
clear Ideas on global and intercultural issues that
students may reflect on.

 Curricula should promote the integration of

knowledge of other people, prices and
perspectives in the classroom throughout the year
(UNESCO, 2014a), rather than using a "tourist
approach", or giving students a superficial
glimpse of life in different countries now and then.
 Textbooks and other instructional materials
can also distort cultural and ethnic differences
(Gay, 2015).

 People learn better and become more

engaged when they get connected with the
content and when they see its relevance to
their lives and their immediate environment
(Suárez- Orozco and Todorova, 2008).
Pedagogies for promoting global
competence
Various student-centered pedagogies can help
students develop critical thinking along global
issues, respectful communication, conflict
management skills, perspective taking and
adaptability.
 Group-based cooperative project work can
improve reasoning and collaborative skills. It
involves topic or theme-based tasks suitable for
various levels and ages, in which goals and
content are negotiated and learners can create
their own learning materials that they present
and evaluate together. Learners, participating in
cooperative tasks, soon would realize that to be
efficient, they need to be respectful, attentive,
honest and empathic (Barrett, et. al., 2014).
 Class discussion is an interactive approach that
encourages proactive listening and responding
to ideas expressed by peers. By exchanging
views in the classroom, students learn that there
is no single right answer to a problem,
understand the reasons why others hold different
views and reflect on the origins of their own
beliefs (Ritchhart, et. al., 2011).
 Service learning is another tool that can help
students develop multiple global skills through real-
world experience. This requires learners to
participate in organized activities that are based on
what has been learned in the classroom and that
benefit their communities.
 Through service learning. students not only "serve
to learn," which is applied learning, but also "learn
to serve" (Bringle, et. al., 2016).
 The Story Circle Approach intends students to
practice key intercultural skills, including
respect, cultural self-awareness and empathy
(Deardorff, n.d.).
The students, in groups of 5-6, take turns sharing a 3-minute
story from their own experience based on specific prompts,
such as "Tell us about your first experience when you
encountered someone who was different from you in some
ways." After all students in the group have shared their
personal stories, students then, share the most memorable
point from each story in a "flash back" activity.
 Attitudes and values integration toward
global competence
Allocating teaching time to a specific subject that deals
with human rights issues and non-discrimination is an
important initial step in cultivating values for global
competence.

Therefore, recognizing the school and classroom

environments' influence on developing students' values
would help teachers become more aware of the impact of
their teaching on students (Gay, 2015).
THANKS!
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