The effects of an institute on global education on teachers' knowledge of and attitudes toward global education

Oram, Sandra D. (1994) The effects of an institute on global education on teachers' knowledge of and attitudes toward global education. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Many teachers seek guidance to help them prepare their pupils to deal with the ever-changing realities of our world. In response to this need, the Newfoundland Global Education Project, Sharing the Planet, developed a six-week global education institute for Newfoundland teachers during the 1992 Summer Session of Memorial University of Newfoundland. This study attempted to determine the effects of that institute on teachers' knowledge of and attitudes toward global education. Specifically four questions were posed: 1) Was there a change, during the course, in participants' attitudes toward incorporating objectives that reflect a global perspective into their teaching. 2) Was there a change, during the course, in the opinions of participants with respect to: a) the curricular elements they consider necessary for the effective implementation of global education into the school curriculum; b) their perceived level of competence in those teaching strategies which are recommended for teaching from a global perspective; and c) the institutional factors which they consider to be positive or negative influences in trying to implement a global perspective into the curriculum? 3) Was there a difference between definitions of global education written by participants at the end of the course from those written at the beginning? 4) What components of the course did the participants feel were most worthwhile in helping them gain a clearer understanding of how to teach with a global perspective? To determine the answers to these questions the study utilized a pretest-posttest control-group design. Major findings of the study were: a) during the course participants developed a more favourable attitude toward incorporating global education objectives into their teaching; b) students felt they had developed competence in a number of teaching strategies recommended for global education; c) while the participants recognized the necessity of global education at all levels of the school curriculum, they were ambivalent as to whether global education should be the responsibility of all school subjects or only the social studies; d) concerns were also expressed by the participants with respect to the negative influence of institutional factors such as availability of instructional and preparation time; and e) the definitions of global education written by the participants became more elaborated and refined by the completion of the course. Overall, participants indicated the institute was very beneficial in developing their level of understanding of and competence in global education. They also recommended that a course such as this one should be required of all teachers.

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