Internationalizing Early Childhood Curriculum

Foundations of Global Competence

Nancy Brown

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781351971577
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Internationalizing Early Childhood Curriculum empowers teachers and directors to internationalize their curriculums around the world in their own unique and culturally specific ways. Serving as a guide and catalyst for thinking about curriculum in our interconnected world, this book explores how young children learn about the world and describes how children develop intercultural understanding, including how their teachers transform to expand their own global awareness and citizenship. Stories from actual classroom curriculum projects are featured, as well as suggested strategies and stages for the process of implementation. Exploring the implications for teacher education and professional development, this book gives readers the tools they need to bring internationalization into their own programs.

Designed to apply to formal and informal early childhood centers across the spectrum, Internationalizing Early Childhood Curriculum is essential reading for professional developers and trainers, as well as classroom teachers, directors, policy-makers and NGO professionals providing early childhood services in the U.S. and around the world.

1 Why International? Why Now? A Theoretical Rationale

At this moment in history, there is a convergence of ideas and initiatives that point the way to a new and expanded vision for early childhood curriculum, reflecting the content and process of modern life that young children from birth to five years are experiencing. They are literally living in a world where knowledge is transferring across borders because technology and globalization are here to stay and continue to expand exponentially. There is a demand for an increasingly global workforce, and more people are crossing borders than ever before. International policy initiatives, representing collaboration among the global community of nations, have identified educational goals for all the world’s children. Advances in neuroscience research have resulted in innovative and more effective instructional strategies, and have demonstrated the indisputable importance of the years from birth to five years. It is time for early childhood curriculum to be reformulated to incorporate 21st-century skills and dispositions. The terms “global citizen” and “global competence” will need to be revisited and refined according to the cultural context of each early childhood setting. Intelligently, deliberately, and honestly, we can internationalize early childhood curriculum and support children in developing the components of global competence that will lead to active and productive global citizenship.

The educational philosopher David Hansen posed the question, “What does it mean to be a teacher in a globalized world?” (Hansen, 2001, p.3). How do we prepare young children for the world of the future? When we reflect on our classrooms and our curriculums, we realize that something has to change, to expand, and to transform. We definitely need self-reflection as well. Are teachers global citizens, too? Early childhood teachers have previously focused on helping young children to become good local and national citizens; now citizenship should include understanding and participating in the local, national, and world communities. We are adding a new dimension to our teaching practice by internationalizing our curriculums and understanding the different factors that are operating in the world and in our profession.

Technology in Context and Shared Knowledge

Early childhood educators are quite aware that young children today live in a very different world than children of past generations. There are economic and political disparities, and children are educated within their specific socio-political and historical contexts, in different countries and regions of the world. Dahlberg, Moss and Pence (1999) describe childhood as a construct that is situated in a range of places, cultures, and times, and that is understood and lived differently depending on class, gender and social and economic conditions. Yvette Murphy (2017) states that interdependence is central in education today, and that teachers play a pivotal role in helping children to understand how they are interconnected with the world. Joel Spring (2015) enumerates four world models of education, including economic, progressive, religious and indigenous models for organizing and implementing curriculum. However, teachers of young children know that no matter what the required model or curriculum regulation, children will be children, and teachers respond to the behaviors and attitudes that young children exhibit in their early childhood classrooms. Globally, Ministries of Education have developed standards for early childhood learning and curriculum, and there are pre-packaged curriculums that claim to be evidence-based and, therefore, valuable and marketable. But something is missing, something has changed, and young children express new understandings and observations of their lived experiences. Their voices are essential, as is their right to know and understand the world around them, regardless of their circumstances. A social constructivist theoretical approach is beneficial because it allows for the active and ongoing creation of local knowledge and a situationally specific, dialogic construction of a world view. Knowledge is now global; it moves around the world. Technology provides a window on the world and the range of content imagery and knowledge is transferred across borders. Early childhood education’s content knowledge is transforming, and teachers are watching as children express themselves and learn continuously with excitement and wonder. Young children influence each other as well. Globalization has rigorously and permanently influenced what we and our children define as knowledge, and we are scrambling to keep pace with the onslaught and proliferation of changes.

The availability of technology varies on a continuum from abundance to no access at all, frequently referred to as the “digital divide”. In countries where technology is readily available, television and radio bring global information directly into children’s homes, and fast-paced and changing technology has become a natural part of children’s daily lives. We are definitely living in the information age, with many children exposed to iPads, iPhones, YouTube, Skype, Facebook, and Twitter, apps of all kinds, video games, Google, websites, and online learning activities. Movies designed for young children constitute a lucrative market and are exported around the world. Technology has changed the way young children think about and process knowledge content because in their schools and at home, they are exposed visually to non-present locations and ideas, and time is often compressed. In our classrooms, children engage in dramatic play that demonstrates their exposure to the world through media and through direct travel experiences. They play what they know and they try to make sense of the information they’re exposed to. For example, children may view earthquakes, floods, and armed conflict happening all around the world on television, and they openly play and discuss these issues spontaneously in school. Sometimes they see relatives in other countries, and they can even celebrate family celebrations together via Skype. They know there are other countries and that different languages are spoken, although they don’t necessarily always comprehend what is being said unless translation is provided.

Children with limited or no access to technology at home may have access in their schools or libraries, perhaps in a restricted fashion. Depending on what forms of technology are being accessed, young children are exposed to imagery and ideas that may or may not match their cultural context. It is possible that in some places young children see images of economically privileged families in other countries and begin to learn consumerist behaviors. In many countries, media is truly reflective of the cultural context and mirrors the population, whether diverse or mono-cultural. Children may learn what is promoted and what comprises the “good life”, and they may identify with television characters and/ or national and international heroes. They construct and try to make sense of their worlds through play in blocks, with dolls, through artmaking, and especially in their interactions with other children in communities. Their conversations demonstrate their growing understandings and misunderstandings of the world. In some parts of the world, children and families unfortunately do not have access to technology. However, there are individuals, companies and organizations working toward providing technology and lowering the cost of computers; increased technology access is anticipated and hoped for in the future.

Children often live in neighborhoods that are filled with diverse groups of people, and because of advances of technology, they have greater access to people who live thousands of miles away. Young children are developing rapidly, cognitively and socially, and their understandings of the world are changing every day. Technology is a major influence. Teachers are encouraged to integrate technology into our curriculums, and to the amazement of teachers, young children either know all about iPads, smartphones and apps, and how to use them, or they learn extremely quickly. In his book titled Technology and Digital Media in the Early Years, editor Chip Donohue (2015) highlights the importance of developmentally appropriate and intentional use of technology in classrooms with young children and emphasizes the interactive dimension for optimal learning. Technology can be a major tool for internationalizing early childhood curriculum, for helping children to learn that knowledge is global and accessible and that people and ideas are connected all around the world. Technology can be a tool for investigation and research by and for children, and it can be a real window on the world.

The International Community: Global Education First; the Sustainable Development Goals

The international community, comprised of all the countries of the world and generally organized around the United Nations and its agencies, is basically focused on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and children’s rights in particular. International frameworks and initiatives provide goals and serve as a guide for the world’s children, and they are implemented differently in each region and country. In 1990, almost all of the nations of the world dignified and promoted children’s rights by signing onto the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ensuring a global process for protecting children’s rights. It has been highly successful. Global policies and guidelines sometimes trickle down to the local level, and sometimes they do not. The primacy of local cultures is at best blended “on the ground” with international initiatives which are intended to serve as guideposts for policies and programs.

Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, former Secretary General of the United Nations, in his Global Education First Initiative, identified global citizenship as one of the essential goals for all the world’s children (Ban 2012b). This priority was based on the thought that “education must be transformative and bring shared values to life. It must cultivate an active care for the world and for those with whom we share it.” To promote global citizenship, we need to “create a generation that values the common good. We must understand how children see the world today – and our schools must foster a broader vision” (Ban 2012b).

Teachers of young children should carefully consider the Secretary General’s call for promoting global citizenship because:

• Young children have access to knowledge and to knowledge sharing on a global scale
• Due to the increase in worldwide interactions and relationships, children must learn how to share experiences and communicate with people of different cultural backgrounds
• The skills needed to participate actively in a global world must be practiced early in life, from birth to five years of age, when the brain is developing rapidly
• Young children bring global issues into the classroom
• Our world is interconnected and we are socially, culturally and economically connected
• The future workforce is and will continue to be increasingly global and competitive.

In fall 2015 at the United Nations, after a two-year international collaborative and inclusive process, the countries of the world voted upon and approved the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as guiding global principles for development. This was a ground-breaking event because the SDGs replaced the former Millennium Development Goals and set goals for the world to achieve by 2030. Education was designated as essential and of central importance, and for the first time, early childhood education was included. Goal Four on quality education is recognized as the driving force for implementation of the other 16 goals because without education, none of the SDGs can be actualized. The significance of the SDGs for teachers, families, children, and all of society cannot be denied. These are positive, life-affirming, and clear goals that will benefit everyone. We are all interconnected, and so the SDGs all inter-relate and are interdependent. Each goal has sub-goals or targets that further clarify what needs to happen by 2030. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are:

• No poverty
• Zero hunger
• Good health and well-being
• Quality education
• Gender equality
• Clean water and sanitation
• Affordable and clean energy
• Decent work and economic growth
• Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• Reduced inequalities
• Sustainable cities and communities
• Responsible consumption and production
• Climate action
• Life below water
• Life on land
• Peace, justice and strong institutions
• Partnerships for the goals.

All the goals impact directly on education and have particular relevance for early childhood curriculum content. It makes sense to address these topics as curriculum projects or themes, at the appropriate developmental level for children from birth to five years. The children in our classrooms today will grow into the adults who will help solve these problems in a very real sense in the world. At a young age, they are learning not only the “what” of curriculum content, but they are also learning the “how” of creative problem solving, essential for the betterment of society. Everyone would benefit if young children started learning about the SDGs at an early age. Descriptions of how this happened in the classrooms in our school will be discussed in Chapter 3 of this book. The SDGs may be integrally related to early childhood curriculum content today and in the future. Early childhood programs anywhere in the world will define their own goals and educational processes, and the international goals of the SDGs and Education First should be debated and discussed in terms of relevance, meaning and cultural specificity.

What is Global Competence and Citizenship for Young Children, Teachers, and Directors?

I have served as United Nations representative for the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI), and I have participated consistently over the years in the Committee on Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN). In fall 2013, I attended a participatory meeting of educators where it was stated that young children most likely cannot understand and identify themselves as global citizens until they are nine years old. In my years of classroom teaching and college level teaching, it had become apparent that was absolutely not the case. I currently serve as faculty in residence at an early childhood demonstration school where I have observed young children sharing their developing international awareness, but I never previously called it global citizenship. Based on my work as a teacher and director for many years in a range of early childhood settings in different communities, I know that young children talk about global issues starting with the beginnings of language and social development. That meeting in 2013 was a turning point and wake-up call for me, and I realized that this would be a significant topic for research. I realized that it is important to consciously internationalize curriculum in order for children to become global citizens. And then I had to question further, “What is global citizenship in our classrooms and schools?” What does this really mean? In an age of fast paced globalization and information exchange, is the currently fashionable term “global citizen” merely a new buzzword and rallying point?

The eminent educator John Dewey was particularly concerned with the idea of education for citizenship, and he linked this idea to preparing future citizens in a democracy. Dewey believed that in order for a society to develop citizenry, it had to begin with the education of children (Noddings, 2012, p.37). The concept of “cosmopolitanism”, a perspective that regards the world as a focus for citizenship and mutual concern, is not new and has its basis in history. (Noddings, 2012, p.218). Hansen states that cosmopolitanism is an orientation wherein people learn from one another “even while retaining the integrity and continuity of their distinct ways of being.” (Hansen, 2011, p.1) The connection of global competence and citizenship with education has been historically integrated into educational systems and their development. Woodrow and Press “advocate for the early childhood institution as a site for the authentic enactment of children’s citizenship and a space in which a critical democracy is evident and nurtured” (Woodrow and Press, 2008, p.99). Gaudelli (2016) reminds us that there is no one definition of global citizenship because there are numerous worldviews, inequalities, and purposes for global citizenship education. In our classrooms, we can provide democratic learning activities to ensure that young children learn that they are connected to each other, that they respect and appreciate each other, and that they follow mutually agreed upon rules. However, when we think about and conceptualize the world, what are the undergirding ideas that frame our discourse and understanding? How do we know the world? Where and how is that knowledge created?

Several modern educational theorists have attempted to define global citizenship for children. Margaret Collins includes six aspects of global citizenship: basic needs, environmental issues, fairness, exploring various cultures, democracy, and global issues (Collins, 2008, p.7). Marjorie Ebbeck describes it this way: “We have to build into everything we do with our children the perspective of globalization and the future. Theirs is a new world community and children have to be participants in its planning” (Ebbeck, 2006, p.355). Ebbeck recognizes that children not only respond to the present, but they create the future and they bring their global understandings to the task. One can therefore conclude that teachers, through their actions in the classroom, actively create the future, too. Yet a clear definition of global citizenship for young children seems elusive.

The question still remains – what characterizes global competence and citizenship for young children? Should we define global identity through the eyes of children only? Alternatively, should we as teachers, struggle together to define these terms in our own ways, in our educational settings? Some of the following ideas may help us think more deeply about these complex concepts.

Three Levels of Identity

Social studies curriculum goals formulated by de Melendez, Beck, and Fletcher (2000, p.9) suggest that young children can develop a triple sense of identity, as follows:

• Individual identity – a confident sense of self, family belonging and connection with the cultural background in which the child was brought up
• National identity – acknowledgement and pride in the child’s country and seeing the self as a citizen of that nation
• Global identity – awareness of the...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Why International? Why Now? A Theoretical Rationale
• 2. Guidelines for Internationalizing Early Childhood Curriculum
• 3. Stories from the Classrooms
• 4. Transformational Portraits
• 5. Children’s Voices and Artistic Expressions
• 6. Conclusions, Recommendations and Reflections
• Bibliography
• Index