Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies: Home

Abstract:
The College of Education and Professional Studies at UWW produces the largest number of teacher educators in the state of Wisconsin. While we are proud of this "local" achievement, we also understand that changing demographics have created international classrooms and communities in which our graduates live and work. Several faculty members in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction are developing an interdisciplinary global education major. At the most fundamental level, it considers the role and purpose of education in developing individuals and societies highlighting the role of the educator in a globalized world. The global education major will seek to prepare leaders to critically explore and deconstruct perspectives to increase their leadership capacity in schools and communities around the world. The idea for the global education major has emerged as a response to the growing economic, political, and socio-cultural interdependency between countries and stronger connections between local and global communities that shape educational organizations. New immigration patterns, the growth of information and communication technologies, and competitive global markets permeate geopolitical borders having implications for educational practices. Further, a growing awareness of global impacts, necessitates an immediate response from institutions of higher education in the preparation of leadership for this interdependent global reality. To this end, the paper highlights challenges and lessons learned in creating a global education major that focuses on the role of the educator and of education in shaping societies.

Keywords: global education, global competencies, higher education

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