Education Leaders Share Best Practices at Global Competence Symposium in Tokyo

TOKYO, March 9, 2018 — Educators, education leaders, policymakers, and business leaders convened in Tokyo yesterday for the Global Competence Symposium, co-hosted by the Center for Global Education at Asia Society, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the University of Tokyo, and the Japan Innovative Schools Network, and with support from the Benesse Corporation and Center for Research and Educational Testing.

The symposium shared key findings from Teaching for Global Competence in a Rapidly Changing World, a new publication from the Center for Global Education and OECD that was released at the 2018 Education World Forum in January. The publication sets forward a new framework for global competence and provides practical guidance and examples of how educators can embed global competence into their existing curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Speakers at the symposium included Tony Jackson, director of the Center for Global Education at Asia Society; Andreas Schleicher, director for Education and Skills at OECD; Kan Suzuki, member of the Center for Global Education Advisory Council, and chief policy officer for Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; Shinichi Yamanaka, former Japanese vice minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; and Kiyomi Akita, professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Education.

Also present were representatives from the Hiroshima Board of Education and Kaetsu High School. Hiroshima was featured in the publication as an example of how educators are embedding global competence into their exiting curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Suzuki, a former State Minister of Education for Japan, iterated the importance of global competence education as a unifying force for peace and understanding during the symposium: “Global competence isn’t just about speaking each other’s languages, it’s about a community of shared values that need to be taught to children wherever they are.”

Schleicher agreed, saying, “Global competence is about engaging people who think differently than you, about living and working with people who are different than you.”

The OECD and the Center for Global Education have worked with academics, educators, and stakeholders in the global education field over several years to define global competence for primary and secondary education. In 2018, OECD will assess global competence for the first time as part of its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The Center for Global Education has extensive experience supporting educators to integrate global competence into their teaching and is now turning its attention to the questions raised at the forum regarding implementation, scale, and building capacity. For the first time, its model for integrating global competence will be available in an online, accessible format for any teacher or school around the world. Previously only available to partner schools, the Center has partnered with Arizona State University to offer a series of professional development courses on teaching for global competence. The first six courses launched in early February, and four more will launch in late March 2018.

For more information about the global competence framework and the report, please contact Alexis Menten: amenten@asiasociety.org.