Challenge 1

How does globalisation challenge us as professionals in education?

 What do you see as the 3 biggest challenges in the world today? How can you work on that as a professional?

On top of all problems are the disagreements in and between countries all over the world. That means not only the struggles between the citzens of those countries, but also the cultural struggles between two or more countries. The problem is that in many countries little disagrrements grow to war and influence the whole world.
For me as a professional it is very difficult to work on that problem, because there is no real solution. I think it is important that children get the awareness of social and cultural differences. Me as a teacher sholud help them to improve their intercultural competence and their tolerance. Furthermore it is really important that young people get in touch with othe cultures to decrease prejudices. Teachers have many possibilities to arrange projects were pupils can get this contact. In such projects the children must learn and realise the similarities between their country or culture and the other one. Only then they improve tolerance and there grows a new generation where not so many disagrrements can be found.
Another big problem is the poverty in the world. Connected to that is the huge gap between rich and poor countries.  To make children aware of that problem, teachers should start in the neighbourhood or in the area the children live in. Firstly the kids must learn that it is important to support others and they have to learn that there exist many differences.It is another point where children need to work on their tolerance concerning people who are different to them. A good thing for working on that problem is, to compare the lives of the children, e.g. with the lives of their classmates, then of the pupils that live in another area of the country and last with children from very poor countries. The children need to draw parallels to the others. Only then are they able to work on their tolerance.As teachers we have to be aware of the fact that it will not be possible to solve this problem of poverty, but we can try to expand the children's conciousness.

group work

Thirdly there is the problem of the environment. Because of the people's behaviour in all industrial countires, the environment has to bear the consequences, e.g. the global warming. Concerning this problem we as professionals have many points to work on with children. That concerns all the things that make them aware of their environment. For working on that, many projects can help. Children should learn how to live a healthy live, as well as take care of their environment. Me as a primary school teacher should start at a very low level, e.g. how to seperate your waste, how to use heating economically. In higher classes it is possible to exchange ideas together with people of other countries, e.g. via the Internet.