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MODULE 5:
Multicultural and global literacy
Learning
1. Discuss global and multicultural literacy
2. Illustrate the Global Competence Framework
3. Explain the dimensions of multiculturalism
4. Elucidate on the assessment strategy for global confidence and global
understanding
5. Present effective ways on how to integrate global multiculturalism in the lesson
using appropriate delivery strategies, instructional materials and assessment tools.
6. Draw relevant life lessons and significant values from personal experience in
demonstrating multicultural literacy
7. Analyze research abstract on global and multicultural literacy and its
implications on the teaching-learning process
8. Draft relevant policy in addressing multiculturalism in school

As schools cater to diverse students in class, be it in

Concept terms of gender, color, race, nationality, religious
affiliations, cultural, beliefs, ethnic groups, social-
economic status, etc., teachers need to understand the concept of multicultural
literacy to come up with appropriate approaches in school.

Multicultural Literacy
Multicultural literacy consists of the skills and ability to identify the
creators of knowledge and their interests (Banks, 1996) to reveal the
assumptions of knowledge, to view knowledge from diverse ethnic and
cultural perspective, and to use knowledge to guide action that will create
a humane and just world (Boutte, 2008).

Multicultural literacy then, brings attention to diversity, equity and

social justice to foster cultural awareness by addressing difficult issues like
discrimination and oppression towards others ethnicities (Boutte, 2008).

Accordingly, education for multicultural literacy should help students

to develop the 21st century skills and attitudes that are needed to
become active citizens who will work toward achieving social justice within
communities. Because of the growing racial, language and ethnic diversity
in the country, multicultural literacy needs to be transformed in
substantial ways to prepare students to function effectively in the 21st
Century (Boutte). 1|Page
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Boutte (2008) reiterated that making small changes within the

classrooms can create big changes globally. As diversity grows, there is a
need for the emergence of multicultural education that is more
representative of the students in today's classrooms. Banks (2003) asserted
that teaching students to be advocates of multiculturalism is also a matter
of sending a message of empathy and tolerance in schools to develop a
deeper understanding of others and appreciation of different cultures.
Developing these attitudes and skills requires basic knowledge prior to
teaching students how to question assumptions about cultural knowledge
and how to critique and critically think about these important cultural
issues, which is what essentially makes multicultural literacy a 21st
Century literacy (Banks, 2003).

Global Literacy
Global literacy aims to address issues of globalization, racism,
diversity and social justice (Guo, 2014). It requires awareness and action,
consistent with a broad understanding of humanity, the planet, and the
impact of human decision on both. It also aims to empower students
with knowledge and take action to make a positive impact in the world and
their local community (Guo, 2014).

According to the Ontario Ministry of Education (2015), a global

citizen should possess the following characteristics: (1) respect for humans
regardless of race, gender, religion or political perspectives; (2) respect for
diversity and various perspectives; (3) promote sustainable patterns of
living, consumption, and production; and (4) appreciate the natural world
and demonstrate respect on the rights of all living things.

Interconnecting multicultural and global literacy. Every

classroom contains students of different races, religious and cultural
groups. Guo (2014) averred that students embrace diverse behaviors,
cultural values, patterns of practice, and communication, yet they all share
one commonality, which is their educational opportunity.

Therefore, teachers should teach their students that other cultures

exist and that these deserve to be acknowledged and respected.
Integrating a variety of cultural context into lessons and activities
teaches students to view the world from many angles, creates respect for
diversity and enables students to learn exciting information. As classrooms
become increasingly more diverse, it is important for educators to analyze
and address diversity issues and integrate multiculturalism information into
the classroom curriculum (Guo, 2014).

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The OECD Global Competence Framework

(Source: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisa-2018-global-competence.htm)

The framework depicts the four dimensions of global competence

encompassing the development of knowledge, values, attitude and skills
that flow along parameters of attaining such competency.

Global Competence
The desire to participate in interconnected, complex and diverse
societies has become a pressing need. Recognizing the roles of schools in
preparing the youth to participate in the world, the OECD's Program for
International Student Assessment (PISA) developed a framework to explain,
foster and assess students' global competence. This design serves as a
tool for policymakers, leaders and teachers in fostering global competence
among students worldwide.

Global competence is a multidimensional capacity. Therefore,

globally competent individuals can analyze and rationalize local, global and
intercultural issues, understand and appreciate different perspectives and
worldviews, interact successfully and respectfully with others, and take
responsible action toward sustainability and collective well-being (OECD
publication).

Global competence refers to skills, values and behaviors that prepare

young people to thrive in a diverse, interconnected and rapidly changing
world. It is the ability to become engaged citizens and collaborative
problem solvers who are ready for the workplace.

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Promoting global competence in schools. Schools play a

crucial role in helping young people to develop global competence. They
can provide opportunities to critically examine global developments that
are significant to both the world and to their own lives. They can teach
students how critically, effectively and responsibly use digital
information and social media platforms.

Schools can encourage intercultural sensitivity and respect by

allowing students to engage in experiences that foster an appreciation for
diverse peoples, languages and cultures (Bennett, 1993; Sinicrope, Norris
and Watanabe, 2007). Schools are also positioned to enhance students'
ability to understand their place in the community and the world and
improve such ability to make judgements and take action (Hanvey, 1975 in
PISA, 2018).

The Need for Global Competence

The following are the reasons why global competence is
necessary.
1. To live harmoniously in multicultural communities. Education
for global competence can promote cultural awareness and purposeful
interactions in increasingly diverse societies (Brubacker and Latin, 1999;
Kymlicka, 1995; Sen, 2007). People with diverse cultures are able to live
peacefully, respect differences, find common solutions, resolve conflicts
and learn to live together as global citizens (Delors, et al., 1996; UNESCO,
2014b). Thus, education can teach students the need to address cultural
biases and stereotypes.

2. To thrive in a changing labor market. Education for global

competence can boost employability through effective communication and
appropriate behavior within diverse teams using technology in accessing
and connecting to the world (British Council, 2013).

3. To use media platforms effectively and responsibly. Radical

transformations in digital technologies have shaped young people's
outlook on the world, their interaction with others and their perception of
themselves. Online networks, social media and interactive technologies
give rise to new concepts of learning, wherein young people exercise to
take their freedom on what and how they learn (Zuckerman, 2014).

4. To support the sustainable development goals. Education for

global competence can help form new generations who care about global
issues and engage in social, political, economic and environmental
discussions.

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Dimension of Global Competence: Implications to Education

Education for global competence is founded on the ideas of different
models of global education, such as intercultural education, global
citizenship education and education for democratic citizenship (UNESCO,
2014a; Council of Europe, 2016a)

Despite differences in focus and scope, these models share a

common goal of promoting students' understanding of the world and
empower them to express their views and participate in the society.
PISA proposes a new perspective on the definition and assessment of
global competence that will help policy makers and school leaders
create learning resources and curricula that integrate global
competence as a multifaceted cognitive, socio- emotional and civic
learning goal (Boix Mansilla, 2016).

This definition outlines four dimensions of global competence that

people need to apply in their everyday life just like students from different
cultural backgrounds are working together on school projects.

Dimension 1:
Examine issues of local, global and cultural significance
This dimension refers to globally competent people's practices of
effectively utilizing knowledge about the world and critical reasoning in
forming their own opinion about a global issue. People, who acquire a
mature level of development in this dimension, use higher-order thinking
skills, such as selecting and weighing appropriate evidence to support
arguments about global developments. Most likely, globally competent
students can draw on and combine the disciplinary knowledge and thinking
styles learned in schools to ask questions, analyze date and propositions,
explain phenomena, and develop a position concerning a local, global or
cultural issue. Hence, globally competent people effectively use and create
both traditional and digital media (Boix Mansilla and Jackson, 2011).

Dimension 2:
Understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others
This dimension highlights that globally competent people are
willing and capable of considering other people's perspectives and
behaviors from multiple viewpoints to examine their own assumptions. This
in turn, implies a profound respect for and interest in others with their
concept of reality and emotions. Individuals with this competence also
consider and appreciate the connections that enable them to bridge in
differences and create common ground. They retain thier cultural identity
while becoming aware of the

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cultural values and beliefs of people around them (Fennes and

Hapgood, 1997).

Dimension 3:
Engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions across cultures

This dimension describes what globally competent individuals can do

when they interact with people from different cultures. They understand
the cultural norms, interactive styles and degrees of formality of
intercultural contexts, and they can flexibly adapt their behavior and
communication manner through respectful dialog even with marginalized
groups. Therefore, it emphasizes Individuals capacity to interact with
others across differences in ways that are open, appropriate and effective
(Barrett, et. al., 2014).

Dimension 4:
Take action for collective well-being and sustainable development

This dimension focuses on young people's role as active and

responsible members of society and refers to individual’s readiness to
respond to a given local, global or intercultural issue or situation. It
recognizes that young people have multiple realms of influence ranging
from personal and local to digital and global. Globally competent people
create opportunities to get engaged to improve living conditions in their
communities and build a just, peaceful, inclusive and an environmentally
sustainable world.

The assessment strategy for global competence

The PISA 2018 assessment of global competence contributes

development, while considering challenges and limitations. It has two
components: 1) cognitive test exclusively focused on the construct of
“global understanding”; and 2) a set of questionnaire items collecting self-
reported information and students' awareness on global issues and cultures,
skills (both cognitive and social) and attributes, as well as information
from schools and teachers on activities that promote global competence
(OECD, 2018).

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Curriculum for global competence: Knowledge, skills, attitudes and

values
Schools can provide opportunities for students to explore complex
global issues that encounter through media and their own experiences. The
curriculum should focus on four knowledge domains: (1) culture and
intercultural relations; (2) social-economic development and
interdependence; (3) environmental sustainability; and (4) global
institutions, conflicts and human rights. Teaching these four domains
should stress on differences in perspectives, questioning concepts, and
arguments. Students can acquire knowledge in this domain by reflecting on
their own cultural identity and that of their peers by analyzing common
stereotypes toward people and their community or analyzing related cases
of cultural conflict. Acquiring knowledge in this aspect is important and
developing values, such as peace, respect, non-discrimination, equality,
fairness, acceptance, justice, non-violence and tolerance (OECD, 2018).

Skills to understand the world and take action

Global Competence builds on specific cognitive, communication and

social-emotional skills. Effective education for global competence gives
students the opportunity to mobilize and use their knowledge, attitudes,
skills and values together while sharing ideas on global issues in and outside
of school or interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds.

A school community that desires to nurture global competence

should focus on clear, controllable and realizable learning goals. This
means engaging all educators to reflect on teaching topics that are globally
significant, the types of skills that foster deeper understanding of the world
and facilitate respectful interactions in multicultural contexts, and
facilitate respectful interactions in multicultural contexts, and attitudes
and values that drive autonomous learning and inspire responsible action
(OECD, 2018).

Knowledge about the world and other cultures

Global competence is supported by the knowledge of global issues
that affect lives locally and around the globe, as well as intercultural
knowledge, or knowledge about the similarities, differences and relations
among cultures. This knowledge helps people to challenge misinformation
and stereotypes about other countries and people and thus, results in
intolerance and oversimplified representations of the world.

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Perspective-taking refers to the cognitive and social skills of

understanding how other people think and feel.

Adaptability refers to the ability to adapt systems thinking and

behaviors to the prevailing cultural environment, or to situations and
context that can prevent new demands or challenges.

Openness, respect for diversity and global-mindedness

Globally competent behavior requires an attitude of openness

towards people from other cultural backgrounds, an attitude of respect for
cultural differences and an attitude of global-mindedness. Such attributes
can be fostered explicitly through participatory and learner-center
teaching, as well as through curriculum characterized by fair practices and
an accommodating school climate for all students.

Openness toward people from other cultural backgrounds

involves sensitivity towards curiosity about and willingness to engage
with other people in other perspectives on the world (Byram, 2008;
Council of Europe 2016)

Respect consists of a positive regard for it someone based on

judgment of intrinsic worth. It assumes the dignity of all human beings and
their inalienable right to choose their own affiliations, beliefs, opinions or
practices (Council of Europe 2016a).

Global-mindedness is defined as a worldview, in which one sees

him/herself connected to the community and feels his sense of responsibility
for its members (Hansen, 2010).

Valuing human dignity and diversity

Valuing human dignity and valuing cultural diversity

contribute to global competence because they constitute critical filters
through which individuals process information about other cultures and
decide how to engage with others and the world. Hence, people, who
cultivate these values, become more aware of themselves and their
surroundings, and strongly motivated to fight against exclusion, ignorance,
violence, oppression and war.

Clapham (2006) introduced the four aspects of valuing equality of

core rights and dignity. To wit: (1) the prohibition of all types of inhuman
treatment, humiliation or degradation by one person over another; (2) the
assurance of the possibility for individual choice and the conditions for each
individual's self-fulfillment, autonomy or self-realization; (3) the
recognition
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that protection of group identity and culture may be essential for that of
personal dignity; and (4) the creation of necessary conditions to have the
essential needs satisfied.

Global understanding

Understanding is the ability to use knowledge to find meaning and

connection between different pieces of information and perspectives.

The framework distinguishes four interrelated cognitive processes

that probability competent students need to use to understand fully
global or intercultural issues and situations (OECD, 2018).

1. The capacity to evaluate information, formulate arguments and explain

complex situations and problems by using and connecting evidence
identifying biases and gaps in information and managing conflicting
arguments

2. The capacity to analyze multiple perspectives and worldviews,

positioning and connecting their own and others' perspectives on the
world.

3. The capacity to understand differences and communication, recognizing

the importance of socially appropriate communication and adapting it to
the demands of diverse cultural contexts.

4. The capacity to evaluate actions and consequences by identifying

and comparing different courses of action and weighing actions on the
basis of consequences

Thus, globally competent students should be able to perform a wide

variety of tasks utilizing different cognitive processes, such as: reasoning
with evidence about an issue or situation of local, global and intercultural
significance; searching effectively for useful sources of formation;
evaluating information to describe the main ideas in an argumentative text
or the salient passages of a conversation; and combining their background
knowledge, new information and critical reasoning to build multi-causal
explanations of global or intercultural issues (OECD, 2018).

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Integrating Global and Intercultural Issues in the Curriculum

For global education to translate abstraction into action, there is a
need to integrate global issues and topics into existing subjects (Klein,
2013; UNESCO, 2014). In practice, content knowledge related to global
competence is integrated in the curriculum and taught in specific courses.
Therefore, students can understand those issues across ages, starting in
early childhood when presenting them in developmentally appropriate ways
(Boix Mansilla and Jackson, 2011; UNESCO, 2015)

Therefore, Gaudelli (2006) affirmed that teachers must have clear

ideas and global and intercultural issues that students may reflect on. They
also need to collaboratively research topics and carefully design the
curriculum while giving students multiple opportunities to learn those
issues. Teachers may also engage in professional learning communities and
facilitate peer learning.

More so, teaching about minority cultures in different subject areas

entails accurate content information about ethnically and racially diverse
groups and experiences. Curricula should promote the integration of
knowledge of other people, places and perspectives in the classroom
throughout the year (UNESCO, 2014a), rather than using a “tourist
approach”, or giving students a superficial glimpse of life in different
countries now and then.

Textbooks and other instructional materials can also distort cultural

and ethnic differences (Gay, 2015). Teachers and their students should
critically examine textbooks and other teaching resources and supplement
information when necessary.

Connecting global and intercultural topics to the reality, contexts

and needs of the learning group is an effective methodological approach to
make them relevant to adolescents (North-South Centre of the Council of
Europe, 2012). People learn better and become more engaged when they
get connected with the content and when they see its relevance to their
lives and their immediate environment (Suárez-Orozco and Todorova,
2008).

Pedagogies for promoting global competence. Various student-

centered pedagogies can help students develop critical thinking along
global issues, respectful communication, conflict management skills,
perspective taking and adaptability.

Group-based cooperative project work can improve reasoning and

collaborative skills. It involves topic- or theme-based tasks suitable for
various levels and ages, in which goals and content are negotiated and
learners can create their own learning materials that they present10 | and
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evaluate together. Learners, participating in cooperative tasks, soon
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realize that to be efficient, they need to be respectful, attentive, honest,

and empathic (Barrett et al., 2014).

Class discussion is an interactive approach that encourages

proactive listening and responding to ideas expressed by peers. By
exchanging views in the classroom, students learn that there is no single
right answer to a problem, understand the reasons why others hold
different views and reflect on the origins of their own beliefs (Ritchhart, et
al., 2011).

Service learning is another tool that can help students develop

multiple global skills through real-world experience. This requires learners
to participate in organized activities that are based on what has been
learned in the classroom and that benefit their communities. After the
activities, learners reflect critically on their service experience to gain
further understanding of course content, and enhance their sense of role in
society with regard to civic, social, economic and political issues (Bringle
and Clayton, 2012). Through service learning, students not only “serve to
learn,” which is applied learning, but also “learn to serve” (Bringle, et. al.,
2016).

The Story Circle Approach intends students to practice key

intellectual skills, including respect, cultural self-awareness and empathy
(Deardorff, n.d.). The students, in groups of 5-6, take turns sharing a 3-
minute story from their own experience based on specific prompts, such as
“Tell us about your first experience when you encountered someone who
was different from you in some ways,”. After all students in the group have
shared their personal stories, students then, share the most memorable
point from each story in a “flash back” activity.

Other types of intercultural engagements involve simulations,

interviews, role plays and online games.

Attitudes and values integration toward global competence.

Allocating teaching time to a specific subject that deals with human rights
issues and non-discrimination is an important initial step in cultivating
values for global competence.

Values and attitudes are partly communicated through the formal

curriculum and also through ways, in which teachers and students interact,
how discipline is encouraged and the types of opinions and behavior that
are validated in the classroom. Therefore, recognizing the school and
classroom environments' influence on developing students' values would
help teachers become more aware of the impact of their teaching on
students (Gay, 2015).

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GLOBAL AND MULTICULTURAL LITERACIES

Multicultural literacy depicts diversity, equity and social justice to foster cultural
awareness on discrimination and oppression toward other ethnicities.
Global literacy aims to address issues of globalization, racism, diversity and social
justice.
Global competence refers to the skills, values and behaviors that prepare young
LEARNING REFLECTION

people to thrive in a more diverse, interconnected world, engaged citizens and

collaborative problem solvers who are ready for the workforce.
Globally competent individuals can examine local, global and intercultural issues,
understand and appreciate different perspectives and worldviews, interact
successfully and
respectfully with others, and take responsible action toward sustainability and
collective well-being.
The Global Competence Framework is designed as a tool for policymakers, leaders
and teachers in nurturing global competence among young people worldwide
with four salient dimension.
In order to attain respect for diversity in the classroom, teachers should integrate
global multiculturalism in the lesson by citing relevant issues to be addressed.

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