A World in Turmoil and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, a bold new global agenda that includes ending poverty by 2030 and pursuing a sustainable and more equitable future was unanimously adopted by 193 nations. This agenda comprised of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are tracked by 169 targets.

Of these targets, 4.7 is considered to be most pivotal which could either promote the accomplishment of all the other SDGs or the scuttling of this grand and urgent plan - Target 4.7 states that countries need to educate for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship.

                                                   SDG Target 4.7 (Unesco, 2015)

Although there is animated debate over what constitutes Global Citizenship Education (GCE) or a Global Citizen, for the purpose of this Learning Module, we will take UNESCO's lead which states that GCE "aims to empower learners of all ages to assume active roles, both locally and globally, in building more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive and secure societies” (Unesco, n.d).

GCE seeks to nurture students in 3 domains – cognitive (knowledge and thinking skills necessary in understanding a complex, globalized world), socio-emotional (values, attitudes and social skills requisite for peaceful existence with others) and behavioral (conduct, performance, practical application and engagement).

                       UNESCO Global Citizenship Education Framework (Unessco, 2015)

Our Context

DCB is an established international school that currently has about 1500 students from K to 12. It has a history of 16 years and finds its historical roots in the British education system. Currently, students from grade 6 to 12 are part of the Senior School (SS), with Grade 11 and 12 students taking the International Baccalaurete Diploma Program. The SS comprises of about 110 teachers hailing from across some 30 countries and cultures. About 2/3 of the SS teachers are new to the school as the school saw a high turnover in 2022-23 school year.

DCB is part of the Education in Motion (EIM) education group. EIM's mission and mission can be surmised in this statement - “pioneering education for a sustainable future…to infuse and embed Sustainability and Global Citizenship across the whole organization” (EIM website).

Problem of Practice

Although the UN SDGs and in particular Target 4.7 are commendable, there however seems to be a gap in both measuring and addressing how in particular, the learning outcomes and learner attributes where students "understand the interdependence of global and local concerns" or how the skills to be "informed and critically literate" actually come about (Cath da Silva, 2020).

In DCB, teachers are trying to embed Global Citizenship (GC) and teach towards the mission and vision of the school (group) but often lack a sense of community and momentum towards these goals amid many competing demands.

Much of the teaching and practice on GC and sustainability tends to be “downstream” – mitigating negative impacts while not questioning the systems/mental models that create the problems.

Much of the crises we experience in our local and global communities are economic in nature. While most teachers can identify the impacts, most cannot analyze its root causes.

In other words, if we have an overflowing bathtub, the solution is not to just mop up the floor, but to turn off the tap!

                       What to do When Your Bathtub Overflows. S, D. (2020, November 26)

Since so much of our global crises have economic roots, it is imperative that some level of economic literacy (not just financial literacy) should be part of a GCE. And the first step is to help promote Critical Economic Literacy (CEL) in teachers.

CEL seeks to give teachers a better grasp of how pervasive economic theories and policies work, and to equip them with analytical tools to critique the Economics that inevitably show up in their subject fields. As teachers have more CEL, they are then in turn able to teach and create learning experiences that enable students to also develop CEL, which promotes their GC attributes, particularly in their ability to think critically about the Economics at work in and around them and how these have local, national and global interdependence and impacts.

The Solution

Develop a Participatory Action Research where teachers will meet once a week over an 8 week period to explore the basics of Economics while at the same time seeking to implement CEL to a partcular unit of teaching to promote greater GC (cognitive: informed and critically literate) in their students.

What is Critical Economic Literacy (CEL)?

                                              Earth and Money (Madmaxer, 2013)

The ability to to identify, interpret, analyze, and critique Neoliberal assumptions associated with varying economic contexts, for the purpose of promoting Critical Global Citizenship education.

It should be noted that this is a definition that I have created; although this term CEL was used previously by Agnello and Lucey in 2008, their definition is much more about economic literacy as it does not question the economic theories and models used, in other ways, it seems to me it lacked the "critical" piece which this definition seeks to correct.

References
Agnello, M. F., & Lucey, T. A. (2008). Toward a Critical Economic Literacy: Preparing K-12 Learners to Be Economically Literate Adults. Counterpoints, 322, 247–265. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45178344

Cath da Silva, A. (2020, November 18). Important dimensions of SDG target 4.7 are missing in UNESCOs monitoring framework. United Nations Association of Norway; FN-sambandet. https://www.fn.no/nyheter/important-dimensions-of-sdg-target-4.7-are-missing-in-unescos-monitoring-framework

S, D. (2020, November 26). What to do When Your Bathtub Overflows. [Photograph]. Service Restoration. https://servicerestoration.com/bathtub-overflow/

Madmaxer. (2013, March 29). Earth and money. StockFreeImages.Com. https://www.stockfreeimages.com/8321112/Earth-and-money.html

Unesco. (2015, April 20). Global Citizenship Education: Topics and learning objectives. [image]. UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/global-citizenship-education-topics-and-learning-objectives

Goal and Learning Format of CEL PAR

As teachers develop CEL, these skills and knowledge may be transferred to promote Critical Global Citizenship in their own lives and in their teaching, thus accelerating our mission and vision to Live Worldwise,.and allowing progress towards SDG Target 4.7.

How:

Creation of an PAR that meets over 8 sessions with commitment to engage in self-paced learning, dialogues and critical reflection; to also collaborate on a peer review project to promote critical GCE in our classrooms.

What is PAR?

(PAR) is an approach to research that prioritizes the value of experiential knowledge for tackling problems caused by unequal and harmful social systems, and for envisioning and implementing alternatives. PAR involves the participation and leadership of those people experiencing issues, who take action to produce emancipatory social change, through conducting systematic research to generate new knowledge (Cornush et al., 2023)

PAR is an approach characterized by the active participation of researchers and participants in the co-construction of knowledge; the promotion of self- and critical awareness that leads to individual, collective, and/or social change; and an emphasis on a co-learning process where researchers and participants plan, implement, and establish a process for disseminating information gathered in the research project (McIntyre, 2008)

When:

8 consecutive weeks in Term 2, meeting face to face for 75 mins a week, with commitment of spending additional 2-3 hours each week for reading, discussion posts and reflection on CG Scholar.

Outcome:

There are 3 evidences of learning the participants will produce.

a.Interview and Digital Storytelling – qualitative record on learning and change
b.Reflective journal/ Personal Updates –qualitative data on learning and change
c.Individual lesson/unit plan that embed CEL and linked to promotion of Critical GCE  in students.

References
Cornish, F., Breton, N., Moreno-Tabarez, U., Delgado, J., Rua, M., de-Graft Aikins, A., & Hodgetts, D. (2023). Participatory action research. Nature Reviews Methods Primers, 3(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-023-00214-1

McIntyre, A. (2008). Participatory action research. SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483385679

Pre-Course Onbaording

Welcome to our Participatory Action Research!

Thank you for being a risk-taker and being willing to invest time and heart to exploring and acquiring CEL, while at the same time working towards our mission and vision to Living Worldwise at DCB!

Please note that the following needs to be completed before we meet for our first session. Please always reach out if anything is not clear, there is a rather steep learning curve in the beginning but it will all get clearer by week 2.

1. Complete the following pre-course survey - http://cgscholar.com/survdash/cgsurvey/securesurvey/depid/64d0c9f9ca0212718536e7c2

2. Please be patient as you start using CG Scholar - the learning curve is a little steep at first, but by the end of Week 2, you will begin to see the power of it. For CG Scholar tutorials on how to use it, please reach out to me or go to http://https://cgnetworks.org/support/scholar-tutorials

3. Preview Week 1 materials

4. To aid our learning, CG Scholar Analytics are included for each aspect of our learning (ie. reflection/personal updates, engagement with peers, revised teaching unit peer review and final version). Please refer to the Analytics/Rubrics Link for guidance.

Welcome to the CEL PAR - here's to a fun and transformative journey together!

Cat

Week 2 - When Pricing Fails: Externalities

If the invisible hand/ price mechanism works to allocate resources so well, why do we see exorbitant pricing? Wastage? Shortages?

One way to explain this market failure is to understand that whenever people consume or produce, they could be creating Externalities. So what are Externalities? Where do they lurk? Why do they matter?

        Smoking is one of the most common example of negative externalities. (Altmann, n.d.)

References

Altmann, G. (n.d.). Cigarettes in ashtray. [Photograph]. Pixaby. Retrieved August 1, 2023, from https://pixabay.com/photos/cigarettes-ashtray-ash-smoking-83571/

Lesson Objective -

1. Explain what externalities are and how they occur.

2. Define key terms: externality/ external costs/ benefits, indirect tax/ pigouvian tax

3. Reflect: What are the consequences of not paying the true price on goods and services we consume? (Personal Update 2 - 200 words, use terms and concepts learned)

4. Comment on 2 Peers' Updates (75 words using terms and ideas learned)

Pre-Session Material (please complete before synchronous sessions)

Take notes and type your wonderings at the end of this pre-session below.

What are the reasons for pricing to fail?

                                                (Marginal Revolution University, 2015)

How are externatlieis usually corrected? Under what circumstances do they work?

                                                               (DW News, 2023)

References

DW News. (2023). Indonesia considers sugar tax to tackle diabetes and obesity [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxsS2MhAnEo

Marginal Revolution University. (2015). An introduction to externalities [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpVf11f09Pk&list=PL-uRhZ_p-BM5C7RsahR48iVyIG95WFhLl

Comment: What new insights did you gain about an economic decision you made this past week?  What is one wondering you have as a result of this week's learning?

Week 3 The Labor Market

One of the most important market is the Labour Market – how does pricing work and how are wages and unemployment levels determined? Economists have tended not to favor raising minimum wage because they seem to cause the price mechanism to fail and can lead to greater unemployment. At the same time, globalizing forces have impacted the labour market in profound ways. This week we will explore the traditional view about the labour market, David Card's empirical study and Chang's critique on why the pricing of labor continues to be a very urgent and contentious issue in our globalized world.

                               What is the right price for labor? TranThangNhat. (n.d.).

References

TranThangNhat. (n.d.). Labor, Climb, Hazardous. [Photo]. Pixaby. Retrieved August 1, 2023, from https://pixabay.com/photos/labor-climb-hazardous-worker-mall-7576514/

What Determines Unemployment and Wages in the Labor Market?

Lesson Objective -

1. Explain how pricing of labor is affected by local and global forces.

2. Define minimum wage, unemployment.

3. Reflect: Explain an economic assumption that you have long held about labour; share 1 way you would like to re-frame your understanding about labour. (Personal Update 3 - 150 to 200 words)

4. Comment on 2 Peers' Updates (75 words using terms and ideas learned)

Pre-Session Material (please complete before synchronous sessions)

Take notes and type your wonderings at the end of this pre-session below.

What is Minimum Wage? Does it protect or hurt workers?

                                                                (Economist, 2021)

How did Nobel Prize winning Economist, David Card, Challenge Conventional Economic Assumptions?

Read:  Mariel boatlift study from Nobel Economist David Card | UBS Nobel Perspectives https://www.ubs.com/microsites/nobel-perspectives/en/latest-economic-questions/economics-society/articles/immigration-and-labor-market-a-mariel-boatlift-study.html

Read: Thing 3 in 23 Things They Do Not Tell You About Capitalism (book chapter)

References

immigration-and-labor-market-a-mariel-boatlift-study. (2023, March 31). UBS. https://www.ubs.com/microsites/nobel-perspectives/en/latest-economic-questions/economics-society/articles/immigration-and-labor-market-a-mariel-boatlift-study.html?caasID=CAAS-ActivityStream

Chang, H.J. (2011). 23 things they don’t tell you about capitalism. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

The Economist. (2021). The minimum wage: Does it hurt workers? [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4yp8Fbi-Y

Comment: What new insights into how workers' value (wage) and unemployment do you have? 

What is a wondering you have as a result of this week's pre-session materials?

Week 4 The Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The GDP is one of the most ubiquitous Economic indicator used in our world, yet, how is the Gross Domestic Product actually derived? What is the history to the invention of this statistic and why does the GDP have such power in our social reality? How is this phenomenon linked to the concept of Banking Education that was developed by Freire?

       GDP - The most powerful and common economic indicator created? (MM Desk, 2021)

Lesson Objectives:

1. Explain how the GDP is derived

2. Define GDP, economic growth, banking education

3. Reflect: What are the ways I have been “banked” in my education that creates a sense of unbridled faith in the GDP?(Personal Update 4 - 200 words)

4. Comment on 2 Peers' Updates (75 words using terms and ideas learned)

Pre-Session Material (please complete before synchronous sessions)

Take notes and type your wonderings at the end of this pre-session below.

What is the GDP and how is it derived? How is GDP helpful? Problematic?

                                                                  (CNBC. 2018)

Who is Freire and What is "Banking" Education?

Either watch or read Freire's own words - Pedagogy of the Oppressed chapter 2

                                                                      (Raja, 2019)

Freire's Seminal Work - Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

                                                                     (Freire, 2018)

References

Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the oppressed: 50th anniversary edition. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

CNBC. (2018). What is GDP? [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLom1WlqwS0

MM Desk. (2021, April 7). Why GDP is not a Good Measure of Economic Welfare? [Photo]. Machine Maker. https://themachinemaker.com/market/gdp-economic-welfare-gnh-hdi-gep-0704

Raja, Dr. M. (2019). Paulo Freire: The banking concept of education [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L6tTz2CUQw

Comment: What new insights have you gained about the GDP?

What is a wondering you have as a result of this week's pre-session materials?

Week 5 A Linear Economy in a Resource Scarce World

Is it possible that Economists got their stories wrong? How did we start with the Economic problem of scarcity but ended up with the drive for endless economic growth? Are there stronger models that reflect better the reality of the world we live in? Are there things we should learn from nature in the movement called biomimicry?

                                           Economics Gone Wrong? (coombesy, n.d.)

Lesson Objective -
1. Explain the unrealisitc assumptions Economists have made regarding how our economies work

2. Define key terms: linear, circular economy, sustainability, bio-mimicry, Doughnut Economics

3. Reflect: Pick a good/ service that you enjoy, what are the solutions it brings, what are the problems it creates? And what are the implications locally, nationally and globally? (Personal Update 5 - 200 words)

4. Comment on 2 Peers' Updates (75 words using terms and ideas learned)

Pre-Session Material (please complete before synchronous sessions)

Take notes and type your wonderings at the end of this pre-session below.

Watch any 2 of the following videos and consider what comment on ways these model of the economy differ from the GDP model? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

                                                            (The Story of Stuff, 2009) 

                                                   Doughnut Economics (Raworth, 2018)
​

                                              What Biomimicry Can Teach Us (Benyus, 2009)

References

Benyus, J.. (2009). Biomimicry in action [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_GFq12w5WU

coombesy. (n.d.). Rubbish, Trash, Waste image. [Photo]. Pixaby. Retrieved August 2, 2023, from https://pixabay.com/photos/rubbish-trash-waste-garbage-dump-495213/

Raworth, K. (2018). A healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhcrbcg8HBw

The Story of Stuff. (2009). The story of stuff. [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM&pp=ygUmc3Rvcnkgb2Ygc3R1ZmYgKDIwMDcgb2ZmaWNpYWwgdmVyc2lvbik%3D

Comment: Describe 1 way these model/understanding of the economy differ from the GDP model - What are its strengths and weaknesses? What wonderings do you have?

Week 6 Economics Over the Ages

Economics has been around for more than 250 years. During this period, many influential Economists and thinkers with their different theories have come and gone. This is the concept of Refutation. We must remember that Economics, like any other Social Science, is seeking to describe and explain reality, often with an over-simplification in the use of Economic models. But reality and contexts do change, which warrants a re-thinking of Economic theory.

This week, we will be exploring a timeline/collage together to see how Economics have changed over time and how Refutation is an imporant part of keeping Economics relevant in our world.

How has Economics Changed over Time? (Miliada, n.d.)

Lesson Objective -
1. Explain the concept of Refutation

2. Define key terms: models, assumptions, refutation, critical thinking

3. Reflect: Identify an economic policy that has impacted you personally and trace its economic underpinnings. (Personal Update 6 - 150 to 200 words)

4. Comment on 2 Peers' Updates (75 words using terms and ideas learned)

Pre-Session Material
Look at the timeline of Economics on padlet https://dulwichcollegebeijing1.padlet.org/catherineho3/history-of-western-economic-thought-2cw7775ike9x17pj

What are your observations regarding -

a. How is Economic theory developed?

b. How has the world's context shaped Economics and Economists ?

c. How has Economics and Economists shape the world?

References

Millada, G. (n.d.). Paris, Clock, Time image. [Photo]. Pixaby. Retrieved August 1, 2023, from https://pixabay.com/photos/paris-clock-time-people-262564/

There will be a suggestion of influential Economists to choose from (see link)

https://dulwichcollegebeijing1.padlet.org/catherineho3/history-of-economic-thought-h4g6x88ofkn87sh3

Comment: What is one observation and one wondering if you as a result of studying this Economic timeline?

Week 7 Critical Thinking. Critical Pedagogy and the urgent need for Critical Economic Literacy

GCE is important in helping us reach better outcomes as a global community. What then is the role of education and educators in promoting GC attributes in students? How is CT different from CP? Is teaching CT adequate without adopting CP? What is the relationship of CEL to CT and CP?

            In time to come, what will we look back and see as educators? (10634669, n,d,)

Lesson Objective -
1. Explain the similarities and differences between CT and CP

2. Define key terms: CT, CP, dispositions, cosmopolitanism

3. Reflect: What is the role of education and educators in promoting GC attributes in students? Why is CT not adequate without CP? What is CT and CP's relationship with CEL? (Personal Update 7- 500 words)

4. Comment on 2 Peers' Updates (75 words using terms and ideas learned)

Pre-Session Material (please complete before synchronous sessions)

Take notes and type your wonderings at the end of this pre-session below.

Read Bubules and Berk (1999), along with either Ritzvi (2009) or Siegel (2005).

Critical Thinking versus Critical Pedagogy

Rizvi - Cosmopolitan Learning

Siegel on Thinking Dispositions

References

10634669, G. (n.d.). Man, Old, Elderly image. [Photo]. Pixaby. Retrieved August 1, 2023, from https://pixabay.com/photos/man-old-elderly-portrait-male-4191143/

Burbules, N.C. and Berk, R. (1999). Critical thinking and critical pedagogy: relations, differences, and limits. In Popkewitz , T.S and Fendler, L.F (Eds). Critical theories in education. Routledge.

Rizvi, F. (2009). Towards cosmopolitan learning. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 30 (3).

Siegel, H. (2005). What good are thinking dispositions. Educational Theory 49(2), 207-221. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5446.1999.00207.

Comment: What insights did you gain about CT and CP? How is this linked with Critical Economic literacy?

Week 8 Embedding CEL into Teaching

This last session, we will be take time to share how we have changed our unit plans affter learning about CEL and received peer feedback. We will look at both the challenges and the possibilities. We will also celebrate and divide up roles for our Capstone Project - the Hunger Bamquet.

                               Team Work is What Makes Us a TLC (Henning, W.. n.d.).

Lesson Objective

1. Present Unit Plan

2. Reflect: What were the possibilities and challenges of embedding CEL into my Unit Plan. In what ways will such changes increase Critical Thinking in students? (Personal Update 8)

Pre-Reading (please bring the following to Synchornous session)

Unit Plan must have -

Learning objectives

At least 3 Learning activities over a week (consider different modality - text, video, audio, image)

At least 1 piece of evidence of learning/ understanding created by students (singly or collaboratively)

Contrasted with unit plan and evidence of learning collected in previous teaching.

Explain how CEL is being embedded in the unit to help promote crticiality in student's cognitive development.

References

Henning, W. (n.d.). Team, Group, People image. [Photo]. Retrieved August 2, 2023, from https://pixabay.com/photos/team-group-people-motivation-386673/

Please take 1 minutes to complete this post-course survey.

http://cgscholar.com/survdash/cgsurvey/securesurvey/depid/64d0c9f9ca0212718536e7c2

Being the pioneering cohort, your views are important in helping make this CEL  even stronger for future cohorts.

Thank you.

All CEL Participants will be ask to reflect on Capstone Project: Hunger Banquet and their continuing development of CEL.

This will be on CG Scholar (personal update) and interviews to create an ethnographic record of teacher's experience and continued growth after the course.

Analytics are used to give us feedback on our learning and exploration in CEL. This is adopted from Cope and Kalantzis from CG Scholar Analytics.

Analytics Explained (Cope and Kalantzis, n.d.)
Derivation of Grade (Revisions to improve always welcomed before May 2024)

Knowledge: Amount of demonstrated use of knowledge

1 published work (unit plan)
Self-review score
Peer review score
Text Quality

Focus: Amount of effort put into the course

7 responses to weekly learning prompt (found at end of each week's pre-session materials)
7 Wondering Questions
7 Personal Updates (Reflect)
At least 200 words in personal updates
Project commenced
Project improved after peer review (% changed)

Help: Amount of collaboration as shown by contributions to peers and community interactions

Average of 2 views of your updates
2 peer reviews completed
15 comments on peers' updates (total)
Score on your peers' reviews