McFarland High School is proud to offer the Wisconsin Global Scholars Program, a nationally-recognized program designed to improve global learning across the curriculum in an effort to prepare all students to be workforce-, world-, and life-ready with global competence. Upon successful completion of program requirements, students become Global Scholars and receive an official Certificate of Global Competence from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
See the WI DPI website for a program overview.
Check out this short video on how the Global Scholar Program is engaging, challenging and inspiring students to be globally competent--and why you should care. Special thanks to the DeForest School District for producing and sharing the video.
Global competence is defined as the capacity to examine local, global and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and worldviews of others, to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being and sustainable development. (OECD/Asia Society, 2018)
Global competence is the toolkit a productive, involved citizenry uses to meet the problems and opportunities of the world.
In the curriculum, global competence challenges students to investigate the world, consider a variety of perspectives, communicate ideas, and take meaningful action. A globally focused curriculum engages students in their own learning and motivates them to strive for knowledge and understanding. And a curious, inspired student strives to learn more in school and beyond.
A new generation of students requires different skills from the generations that came before.
The world is changing fast. Boundaries—literal as well as figurative— are shifting and even disappearing altogether. The culture that once lived halfway around the world now lives just down the block. The ability to thrive in this new and rapidly changing environment is grounded in a globally focused curriculum.
More than ever before, individual actions reach around the globe.
Environmental concerns, economic shifts, global poverty, population growth, human rights, and political conflict can seem intractable and overwhelming, yet they absolutely require thoughtful action. In a globally focused curriculum, students learn that the world needs them to act, and that they can make a difference.
Global competence integrates knowledge of the world and the skill of application with the disposition to think and behave productively.
Global competence is not restricted to knowing about other cultures and other perspectives. In addition to knowledge of the world, a globally competent citizen exhibits habits like critical thinking, rational optimism, innovation, empathy, and awareness of the influences of culture on individual behavior and world events.
Success in career and life will depend on global competence, because career and life will play out on the global stage.
Already, government, business, and cultural institutions are called to solve the world’s problems cooperatively. Engaging in these challenges requires high-order knowledge and thinking skill, as well as shared language and cultural understanding. In a globally focused curriculum, students prepare to approach problems from multiple perspectives and to thrive in a global future.
From: https://asiasociety.org/education/global-competence-outcomes-and-rubrics