One of the emerging mindsets of the 2008 ACEL conference was that of global citizenship started by the opening address of Jean-Francois Rischard the former World Bank Vice president who wrote the book High Noon. In his book he sets out 20 of the worlds most significant issues that won’t be resolved by individual nations and calls on organisations like the World Bank to adopt a global approach to solving one of the 20 problems.

His address amongst others got me to think about our school’s curriculum and whether it supports this mindset of global citizenship. How do we connect our youth to others around the world? How do we take our students learning beyond the front gate of the school or indeed the local community? This will be a challenge worth exploring particularly in the middle and senior classes over the next 15 months.

I am reminded of a site designed to engage and connect youth all around the world on projects:takingitgolobal. I’d be interested in talking to any teachers, school leaders or youth using this site or working with curriculum that engages youth in global issues.