REFRAMING GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION FOR FILIPINO LEARNERS

The Department of Education has heeded to the call to produce global citizens and lifelong learners.

According to Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones, the Philippines has an increasingly vital role in ensuring this. She said that while concepts of global citizenship are fairly straightforward, the condition of the youth in the developed countries differs from those in the developing countries.

This is why reframing citizenship education is necessary due to the perceptions and conceptions of the global as shaped by one’s history and defined by experience.

Briones pointed out that the UNESCO global citizenship education framework focuses on what to teach. Therefore, there is a need to emphasize, as a starting point, the need to understand learners more in terms of their conceptions of the global.

The Secretary cited that the “engagement” of the Filipino youth with the world in the last two decades is broadly experienced through the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) – taking a toll on the social and emotional aspects of the youth and their families.

Our leaders, Briones said, should be able to chart a course of history that is more tolerant, kinder, and more equitable, and build societies that offer positive engagements for families across the globe.

DepEd is also fostering critical thinking and appreciation of one’s history and culture, which are important components of promoting global citizenship and sustainable education among basic education learners.

--oOo— The author is Teacher III at Sta. Ines Elementary School