A word on terminology – and why it matters. A few personal thoughts and where the International Global Citizen's Award title comes from

[Boyd Roberts]

A couple of things have got me thinking again about terminology we use in describing our interactions with the wider world. Matthew (above) describes how participants in his school have been looking at definitions. And the International Baccalaureate has recently published a research paper on “international mindedness” – the term it has used for some time to describe students engagement with the wider world.

I must admit that I’m not a fan of the term international mindedness. The word “International” - was coined by the political philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832) to describe interactions between nation states. This continues to be an important concept. But the world has changed, and we are now all subject, in addition,  to new issues and concerns that straddle borders – recognised by the emergence of the term and concept of the “global”.

I think we need to be concerned with both the international and the global. The “international” is concerned with the” other”, and the “elsewhere” – with different cultures, languages (particularly the ways in which other languages give us insights into other ways of understanding the world), with what is happening in different places abroad, and with interactions between different countries. The “global”, on the other hand, concerns those things that affect all of us irrespective of cultures, languages and countries – such as the environment, climate change, resource depletion, social justice and human rights.

Clearly there are interactions, but using the term “international” can tend to focus us on the one level of concern only, and does not adequately embrace the “global” level unless we strain the term “international” to mean something altogether broader, and thereby lose its own value. The “global” cuts across borders, and whereas we look to the “other” and the “elsewhere” in considering matters international, the global comes to us – wherever we are. Living in a global world, our lives, wherever we are, are impacted upon by global factors – and in turn, our own lives have a global impact. This is reflected in the widely used aphorisms: “The global is in the local; the local is in the global” and “Think globally act locally.”

 “Mindedness” seems a rather vague notion to me – suggesting that it is to do with attitudes and outlook, and does not seem an adequate term to describe what we DO.

The term “global citizenship” seems a more inclusive and wider term than international mindedness – although not without its own challenges and deficiencies.

Citizenship is concerned with attitudes and values (like “mindedness”) but also engagement and action. And global has come to embrace all levels from the local, through the national and international to the truly global. (IB is in fact also using the term “global engagement” to recognise the need for consideration of the global level, and of action – but, to mind rather confusingly, within its overriding concept of “international mindedness.”)

The name of the Award, the International Global Citizen’s Award was chosen to be a bit provocative, and to highlight the two levels of concern – the global and the international. We aspire to global citizenship – but many initiatives relating to the global dimension or global perspectives in education are country- based. Even within the single country, the UK, the different component nations, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own distinct initiatives on the global in education – which seems somewhat ironic.

The International Global Citizen’s Award is a deliberate attempt to get people in different countries working together on global citizenship – sharing perspectives and practice, but also showing up when people in different contexts see things differently. That way, we develop, in our own contexts, and by working with others internationally, a better and stronger understanding of what it means to be a global citizen. So it’s really important that we have centres in different countries, that we have international and national schools, publicly funded and private institutions, and it’s potentially productive and enriching if and when we don’t always see things in quite the same way.

Inexpensive, quick communications mean that we can share perspectives readily, and, if we wish, discuss and debate.

So, please do make full use of this technology – available to us for the first time in thousands of years of human history.

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