Lifestyle and service

[Boyd Roberts]

One of the principal components of the IGC Award is Personal Global Footprint. This stems from the IGC Award’s emphasis on young people as global citizens now, wherever they are living their everyday lives. We do not need to travel to have an impact: we live in an interconnected global world, and our everyday lives or “lifestyles”, wherever we are, have global implications.

As I have written elsewhere, “Our awareness of our membership of a global community has brought with it an appreciation of the impact of our ordinary lives on the lives of others and the environment. What we drink, eat and wear, how we travel, how warm (or cool) we keep our homes – very many aspects of our daily lives – have an impact. The impact is not in question, but what does vary is the extent to which we are aware of it, and knowledgeable about the nature of this impact.” (from The Changing Face of International Education, edited by George Walker, published (2011) by International Baccalaureate).

 Similarly what varies is whether or not we take any action on the basis of our knowledge.

It is a choice to find out more about our impact through our everyday lives, and a choice whether or not to take action on the basis of what we know. In contrast, the impact of our lifestyle is not a choice, but an inevitable part of life in our complicated world.

This is the thinking behind the Personal Global Footprint (or lifestyle) section of the Award.

The Personal Global Footprint page of the website expands on this.

Personal Community Service is also a component of the IGC Award – although ii is just one part of the section Influence and involvement with others. “Service” is now part of the regular curriculum in an increasing number of schools, and forms part of IB Middle Years and Diploma programmes. Partly for this reason, it forms part of the IGC Award. “Service” is not very readily or precisely defined – and some people are uncomfortable with the term for various reasons. (My chapter in the Changing Face of International Education considers this more fully – it is attached for those who may be interested).

Unlike Personal Global Footprint, which happens whether or not we are aware of it and whether or not we choose to become more knowledgeable or to take action as a result, Personal Community Service is something which we may or may not do. It can be a personal choice to undertake it, or it may be a curriculum requirement.

Within the IGC Award, Personal Global Footprint is deliberately given particular prominence. Partly, this is because our footprint is an inescapable part of modern life. And partly it is because “Arguably, the impact of an individual student on the lives of others – for better or worse – is greater through his or her lifestyle choices, made in the mall or supermarket, than by a commitment to a service programme “(another extract from my chapter in The Changing Face of International Education).