Interface between Global Education and Multicultural Education.

Overview & Synopsis

Today global education and multicultural education are vital as all countries in the world face complex issues in economic, political, and social interdependence. This paper examines the interface between global education and multicultural education as a potential answer of how to prepare students for effective participation in a culturally diverse society within the context of a interdependent world. This interface is explored through anthropological, historical, economic, and geographical perspectives, with attention to junctures and disjunctures between the two approaches. The anthropological perspective particularly offers strength to both multicultural and global education because it emphasizes holistic study of people and cultures, comparative study, and cross-cultural approaches and methods. Both multicultural and global education value multidisciplinary approaches and increased understanding of tolerance and diversity. Educators at all levels involved in both teaching and learning must have appropriate knowledge bases, instructional approaches, and assessment strategies grounded in both multicultural and global education. (69 references) (RR)