Opetusministeriö Ministry of Education Education for Global Responsibility – Finnish Perspectives Edited by Taina Kaivola Publications of the Ministry of Education 2007:31 Monica Melén-Paaso Education for Global Responsibility – Finnish Perspectives Publications of the Ministry of Education 2007:31 Edited by Taina Kaivola and Monica Melén-Paaso Opetusministeriö • Koulutus- ja tiedepolitiikan osasto • 2007 Ministry of Education • Department for Education and Science • 2007 Ministry of Education Department for Education and Science Policy P.O. Box 29, 00023 Government Finland http://www.minedu.fi http://www.minedu.fi /OPM/Julkaisut/julkaisulistaus?lang=en Layout: Teija Metsänperä, Ministry of Education Cover image: Photo: Tommy Jansson, BildProffsen i Stockholm AB Artworks: Lily Maria Ehnborg, The Diversity of Life (“... i alla familjer fi nns det en prickig kanin...”) Other images: Photos: Tommy Jansson, BildProffsen i Stockholm AB Artworks: Lily Maria Ehnborg Helsinki University Press 2007 ISBN 978-952-485-429-0 (pbk) ISBN 978-952-485-430-6 (PDF) ISSN 1458-8110 Publications of the Ministry of Education 2007:31 Foreword This publication is the fi rst outcome of the project Education for Global Responsibility launched by the Finnish Ministry of Education in spring 2007. One of the cornerstones of this project is the Global Education 2010 Programme. The project intends to provide a conceptual framework based on science, which the programme still lacks. The broad purpose of the project Education for Global Responsibility is to cover not only the educational system but the whole of Finnish society. Its essential objective is to open the eyes and minds of citizens to the necessity of education for global understanding, respect and responsibility. Global education has been defi ned as the global dimension of citizenship education. It consists of fi ve widely recognised concurrent sub-themes. These are development education, human rights education, education for sustainable development, education for peace and confl ict prevention and intercultural education. All fi ve sub-themes will be discussed in this publication by scholars that represent several academic fi elds. This publication aims to promote discussion and collaboration between academics of different disciplines working with these global education related themes. In order to achieve this, we hand-picked a select group of researchers to write about their understanding of this concept and asked them to give their suggestions for further development. We would like to see this as a starting point for further discussion not only in educational settings but in the whole of civil society. Global education concerns all citizens and is fi rmly anchored into lifelong learning that happens outside of formal education in organisations, work places, clubs and everyday life in general. The purpose of this publication is manifold. First, the aim is to have researchers analyse and give us an overview of the meanings and concepts associated with global education. Second, we want to raise awareness of the importance of citizenship education in today’s societies. Third, we would like to introduce the idea of the cultural and emotional sides of global education as being equal partners of science. This is one of the reasons art plays an important role in our publication in the form of paintings and drawings. To our minds, art is the other side of science, or, expressed more fancifully, the magical part of science. After all, collaborative and cooperative knowledge building in study groups and between colleagues has many parallels with creating and interpreting art. Both a piece of art and scientifi c information can be meticulously analysed, but the outcome of a learning process is more than the sum of its parts. We hope our publication will incite a lively discussion on the global aspects of education in initial and further teacher education, in liberal adult education and non-governmental organisations, in higher education in general, and last but not least, in the research and development groups of different organisations and institutes. Several experts have contributed to this publication. Our sincere thanks go to the steering group of the project and all the individual experts that have contributed to the contents of this publication with their valuable comments. Obviously we would also like to thank the authors for their articles and the artist for letting us use her artwork. We are also most grateful for the way our language specialists and visual lay-out experts have set to work on this publication. A special thanks belongs to Monica Melén-Paaso, the co-editor of this publication, who has not spared an effort when it came to leading our project Education for Global Responsibility. Helsinki, 6 September 2007 On behalf of all contributors to this publication, Taina Kaivola Scientifi c Editor Adjunct Professor, University of Helsinki Contents Foreword 3 1 Prologue Martin Scheinin 7 2 About the Expedition this Publication Intends to Take You on Monica Melén-Paaso 11 3 Intercultural Education as Education for Global Responsibility Rauni Räsänen 17 4 Education on Human Rights – a Method for Inducing Global Critical Thinking Reetta Toivanen 33 5 On the Importance of Peace Education Unto Vesa 47 6 Making Sense of Development in a Divided World Liisa Laakso 59 7 Towards Cultural Literacy Liisa Salo-Lee 73 8 Education for Sustainable Development in a Global Perspective Paula Lindroos, Mikko Cantell 85 9 An Agenda for Global Responsibility and Citizenship Lars Rydén 97 10 Epilogue – Refl ective Remarks Taina Kaivola, Monica Melén-Paaso 109 Summary of the Main Contents of the Publication Taina Kaivola 116 Biographies 119 A Personal Presentation of Lily Maria Ehnborg Monica Melén-Paaso 122 Appendix 1. 124 5 1 Prologue Martin Scheinin vil e y b s e c or F 2. e r u ct Pi Education for Global Responsibility – Finnish Refl ections 1 Prologue Martin Scheinin The call for Global Education should be seen in the context of the objective and irreversible process of globalization. Although often discussed loosely as a new step on the path of “going international”, globalization means something qualitatively new. Instead of only covering the various forms in which international contacts increase on all levels and in all spheres of social life, the notion of globalization also refers to the emergence of new actors on the level of international relations and to the relative weakening of nation states as the intermediary between people and other actors located in different countries. Globalization entails the death of protectionism, and constitutes an irresistible obstacle for authoritarian governments that try to prevent people from interacting across borders. In the phase of “internationalization” sovereign states were in the position to regulate, restrict and even prevent contact across their national borders, inter alia through enacting laws concerning foreign investment and trade. Today, in the era of globalization states still try to control the movement of persons, e.g. through their immigration laws. But information, ideas, art, propaganda, money, telecommunications, media, commodities, investments etc. have “gone global” in the sense that states have had to remove obstacles they created, and to deregulate many spheres of economic and social life. As a consequence, a number 8