Reimers Speaks at NEA Global Education Summit

Professor Fernando Reimers gave the keynote address last week at the National Education Association's (NEA) Global Education Summit, Broadening Global Horizons During Times of Narrowing Curriculum, in Washington, D.C.

The summit focused on generating policies that raise students' international knowledge and competencies, creating promising practices that support global learning in classrooms, and facilitating the preparation of students for the global environment.

"I am delighted that the National Education Association is taking the lead in engaging teachers nationwide in conversations about what it would take to provide all students in America the opportunity to develop global competencies," Reimers said about the event. "This is the kind of effort that will help develop 21st century skills."

Reimers speech focused on the importance of developing a multifaceted curriculum that develops global skills. The United States is at a pivotal point, Reimers explained, to incorporate more global skills in the classroom, especially at the university level. He relayed that many corporations and countries look down upon the skills of American students due to their lack of global knowledge. Reimers noted that he sees an opportunity to develop students' global competencies by creating a positive disposition toward cultural differences; an ability to speak, understand, and think in languages outside of the country in which they are born; and a deep knowledge and understanding of world history, geography, and global dimensions such as health, climate, and economics.

"The mix of these three types of competencies and the level at which they should be developed will vary in different professions, and also at the graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 levels," Reimers told NEA. "To sum up, the world has changed much over the last decades in ways which integrate the United States more than ever with the rest of the world. These changes have created the need for the broad development of international competence. This can no longer be an opportunity afforded to a relatively small group of experts, but an essential skill for participation and leadership in the economy and in political life."