300 high-school teachers from 15 countries have taken part in the first edition of the AFS Global Up Educator online learning certification. The course is the first phase of their participation in the virtual program AFS Effect+ for the Classroom Capacity-Building for Teachers, an initiative supported by grant funding from The Cyril Taylor Charitable Foundation.
Global Up Educator is based on the award-winning AFS Global Competence Certificate and a result of AFS’ collaboration with teacher educators from higher education institutions in the Global Competence in Teacher Education project.
This new online learning curriculum developed by AFS Intercultural Programs aims to equip teachers to become globally competent and to have the knowledge and skills to foster global competence in their students. Throughout the course, teachers develop cultural self-awareness, empathy for other cultures, and explore tools to build bridges in multicultural classrooms.
“We are honoured to offer this online course to 300 teachers from different parts of the world, coming from a variety of subjects: language, social sciences, science, literature, arts and mathematics. It’s been inspiring to see the passion that each educator demonstrated throughout the course. We see how committed they are to developing intercultural and global skills to make a further meaningful impact in their classrooms, communities and around the world”, says Ana Carolina Cassiano, Head of Education at AFS Intercultural Programs.
The course was implemented over eight weeks, with an average of three hours of engagement for teachers each week. Activities included asynchronous content modules – with videos, case studies, discussion forums and teaching resources – as well as synchronous dialogue sessions. The live sessions were an opportunity for teachers to connect with each other in smaller groups to revisit and discuss the topics from the content modules and exchange experiences, all supported by trained AFS facilitators.
Check out the video below to see what participating teachers are saying about the program:
Global Up Educator will be available to organizations and learners worldwide at the end of March 2022. Click here to subscribe to the Global Up newsletter to receive updates.