Are we nurturing global citizens who can make a difference?

What is the purpose of developing international mindedness?

I was thinking about this question this week while working with Colegio Anglo Colombiano in Bogotá, a school with a particularly strong sense of identity and purpose. Anglo has articulated this through its Graduate Profile: young people who are critical thinkers with a global mindset; principled, culturally rooted and open to the world; and committed to positively impacting their communities and the planet. It is a powerful articulation of the IB mission, but with one particularly important emphasis: action.

In my previous blog, Are we internationally minded?, I explored the idea that international mindedness is not something that happens through osmosis simply because we work in an international school. It is a disposition — something about how we think, engage with others and respond to the world — and therefore something we need to develop intentionally. But perhaps that is only part of the story.

If we want students to recognise that their own perspectives are shaped by their experiences, to engage with perspectives that challenge them and to develop a deeper understanding of the interconnected world in which they live, what do we want them to do with that understanding?

This takes us back to the IB mission. The IB is not simply about developing knowledgeable young people. Its mission is explicitly concerned with developing young people who will help to create a better and more peaceful world. That means that global citizenship cannot simply be about understanding the world. It also has to be about developing the capacity and disposition to engage with it.

At Anglo, this is particularly evident in the way the school talks about impact. Global citizenship is not an add-on to the curriculum or something reserved for occasional projects. It is part of the school's identity and purpose. Our work together has therefore focused on three questions:

I think the third question is particularly important. There is a danger that we become very good at helping students understand global issues without giving them the opportunity to consider what they might do about them. Students can learn about inequality, climate change, conflict, migration or cultural difference and become increasingly knowledgeable without necessarily developing the agency to respond.

Perhaps we need to think about global citizenship as a progression:

• Our perspective: recognising that we see the world through our own experiences and perspectives.
• Then, developing the knowledge and understanding needed to make sense of complex global issues.
• Then, developing the confidence, skills and dispositions to believe that our choices and actions can have an impact.
• And finally, having opportunities to act, reflect on the consequences and adapt.

The question for an IB school is therefore not simply: are our students internationally minded? It is also, are we nurturing young people who have the understanding, agency and confidence to make a difference in the world?

As Kurt Hahn put it: “You are needed.”

Perhaps that is one of the most important messages we can give our students. Not that they must change the world in some grand or predetermined way, but that they have a contribution to make — and that what they learn can help them decide what that contribution might be. And I would go one step further – we all have an obligation to have a positive impact on our communities and the planet.