What are global dimensions?

They are about seeing where we fit in our increasingly inter-connected world. This includes:

• learning how to empathise with others – neighbours who have a different background as much as people on a different continent;
• relationships within a classroom, as much as the relationships between countries;
• seeing the inter-connectedness of our behaviours and way of life;
• understanding the impact our actions have on others.

It involves exploring the ways everyday life affect and are affected by the wider world. The National Curriculum has global dimensions in its aims, values and purposes and these can be drawn out across the key stages and in different curriculum areas. This includes:

• the curriculum as a whole and the ethos of a school;
• subject elements and cross-curricular themes that focus on global interdependence;
• issues and events.

Where did the idea come from?

It is a response to the United Nations Millennium Summit. All 191 United Nations Member States have pledged themselves to meet the eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;

2. Achieve universal primary education;

3. Promote gender equality and empower women;

4. Reduce child mortality;

5. Improve maternal health;

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases;

7. Ensure environmental sustainability.

8. Develop a global partnership for development.

Further information on the Millennium Development Goals visit:

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

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