transformative action. Changing student attitudes is a first step, but we have seen that some GCE activities can have positive effects on political participation, whilst others had negative effects.
Evaluating types of activities and forms of participation that are transformative should thus be embedded in the development of GCE programs.
Embedded. GCE
programs do not stand in isolation, but are situated within wider global, national, local, social, cultural, and institutional contexts. GCE programs need to be embedded within these various contexts to allow them to integrate a focus on wider networks,partnerships, and interactions between key actors. The
fundamental relationship between education and society needs to be recognized and embedded within GCE programs through an acknowledgement of the role of socio-economic inequalities in shaping student attitudes towards equality, diversity, and tolerance.
Conclusion
This research has considered how CCE/GCE may influence student attitudes towards gender equality, tolerance, diversity, and political participation. The sophisticated econometric statistical analysis of ICCS data, which allowed a large number of variables, revealed insights about GCE that have been relatively unexamined in academic research. In particular, our study showed that many GCE dimensions can have a positive impact on student attitudes. The results, however, highlighted a level of surprising ambiguity around the impact of certain dimensions of GCE in a curriculum. Results from our study stress the importance of local context, the relationship between education and society, and the need for policy
makers, curriculum developers and teachers to engage with and reflect upon GCE at multiple levels, from curriculum design to implementation and practice.
This study was somewhat limited by a lack of comparable data on GCE worldwide. This highlighted the need for further efforts to collect further data in under-represented regions, such as sub-Saharan African and the Middle East. Future research would benefit from wider access to data, as well as the development of larger comparative research projects that could collect first-hand data in under-represented countries. Such projects could also include other forms of more qualitative data such as school/
classroom observations, interviews with students, as well as further information about the nature of GCE activities and teaching in schools, and data on the local environment. Some of our more surprising results would also benefit from further research, such as looking closer at the gendered nature of GCE, or the relationship between indicators of national pride (attitudes towards the national flag) and GCE.
The unexpected effects of some of the GCE dimensions of the curriculum, such as multicultural activities or in some cases, the development of critical skills, would also benefit from further research.
Whilst the study was limited to a sample of countries in specific world regions, the results hold implications beyond those countries. That the impact of some GCE dimensions in the curriculum could not always be anticipated, the strong impact of students’ gender and socio-economic background, and the role played by students’ perceptions of fairness in society all open lines of questioning and reflection for diverse communities. The proposed CREATE model offers a solid framework that can help education stakeholders (policy makers, curriculum developers,
school administrators, teachers) in diverse regions develop successful GCE programs at various levels of education. However, this does not presuppose that one model can be exported as best practice in any country. This model highlights the need to take into account the specificities of local and social contexts, and to reflect on the relationship between the global and local in developing successful GCE programs in schools.
The CREATE model neither
presupposes a perfect model of GCE, nor a one-size-fits-all approach. Rather, it highlights the importance of a continued deep and critical reflection on the design, concepts, policies, and practices of GCE, which is embedded within a wider consideration of societal and structural inequalities. Re-situating GCE within the broad array of national contexts offers new critical insights on the barriers and the possibilities for successfully implementing GCE programs around the world. Current times call for creative, alternative forms of engagement with local and global challenges, transformative change, and action. It is our hope that recognizing the structural and systemic constraints that frame GCE can support the goal of equipping young people with the knowledge and skills they need to address complex global challenges, whilst helping unlock the promise it holds in promoting inclusive, tolerant, respectful, and peaceful societies.
The purpose of this report is to support the integration of health and education policies and programs for youth well-being. It presents a summary and analysis of existing research on ways to achieve this, and how to assess the various efforts.
Our analysis found that developing interventions across multiple systems is critical to producing sustainable impact on youth educational and health outcomes. We identified case examples of communities and countries globally which have developed and implemented policies and programs that integrate health with education. We found that many educators and policymakers have embraced a shift toward multi-systems youth well-being policies that explicitly recognize the importance of integrating education and health.
Programs still retain, however, a stronger practice of targeting individual attitudes and behaviors.
Based on the literature review of frameworks and analysis of the case examples, we highlight three directions for communities and countries seeking to integrate education and health into their youth well-being strategies.
As discussed, a multi-systems approach that leverages resources and expertise from multiple systems serving youth is critical. Of the multiple systems involved, school is a key partner; broad civic participation also emerged as an important player.
Youth well-being strategies, therefore, should provide opportunities for young people to explore their interest in civic participation and to develop social skills to advocate for positive change for themselves and in their communities.
The next step, quality implementation of an intervention, has significant impact on the effectiveness of any intervention. It begins with the design phase and ends with an assessment of the outcome; this could lead organically to an iterative process of reevaluation and redesign.
We found that creating a detailed implementation plan that clearly outlines activities, responsibilities, and establishes careful protocols is essential to achieving high quality
implementation and good results.
Systematically collecting process and outcome data to accurately monitor the implementation will be a valuable, key component of the intervention and in subsequent editions, as well as informing policy development.