What exactly is Global Perspectives, and why is it an important part of the curriculum at Phorms Frankfurt?
Global Perspectives is a scheme of work drawn from the Cambridge International Curriculum. It was introduced about 3 or 4 years ago to replace the STEM lessons which in turn replaced the Ethics curriculum (this does not mean we have abandoned the teaching of Ethics).
GP is the curriculum we follow in our Interdisciplinary Discovery (ID) lessons which is project and research based. In the last two years, Taunus Campus & City Campus have used the pedagogy known as Project Based Learning (PBL) as the means to deliver this to students.
In short, Global Perspectives is the curriculum, Interdisciplinary Discovery is the name of the lesson, Project Based Learning is how students learn about the areas covered.
What does a typical Global Perspectives lesson look like? Can you share an example of a particularly exciting project?
There is not really such a thing as a ‘typical lesson’, rather these are weeks long projects which begin with a ‘leading question’, such as ‘where does my food come from?’ which over the course of the unit students investigate themselves with support from the teacher in order to answer the question.
Typically, this leads to a presentation of some sort, but Taunus is now approaching the stage where more variety is shown rather than a student just making a poster and talking about it. The recent end-of-unit presentations have included podcast themed presentations, recorded interviews between students and ‘news reports’.
Grade levels also try to ensure ‘experts’ from the parent/wider school community can visit school to share their experiences with the unit, for example, bringing in a (parent) architect on a unit on shelters.
Why is Global Perspectives so important in today’s world?
GP is important as it introduces and develops themes and skills that are important in the wider world and we hope it helps students in their learning journeys from school to university to employment: team work and collaborative working practices, use of technology, confidence building, reflective and analytic skill development and so on.
How do you integrate Frankfurt as an internationally influenced city into the lessons? Are there any local projects or excursions?
We try to align school trips with the studied units. For example, a communications unit may include a visit to the Frankfurt Communications Museum (also in alignment with our Sachkunde curriculum but not covering the same learning objectives).
We also try to include parents with expertise in the fields studied as mentioned before to come in during a unit or at the end to listen to the various presentations or exhibits to share their real-life experiences as an adult.
What excites you personally about teaching Global Perspectives?
Personally, I no longer teach in Primary and did not teach Project Based Learning (PBL), rather instead I have been responsible for organising the training of staff in the pedagogy, but I am really pleased that PBL will be introduced into Sek. I in Gymnasium next year for Grades 5-7 and the introduction of Problem Based Learning (similar but different in its approach and more suited to older students) from Grade 8 to E-Phase. Professional Development is already arranged for the start of the new school year for our Gymnasium colleagues on this and its introduction.
