Culturally, classrooms in the United States of America are increasingly becoming diverse. Teaching or learning with different people in a classroom presents different cultures that teacher leaders cannot overlook. Culture not only involves somebody’s food preferences or first language but also encompasses a person’s identity. Through this, culture determines people’s perspectives and engagements with the world. This study seeks to address the nature of the global competence of teacher leaders, the nature of special populations in the global educational arena, and the influence of global competence and special populations on teaching strategies.
Teacher Leaders and Global Competence
Teacher leaders condemn discrimination as a way of incorporating cultural diversity, cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, and cultural action to match global competence. Discrimination against certain groups of people denies them equal rights of participation, and it can be direct or indirect. Direct discrimination involves unfair treatment of individuals based on sex or race, while indirect discrimination involves the law of policy presented in an unclear way (Sheridan and Mungai, 2021). It is imperative that teacher leaders and community development personnel must identify the privileges accorded to them and how they affect world interactions (Sheridan and Mungai, 2021). For example, a black heterosexual male teacher who is well educated can be deemed by his community as a privileged person due to his level of education, sexuality, gender, and not be disabled. However, the black race is often stereotyped negatively in American white society. In other words, today’s world is inherently biased, and the narrative is driven by the minority. In order to challenge the narrative, teacher leaders are supposed to the differences amongst them besides appreciating contributions from various cultures (Sheridan and Mungai, 2021). Essentially, it adds up to value-driven actions.
Also, teacher leaders equip their students with relevant skills and knowledge to help them understand the intricacies of working around diverse people. Besides, they encourage the students to embrace and celebrate cultural diversity. According to Sheridan and Mungai (2021), teacher leaders can do this in many ways, including allowing students to share experiences on what has not worked and what has worked for them. For example, learning institutions can invite graduates regularly to be guest lecturers on specific programs. Indeed, their lectures can be enlightening not only to their fellow students but also to teachers. It is essential to create forums for students, minority group members, and other practitioners to share their experiences and insights. Sheridan and Mungai (2021) further argue that creating such forums should not happen by chance but rather be rolled out as part of the curriculum so that it becomes a daily routine for students after graduation. Creating such forums for vital conversations among people about their daily experiences of being part of the minority should be the core role of informal educators and community workers.
Similarly, teacher leaders can recognize the essential topics drifting away from the syllabus. In other words, teacher leaders should maintain a curriculum that is inclusive and respectful of diversity. According to Sheridan and Mungai (2021), teacher leaders maintain anti-oppression and anti-discrimination in the curriculum. Essentially, the curriculum should be culturally responsive to include all students in school aspects matters. Besides, such a curriculum should acknowledge unique characters present in the student fraternity.
Nature of Special Population
Special populations are those students who require special attention and consideration to overcome certain barriers for success and equal opportunity in education. Teacher leaders find ways of reconceptualizing the nature of special education so as to provide enough support to them and guarantee them equal access to opportunities and educational resources. According to the Nebraska Department of Education (2018), teacher leaders are supposed to use and learn culturally responsive leadership and teaching skills like connecting students’ cultural backgrounds to the instructions. Also, they should appreciate cultural diversity as an integral part of the learning environment. Similarly, teacher leaders should ensure special population students participate in supported employment, work-based education, and studentships which can lead to self-sustaining employment in future (Nebraska Department of Education, 2018). Finally, teacher leaders should partner with communal organizations which support special population groups. They should allow these organizations to provide service and conduct outreach activities which are friendly and accessible (Nebraska Department of Education, 2018). Given this support, special population students can deliver amazing results besides discovering new world opportunities.
The relationship between classroom teacher and special population students can affect their performance depending on the teacher behavior. Some teachers are coercive while others are supportive to the special population. According to Mainhard, Brekelmans, Wubbels (2011), supportive behavior from teachers breeds a positive environment in class during the current lesson and the subsequent one while coercive behavior leads to disruptive attention during the current lesson and the subsequent one. In other words, student success is directly related to positive learning because it instills motivation, engagement, and higher learning ability among special population students. Ethically, teacher leaders avoid being misled by some research. Always, they should engage and support a research that is meant to improve personal outcomes for special population students who posses various learning needs. Similarly, teacher leaders should demonstrate strong traits not limited to respect, perseverance, fairness, lawfulness, unity, and patience. Teacher leaders should treat their students with utmost respect and kindness without prejudice and favoritism.
Influence of Global Competence on Teaching Strategies
The diversity and interconnectedness of the current world has shaped the life of young people across the globe due to its emerging cultural, economic, digital, and environmental forces. Global competence has provided the opportunity for the young (globally competent) population to examine global, local, and intercultural problems so as to appreciate and understand different world perspectives and views Cheung, Sit, & Chan (2017). Ultimately, people can interact respectfully and successfully with others while ensuring responsible actions towards collective and sustainable well-being.
Teacher leaders play an important role in ensuring that the young populations become globally competent. According to Cheung et al. (2017), teacher leaders provide young people with opportunities to examine world developments in respect to dignity and rights when building a thriving and sustainable community. Teacher leaders teach their students critical, effective, and responsible utilization of social media and digital information. Ultimately, their goal is to ensure evidence based decision making towards improving assessments, teaching, curricula, and the response of schools towards cultural diversity as a way of preparing young populations into becoming global citizens.
Finally, the building blocks of global competence like values, attitudes, knowledge, and skills are the cornerstone of modern pedagogy. For instance, when analyzing a global phenomenon one requires knowledge or expertise of a certain issue, the necessary skills for transforming this knowledge into a deep understanding, the values and attitudes to reflect on the issues on various cultural ideals while having in mind various interests from involved parties (Cheung et al., 2017). Also, global competence on effective education provides opportunity for students to utilize their values, attitudes, skills, and knowledge synergistically while sharing ideas about global issues within and outside their schools.
Conclusion
This study has successfully addressed the nature of global competence of teacher leaders, the nature of special populations in the global educational arena, and the influence of global competence and special populations on teaching strategies. The nature of global competence is that teacher leaders condemn discrimination to incorporate cultural diversity, cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, and cultural action to match global competence. Also, teacher leaders equip their students with relevant skills and knowledge to help them understand the intricacies of working around diverse people. The nature of special populations is that teacher leaders find ways of reconceptualizing the nature of special education so as to provide enough support to them and guarantee them equal access to opportunities and educational resources. Also, the relationship between the classroom teacher and special population students can affect their performance depending on the teacher’s behavior. Finally, the influence of global competence on teaching strategies is that the current world’s diversity and interconnectedness has shaped the lives of young people across the globe due to its emerging cultural, economic, digital, and environmental forces. Ultimately, the building blocks of global competence like values, attitudes, knowledge, and skills are the cornerstone of modern pedagogy.
