Abstract:
The idea of the ‘global graduate’ is an increasingly familiar one. It is seized upon by universities employers careers advisory services and by organisations with an interest in promoting international collaborations languages and exchange opportunities. As teachers and curriculum designers we need to interrogate this term.
I want to draw attention to some of the absences in current definitions of the global graduate and suggest that a more socially inclusive and critical definition is needed that can prepare graduates to be global citizens as well as global workers. As a teaching and learning community we are uniquely placed to ensure that future generations are equipped to face the global challenges they will encounter in the coming decades.
Biography:
Christine took up the post of PVC Teaching and Learning in 2015. She began her career working in community education with unemployed young people and went on to teach a wide range of subjects and students in further and adult education. She worked for Huddersfield Technical College as Access to HE co-ordinator and she taught literature to mature students for Leeds University’s extra mural department. In 1992 she moved to the University of Huddersfield eventually becoming Head of Department. Before returning to Huddersfield as Dean of Education and Professional Development in 2006 she was Head of Education and Humanities at Sheffield Hallam University where she taught Renaissance and Eighteenth Century Literature. In 2010 she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship for her contribution to teaching and learning.
Her research interests are interdisciplinary combining literary studies cultural studies and education. She has written about the impact of literature on students’ world views about children’s and young adult fiction film and television and about the representation of education in popular culture. She recently completed a chapter ‘Popular fictions as critical adult education’ for The Palgrave International Handbook on Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning. With Prof. Kevin Orr she is co-editor of the journal Studies in the Education of Adults.
As PVC she is responsible for the university’s Teaching and Learning Strategy for working with Schools and Services to secure an excellent student experience and working with registry to ensure the quality of the university’s provision.
Christine believes that all learners regardless of background or ability deserve the best educational experience. She also believes that imaginative and creative work should play an important part in education at all levels and that their contribution to intellectual and affective development is profound.
