Ms. Pan Jun, Chairperson of Beijing Royal Charity Foundation: Cultivate Elite Leaders with International Understanding Competencies
source:iFeng.com
To clarify the development trend of education for international understanding, to explore, popularize and strengthen effective implementation methods and approaches of youth education for international understanding, Beijing Royal Charity Foundation, Institute of International Education South-South Cooperation and Center for China and Globalization jointly held the Chinese Wisdom, Global Vision Youth Talk and Report Release: A New Journey for A New Era: An Action Plan of Education for International Understanding.
◆At the Event
During her keynote speech, Ms. Pan Jun, Chairperson of Beijing Royal Charity Foundation emphasized the necessity and urgency of international understanding and cooperation in the face of global issues such as Covid-19. She mentioned that all educational practitioners should reflect on how to utilize education to ready the future talents and prepare them for uncertainties and challenges in the future.
◆Ms. Pan Jun, Chairperson of Beijing Royal Charity Foundation
Ms. Pan believed that education for international understanding is becoming the main theme of world education as the new era has put forward new requirements for the cultivation of future talents, and as the world developments. In terms of individual development, it is necessary to incorporate education for international understanding into well-rounded education. As for the development of China, education for international understanding is in need of Chinese solutions. It is necessary and urgent to strengthen the education for international understanding, especially to promote and popularize this concept among youth.
“A great many take education for international understanding as international education. They believe that only children who are going to study abroad in the future shall need it. In fact, since UNESCO initially put forward the concept of Education for International Understanding, many organizations and institutions have incorporated this concept into their working philosophy and considered it as an essential part. ”
In Ms. Pan’s perspective, international understanding is awareness as well as an ability that needs people’s attention. The goal of education for international understanding should consist of the concepts of a qualified national citizen and a competent global citizen, in which the cultivation of patriotism, national consciousness and cultural confidence is a priority. By doing so, international vision, international understanding and communication abilities as well as critical thinking would be improved to enable the young people to solve problems from global perspectives.
“China is stepping onto the center of the world stage. It calls for higher level of opening-up and going-out for more companies, so that they could grow into multinational and global companies. This increases the bar for talents cultivation. At the same time, as for students’ individual development into all-round elite leaders, which is in line with the cultivation of key competencies for middle school students.” Ms. Pan said “Government policy, top level design of schools and non-government organizations play different roles in terms of the promotion and publicity of education for international understanding in China.”
Ms. Pan believes that the public haven’t reached consensus on education for international understanding. It is necessary to provide more professional training for teachers so that teaching faculty with beliefs, faith, and visions can be developed. “We hope we can make further achievement in curriculum design, activity developing, researches and many other aspects. The Beijing Royal Charity Foundation aims to release reports every year, provide research results that can serve as reference for stakeholders. We will bring in experts of think tanks and present a wide range of original ideas. We would also like to promote teaching research through research projects by Curriculum Reform Center of Ministry of Education.”
Ms. Pan also shared her personal experiences on cultivation of educational practitioners. Firstly, as an educator, s/he should have an open mind and global vision, approving of the concept of international understanding and be willing to deliver the concepts to students. Meanwhile, the government should promote and advocate the establishment of sustainable evaluation and incentive mechanism to ensure the sustainability of education for international understanding. In addition, Ms. Pan indicated that educators should pay close attention to global development trend. They should educate children to not only focus on international cooperation, communication and inclusiveness, global impacts and conflicts brought by Covid-19, but also think about how to contribute to problem-solving from the global and cooperative perspectives.
When it comes to the development plan, Ms. Pan pointed out that Beijing Royal Charity Foundation, as a non-profit organization, will develop into an integrated platform and provider for education for international understanding in China and the world. It will provide information and products on education for schools, family and society, explore in the integration of technology and liberal arts education. Beijing Royal Charity Foundation will continue to develop along with the goal of eliminating education inequality and promoting rural revitalization, so as to provide high-quality education services for children from rural areas.
