What Is Global Perspectives?
Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives provides opportunities for enquiry into, and reflection on, key global issues from a personal, local/national and global perspective. Young people globally face unprecedented challenges in an interconnected and information-heavy world, not least in how they will gain a sense of their own active place in the world and cope with changes that will impact on their life chances and life choices. Students will have opportunities to acquire and apply a range of skills, including:
• Gathering, synthesising and communicating information
• Collaborating with others to achieve a common outcome
• Analysing and evaluating planning, processes and outcomes
• Developing and justifying a line of reasoning
Students will explore stimulating topics that have global significance. They will assess information critically and explore lines of reasoning. They will learn to collaborate with others from another culture, community or country, directing much of their own learning and developing an independence of thought. The syllabus emphasises the development and application of skills rather than the acquisition of knowledge. Students will develop transferable skills that will be useful for further study and for young people as active citizens of the future. Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives encourages awareness of global problems and offers opportunities to explore possible solutions through cooperation and collaboration. The course is not about getting everybody to think identically; rather it is a matter of opening minds to the great complexity of the world and of human thought, and opening hearts to the diversity of human experience and feeling.
• Gathering, synthesising and communicating information
• Collaborating with others to achieve a common outcome
• Analysing and evaluating planning, processes and outcomes
• Developing and justifying a line of reasoning
Students will explore stimulating topics that have global significance. They will assess information critically and explore lines of reasoning. They will learn to collaborate with others from another culture, community or country, directing much of their own learning and developing an independence of thought. The syllabus emphasises the development and application of skills rather than the acquisition of knowledge. Students will develop transferable skills that will be useful for further study and for young people as active citizens of the future. Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives encourages awareness of global problems and offers opportunities to explore possible solutions through cooperation and collaboration. The course is not about getting everybody to think identically; rather it is a matter of opening minds to the great complexity of the world and of human thought, and opening hearts to the diversity of human experience and feeling.
How is Global Perspective Structured at ISL?
At ISL, Y10-11 students take Global Perspectives as part of their regular curriculum. Students are taught Global Perspectives for four periods a week, with four units being studied per year.
Students work together in groups to complete a 'Group Project' which makes up 30% of their final mark. They have to plan, research, implement and reflect upon a 'social action'. This requires students to think about a Global Issue they care about and plan an action to either raise awareness, inform and/or change something in society. Students present their work and findings to their groups in April of Year 11 and students also submit an individual review of the project.
Students will also complete an individual research report of 1500-2000 words which will count 40% towards their final grade. This assignment should be based on one of the topic areas from the specification however it cannot be on the same topic as the group presentations.
Finally, in Year 11, students will complete an end of course IGCSE exam which is 1h15m long and makes up 30% of their final mark. The written exam consists of source-based questions on a global issue from a range of perspectives.
Click here to download the ISL Global Perspectives Handbook with information about the course and how it is assessed.
Click here to download a 'Dummies Guide' explaining the Global Perspectives course for students.
Students work together in groups to complete a 'Group Project' which makes up 30% of their final mark. They have to plan, research, implement and reflect upon a 'social action'. This requires students to think about a Global Issue they care about and plan an action to either raise awareness, inform and/or change something in society. Students present their work and findings to their groups in April of Year 11 and students also submit an individual review of the project.
Students will also complete an individual research report of 1500-2000 words which will count 40% towards their final grade. This assignment should be based on one of the topic areas from the specification however it cannot be on the same topic as the group presentations.
Finally, in Year 11, students will complete an end of course IGCSE exam which is 1h15m long and makes up 30% of their final mark. The written exam consists of source-based questions on a global issue from a range of perspectives.
Click here to download the ISL Global Perspectives Handbook with information about the course and how it is assessed.
Click here to download a 'Dummies Guide' explaining the Global Perspectives course for students.
How is the course assessed?
To qualify for the Cambridge IGCSE in Global Perspectives, students have to complete one 'Individual Research' assignment, one 'Group Project' and one 'Written Paper' exam in Year 11:
What are the Grade Boundaries for each Component?
Grade boundaries for each individual component as of June 2015 are as follows. A* are not awarded for individual components but are awarded for grades overall:
coming soon
coming soon
What topics are studied?
The Global Perspectives course is built around a series of topics, each containing issues of global importance. At ISL, each year will focus on four different topics. Within each topic, students will explore global issues related to these topics from a personal, local/national and global perspective. They will use research, reasoning and questioning skills to gain understandings and form judgements. Individual Research Reports, Group Projects and the Written Exam will all focus on one of these topics. To see the Global Perspectives topics, go to the units of study page.
First Let'sDiscover
The most extraordinary thing about trying to piece together the missing links in the evolutionary story is that when you do find a missing link and put it in the story, you suddenly need all these other missing links to connect to the new discovery. The gaps and questions actually increase - it's extraordinary.
-David Attenborough |
Now let's WORKConserve
We can survive as a population only if we conserve, develop sustainably, and protect the world's resources.
-Silvia Cartwright |
IT'S UP TO USChange
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
-Barack Obama |