Embedding values through global education in social sciences pre-service teacher education: linking the head and heart

In keeping with the troika principle of making values education the centre-piece of the student wellbeing pedagogy, this chapter aims to situate values education as a core component of social science pre-service teacher education. In particular, it reflects on an experiment in embedding a values laden global education perspective in a fourth year social science curriculum method unit. The unit was designed and taught by the author on the assumption that beginning social science teachers need to be empowered with pedagogical skills and new dispositions to effectively teach about the values laden emerging global and regional concerns referred to in the Preface within their secondary school classrooms. Moreover, it was assumed that, when pre-service teachers engage in dynamic and interactive learning experiences in their curriculum unit, they commence the process of 'capacity building' those skills which prepare them for their own lifelong professional learning. This approach to values education also aimed at providing pre-service teachers with opportunities to "create deep understandings of teaching and learning" (Barnes, 1989, p.17) by reflecting on the ways in which 'pedagogy can be transformative' (see chapter 1). It was assumed that this tertiary experience would foster the sine qua non of teaching, namely, a commitment to students and their learning. Central to fostering new 'dispositions' through this approach, was the belief in the power of pedagogy to make the difference in enhancing student participation and learning. In this sense, this experiment in values education in secondary social science pre-service teacher education aligns with the 'troika' metaphor for a paradigm change, as articulated by Lovat, Toomey, Clement, Crotty and Nielsen (2009).