Journal of International Social Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2015, 81-82. Journal of International Social Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2015, 81-82. Corresponding author email: Phillipa.Parsons@newcastle.edu.au ©2008/2018 International Assembly Journal of International Social Studies Website: http://www.iajiss.org ISSN: 2327-3585 P a g e | 81 Book Review: The state of global education Reynolds, R., Bradbery, D., Brown, J., Donnelly, D., Ferguson-Patrick, K., Macqueen, S., & Ross, A. (2015). A values-based pedagogical stance. Teaching teachers for global education in Australia. In B. Maguth & J. Hilburn (Eds.), The state of global education: Learning with the world and its people, (pp. 174–188). New York, NY: Routledge. A review by: Phillipa Parsons Doctoral student School of Education Faculty of Education and Arts University of Newcastle Australia As one of two chapters under the section title "Conceptual Approaches to Teaching and Learning", Ruth Reynolds et al. make a compelling case for broadening the conversation around how theories of educating for global citizenship can translate into praxis. As the authors emphasize right from the start, the concept of the global citizen and educating for global citizenship is relatively new, and a heavily contested field. In acknowledging that, the focus for this chapter is fixed on the development of a “practice-based roadmap” (p. 174) for global education (GE), developed through a cyclical process within an empirical research project. This chapter outlines the qualitative portion of the action research study undertaken with pre-service teachers by teacher-educators at a regional university. Interestingly, the study incorporates the influence of the researchers’ own values on their definition of global education, the student-participant responses, and how both of these fed back and informed the researchers’ evolving pedagogy with the participant groups. The degree to this then informed the pre-service teachers’ own classroom practices also formed part of the data analyzed. Drawing attention to the Australian Commonwealth government’s National Framework for Values in Australian Schools, the authors offer that as validation for Australian teachers to begin the transition to a more values-based pedagogy for GE. However, they emphasize that this does not preclude teacher educators and teachers in other areas implementing this model. Significantly, the authors background their findings by dichotomizing the notion of the global citizen, and associated objectives of GE. First, the globally competent citizen, perhaps the hegemonic conception within educational discourse, is described as able to compete and operate effectively within the global capitalist market. Secondly, the globally interconnected citizen is outlined as underpinned by the ideal of compassion and caring and of living together peacefully and sustainably. Journal of International Social Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2015, 81-82. Corresponding author email: Phillipa.Parsons@newcastle.edu.au ©2008/2018 International Assembly Journal of International Social Studies Website: http://www.iajiss.org ISSN: 2327-3585 P a g e | 82 This latter definition can be likened to the philosophical concept of cosmopolitanism. An elucidation of this second interpretation is then adopted as a framework for GE values and forms the central tenet of this chapter. For this reviewer, this underpinning is one of the chapter’s greatest strengths, despite not actually referring to the term cosmopolitanism. Regardless, this chapter makes a significant contribution to the field of educating for global consciousness as cosmopolitanism. Grounding this study in the scholarly consensus that teachers’ values are crucial in determining pedagogical practices, the authors conceive the notion of a “global stance” (p. 176), defined as a heuristic, or mechanism by which choices for action are made. This is further defined and contextualized as a “values-laden pedagogical stance” (p. 1). Co-opting values identified by Oxfam as essential for an increasingly globalizing world, the resultant model, "Values and Pedagogical Strategies to Teach about, for, and with Global Education – A Global Stance" (p. 184), makes explicit those values for GE. In aligning them with concrete pedagogical strategies the authors have developed a tool that can equip and empower teachers to adopt a global stance and teach about, for and with GE within any key learning area, and at both elementary and secondary school levels. The authors’ ambitions are for a holistic re-orientation of values regarding the objective of schooling, towards a GE stance. They emphasize the importance of enhancing both the cognitive and affective domains of learning of pre-service teachers, to foster the development of a pedagogical stance; specifically a global stance. An adoption of GE values may then inform those pre-service teachers choice of classroom practice. This is premised on the theory that for teachers to achieve a global orientation in their pedagogy, they must first develop, then make explicit those values to students. The authors have outlined a collaborative, values-based approach to education, as opposed to the predominant competitive academic focus, echoing similar calls from within the field of educating for cosmopolitanism. This study, and the resulting framework, will serve not only as a tool for practicing teachers and teacher educators, but offers much potential as impetus for future research projects.