A transformative global education, one critical of the status quo and supportive of the development of students’ ability to change their world, would benefit from further development of a conceptual framework within a holistic paradigm. Some who have begun to explore the potential of such a global education and its significance for curriculum and practice look to systems thinking to provide such a framework (Pike & Selby, 1988; Selby, 1999; Young, 2010). This research seeks to continue this exploration by identifying particular systems concepts that might have particular relevance for global education, and by imagining how they might inform practice. In order to discover whether systems theoretical concepts can serve as an effective theoretical framework for a transformative global education, I turned to both literature and the practice of global educators. I worked with a group of four global educators, exploring their practices through interviews and observations. Moving back and forth between the experiences of the teachers and systems theory literature (Ackoff, 1974; von Bertalanffy, 1968; Churchman, 1971; Georgiou, 2007), I was able identify and better understand systems concepts and how they might be enacted in global education classrooms. The importance of boundary judgements in systems theory has great significance for global education, underlying such key ideas as a synthesis approach to study of phenomena, relationality, recognition of holistic and multiple perspectives, and critical awareness of system boundaries and goals and their relation to power dynamics. The fact that systems concepts are already embedded in the practices of some global educators who are not themselves knowledgeable about systems theory, coupled with my own experience of reaching greater understanding of the concepts through an exploration of practice, suggests that global educators might not need expertise in the theory to adopt such an approach. However, the concepts developed here can provide guidance and support for global educators seeking to practice a transformative global education.
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机译：一种变革性的全球教育，对现状的批判和支持学生改变世界的能力的发展，将从整体范式中概念框架的进一步发展中受益。一些已经开始探索这种全球性教育的潜力及其在课程和实践中的意义的人，开始寻求系统思维来提供这种框架（Pike＆Selby，1988； Selby，1999； Young，2010）。这项研究试图通过确定可能与全球教育特别相关的特定系统概念，并通过想象它们如何为实践提供指导，来继续这一探索。为了发现系统理论概念是否可以作为变革性全球教育的有效理论框架，我转向文献和全球教育工作者的实践。我与四个全球教育工作者组成的小组合作，通过访谈和观察来探索他们的做法。在教师和系统理论文献的经验之间来回走动（Ackoff，1974； von Bertalanffy，1968； Churchman，1971； Georgiou，2007），我能够识别并更好地理解系统概念以及它们如何在全球范围内被实施。教育教室。边界判断在系统理论中的重要性对于全球教育具有重要意义，其基础是诸如研究现象，关系，整体和多角度认识的综合方法以及对系统边界和目标及其与权力的关系的批判意识等关键思想。动力学。系统概念已经嵌入到一些本身不了解系统理论的全球教育工作者的实践中，再加上我自己通过实践探索对概念进行更深入了解的经验，这一事实表明，全球教育工作者可能不需要专业知识在理论上采用这种方法。但是，这里提出的概念可以为寻求实践性全球教育的全球教育工作者提供指导和支持。
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