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Education for Global and Multicultural Citizenship in the 21st Century (PDF 1.25mb 15p) marks the first time in Australia that an inward-focused multicultural education policy has been merged with an international outlook.

Professor Desmond Cahill, who led the team of researchers behind the policy, said it built on Victoria’s multicultural and interfaith diversity and on Australia’s place in a globalising world.

“This new policy is a breakthrough because it embeds cultural diversity and social cohesion as central to learning and teaching,” Professor Cahill said.

“By combining the local with the global, this new approach aspires to make all Victorian school students informed and thoughtful global citizens of the future.”

Professor Cahill, who is Professor of Intercultural Studies in the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, said schools in recent years had been overwhelmed by policy documents which, while good in themselves, were too numerous to be implemented individually.

“The idea of ‘global and multicultural citizenship’ is an all-encompassing concept that will take in most of the areas covered by previous policies,” he said.

The team of RMIT researchers, which included Dr Helen Smith, Dr Peter Burrows, Dr Les Morgan and Dr Siew Fang Law, built the policy on a national and international literature review, as well consultations with schools and senior officials from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

The policy takes into account new technologies, has a firm ethical base and spells out the financial benefits that a globally-attuned workforce will bring to Victoria.

“Victoria has always been at the forefront of immigrant and intercultural education, and this new policy document will ensure the state’s leadership in the field,” Professor Cahill said.

“RMIT has been at the forefront of this educational area for over three decades, with its many educational specialists working closely with government departments in research evaluation and policy formation.”