Developing global skills through proble...

Rapid developments regarding digital technologies, growing economic competition, and increased mobility are but three characteristics of our time. In order to prepare young people for a life in the 21st century, teachers are expected to acknowledge such developments and adjust their teaching accordingly. English as a foreign language (EFL) seems to be a particularly suitable subject to accomplish this. Hence, EFL teachers are expected to cultivate in their learners’ skills for intercultural competence, digital literacies, collaboration, and critical thinking, as well as the ability to solve problems. The mastery of these and other “global skills” (Oxford University Press, n.d.) or “life competencies” (Cambridge University Press, n.d.) is taken for granted in many professions today. Their development has thus become a central aim in EFL teaching.

Problem-based learning (PBL) provides appropriate conditions for preservice English teachers to learn and practice global skills. Rooted in real-life classroom situations, authentic problem scenarios are the basis for critical analyses, group discussions, literature research, syntheses of findings, and, eventually, collaborative problem solving. This chapter exemplifies how PBL can push forward the idea of global skills learning in education. Specifically, it demonstrates how PBL fosters the communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills of preservice EFL teachers. It furthermore emphasises how teacher education students must transform their own global skills in the transition from students to teachers and how PBL equips them with the attitudes, knowledge, and abilities global skills teachers should possess.