Beyond Borders: Investigating the Role of Global Competence Education in Fostering Empathy and Intercultural Understanding

The expectations that have been set on today's education systems have been completely changed due to the speed of globalisation, transnational mobility and cultural interconnectedness. School and university no longer only have the responsibility of conveying information, but also teaching students how to engage in an ethical and empathetic manner with others from different cultures and countries. Global competence education has become a critical educational approach to foster a set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that enable students to deal with cultural diversity and global interdependence (OECD, 2018; Boix Mansilla & Jackson, 2011). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of Global competence education in developing students' understanding and empathy for intercultures. The research draws on interdisciplinary research from international studies, psychology and education to bring together theory and empirical findings to investigate the impact of global competence programmes on socio-emotional learning outcomes. The paper presents the results of a structured qualitative literature review, supported by illustrative case studies from the secondary and higher education settings, to analyse pedagogical strategies including experiential learning, intercultural dialogue, curriculum internationalisation and reflective practice. The results indicate that most effective global competence education can be achieved if it combines cognitive, behavioural and affective aspects of learning, rather than treating intercultural exposure as a separate experience from learning (Deardorff, 2006; Boix Mansilla & Wilson, 2020). However, difficulties with curricular constraints, teacher readiness, measuring empathy, and inequities in access to global learning opportunities hinder its transformative potential. The paper ends with recommendations for educators and policymakers to use evidence-based approaches, focusing on curriculum coherence, professional learning and institutional support. In general, the study suggests that global competence education is one of the most important avenues to foster empathy and intercultural understanding in an interdependent yet fragmented world.