英國過去在政治、經濟和海上的軍事力量盛極一時，曾有「日不落國」之稱（The sun never set on the British Empire）。然而，經歷兩次世界大戰的摧殘，英國整體國力衰退，經濟和軍事力量大不如前，迄今仍能在國際社會上發揮顯著影響力者，乃泱泱大國歷久彌新的教育及文化軟實力。邁入二十一世紀，英國為了在全球化浪潮中繼續引領潮流，積極投入國際教育之推展，為了賦予英國國民在全球化多元社會下具備生活所需的基本知識與技能，「教育與技能部」 （Department for Education and Skills, DfES）在2004年時出版了《讓世界進入國際級教育》（Putting the World into World-Class Education）之官方報告書，內容涵括了教育、技能和兒童服務的國際策略，也明白揭示了英國在推展國際教育的指導方針與未來願景。為了因應全球化時代的挑戰，我國近年正式推行國際教育，惟不論在實施國際教育的深度與廣度等層面，均處於初步的發展階段，尚有許多不足之處。為了改善我國國際教育的實施現況，本研究希望汲取英國國小階段有關國際教育之成功推行經驗，提出相關政策建議，供筆者服務的嘉義地區國民小學在實施國際教育的過程中，能有所借鏡及參考。 Into the 21st century, Britain continues to lead the trend of globalization and actively involved in promoting international education. In order to provide Britain the basic knowledge and skills needed to live in a pluralistic society under globalization, the British Government published “How to make the world into a first-class education” (Putting the World into World-Class Education) in 2004, covering the content of education, International Children's Services skills and strategies, and also revealing the promoting international education guidelines and vision for the future. To meet the challenges of the globalization era, Taiwan formally launched the White Paper on International Education for Primary and Secondary Schools to guide educators. However, our implementation of international education is still at a preliminary stage of development and there are many shortcomings. In order to improve the current situation of the implementation of international education, the study hopes to learn from the successful experiences of the British on the implementation of international education, and to make relevant policy recommendations for Chia-yi county primary schools which the author serves.
