How can we teach tomorrow's adults the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to tackle global issues and intercultural situations?

The internet and social media provide vast information and possibilities to connect no matter where people are in the world. Unfortunately, with this there has been ready and willing audiences to consume an increasing spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories related to climate change, vaccinations, the holocaust, amongst many others (e.g., Terry, 2017; Harvey et al., 2018). It is therefore critical that tomorrow's adults grow up with the aptitudes to interact effectively with people from all viewpoints in the interests of the collective good (UNESCO, 2015). Despite the global importance of this aspiration, there is still very little research into measuring how and why these skills vary across students, schools, and countries.

The overarching aim of this interdisciplinary AQM, education, geography, and psychology project is to uncover the complex and diverse mechanisms behind the cognitive and attitudinal aptitudes of schooled teenagers to thrive in an interconnected and diverse world. It will achieve this aim through three interlinked studies analysing new Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 data on Global Competence (GC) assessments. delivery of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). These data cover over 600,000 15-year-olds and their schools across 66 countries and measure students' abilities to "examine issues of local, global and cultural significance; understand and appreciate the perspectives and worldviews of others; engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions across cultures; and take action for collective well-being and sustainable development" (OECD, 2020, p. 47).

The Multilevel Modelling (MLM) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) frameworks will be used to analyse these rich but complex cross-national survey data to study how levels and sociodemographic gaps in GC vary across schools and countries and how student wellbeing, institutional and national policies, and geographical variations can help explain and address these variations. These analyses will then also provide the opportunity to assess the validity of these GC measurements across different national contexts, which has been criticised as questionable and insufficient (Grotluschen et al., 2018; Engel et al., 2019; Tarc, 2021).