Global Citizenship

The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) has launched a national schools competition on how climate change will affect the lives of people in their own local areas.

Part of its major inquiry into Facing up to Climate Change, the competition invites primary and secondary school children to produce a poster and 5 minute DVD on how climate change will affect the lives of people in their own local area.

The competition is being supported by former weather forecaster Heather Reid, with a prize fund of £5,000 available between primary and secondary schools in the north, centre and south of Scotland.

The competition has been designed to complement the new school’s Curriculum for Excellence, and will invite students to look at both the opportunities and challenges caused by climate change, and the impacts it is already having on people’s lives and livelihoods in the developing world.

This national competition forms part of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s major inquiry into facing up to climate change, launched in October 2009, which seeks to identify how to bridge the gap between the aspirations of the policies now in place to address climate change, and how much the public are currently prepared to go.

Groups of no more than 4 pupils can submit an entry, but schools may submit more than one entry.

What are the prizes?
Overall winning group, Primary     £1000
Overall winning group, Secondary £1000
£500 for three regional winning groups at Primary and at Secondary in each of three regions namely north, central and south Scotland.

What is the format for submission of entries?
• One A1, (594 mm x 841mm) poster.
• One DVD (if desired) with mixed format additional or back up material.

If a DVD is submitted it must have a maximum of 5 (five) minutes duration (this includes required reading time for any additional print material).
• Regional and National winning groups are expected to present their entries at a prize giving event before Dr Heather Reid (“Heather the Weather”) to be held in The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 22-26 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PQ on a date to be announced in late August/September.

Entries must be sent or delivered to The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 22-26 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PQ.

Entries must be received no later than noon (12.00) on Wednesday 30th June 2010.

Please visit Glow for the full details of terms and conditions

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools has published ‘Learning Together: International education: responsible, global citizens’, a new guide which aims to support schools as they implement Curriculum for Excellence.

HMIE’s aim is to help teachers  reflect on and improve their practice in International education. Inspectors have visited a number of schools, and worked with a range of practitioners and stakeholders to develop this resource. The examples of good practice provided will stimulate professional discussion and thinking about how to prepare young people for life in a globalised society through a Curriculum for Excellence.

The guide was launched through a video-conference led by Shetland Islands Council from Anderson High School. Their ‘Global Classroom’ site hosted the conference and also links to other international work led by the school.

The devastating earthquake in Haiti has stimulated a huge international Aid and relief effort to assist the local population.

Oxfam Education has already produced educational resources on this natural disaster. The presentation slides and notes will help schools that intend to run assemblies or fundraising activities to support the relief and recovery work in Haiti, and facilitate discussion of issues of responsible global citizenship

The Oxfam website also has an online diary written by one of its Aid workers in the country, which provides a fresh perspective on the charitable relief operations and the situation in Haiti.

Mercy Corps and the Edinburgh Disasters Response Committee has also produced an Education pack, available in our Glow Group for International Education.

It’s now just two weeks until Holocaust Memorial Day on 27th January, when nations all over the world will remember the genocides of the modern world and promote tolerance. The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website carries up-to-date news of events and many resources for teachers. Many schools and local authorities in Scotland will be holding some kind of event in commemoration, such as school assemblies and meetings with Holocaust survivors.

Some school events will be led by pupils who have benefitted from the ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ programme developed by the Holocaust Education Trust.

Linda Hooper, the Principal of Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee and originator of the Paperclips project, is visiting Scotland and will talk with Scottish teachers and pupils in Glasgow and Renfrewshire about her experience with Holocaust Education.

This year is the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army in 1945. The recent theft of the infamous ‘Arbeit macht frei’ sign from the main camp gates caused initial worries about neo-Nazi activity but the rapid arrests by the Polish police suggest that the theft was for criminal reasons of profit rather than politically motivated.

This week saw the death of Miep Gies, the last link with the hiding of Anne Frank’s family in Amsterdam. Miep concealed the diary after the family’s arrest in 1944, and handed it over to Anne’s father after the war – making its publication possible and creating a resource for Holocaust Education in schools worldwide.

The United Nations has designated this year as ‘2010 International Year of Biodiversity’, and the website has good background material about the intentions of the year and the concept and aspects of biodiversity.

The Natural History Museum in London hosted the UK launch for this initiative, and there will be activities all over the UK in the year ahead to raise awareness and celebrate biodiversity. A BBC story reports on the launch.

The Scottish Government has encouraged Scots to make more use of the natural riches around them and take up activity in the outdoors environment.

Learning and Teaching Scotland is working with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to run a Glow event for schools tomorrow, and the Glow intranet will enable teachers and pupils to follow the subject throughout the year.

Ofsted visited 14 schools over a three-year period to evaluate how effectively they had developed pupils’ understanding of sustainability and whether education for sustainable development had any impact on improving the broader life of the school. Over three years all but one of the schools improved the overall effectiveness of their provision for sustainable development, with a wide range of positive consequences for pupils, their families, the school and wider community.

Download full report from http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Thematic-reports/Education-for-sustainable-development-improving-schools-improving-lives

Nominations opened today for the Scottish Education Awards 2010, the annual celebration of success and achievement in Scottish schools. Among the categories this year are awards for ‘Global Citizenship’ and ‘Sustainable Schools, themes which are highly relevant for this blog’s target audience.

The closing date for nominations is 5th March 2010, and the website has full information about all the categories, sponsors, prizes and nomination process. Plenty of time to encourage our best schools and education professionals to nominate themselves in an appropriate category.

The UN Copenhagen summit on Climate Change continues to attract lots of media attention, and lots of educational interest too.

Our ‘Developing Global Citizens’ team here at Learning and Teaching Scotland organised a one-day conference for teachers to coincide with the summit. More than a hundred teachers gathered to share and discuss, talking about different strategies for learning about Sustainable Development. A Glow Meet videoconference session with WWF staff in Copenhagen was one of the highlights of the day, and Sam Gardner of WWF commented on the positive experience in his Scotsman blog. Another highlight was the song written and performed by children from Whitelees primary school , Cumbernauld. Conference products, such as powerpoint slides, will be published in the national Glow Group for Sustainable Development Education.

The Scottish Government has announced further funding for the Eco-Schools initiative in Scotland. Eco-Schools Scotland encourages whole-school action on the environment, and is likely to celebrate the award of its one thousandth Green Flag sometime in 2010.

The European Economic and Social Committee, one of the less well-known European institutions, is an advisory body not part of the European Parliament or the Commission. EESC is organising a major European event for upper secondary school pupils aged 16-17. It’s a face-to-face simulation of an EESC plenary session in Brussels, to be held in April 2010, with pupils taking on the speaking roles to discuss European issues and negotiate compromise. 

EESC is funding travel and accommodation for participating pupils and teachers. The ‘Your Europe, Your Say’ website has details of how to register, rules and practical arrangements, such as on the selection of participating schools and the preparatory work needed in Scotland and in Brussels. Schools need to register to take part by 15^th January 2010.

Delegates and government officials have now arrived in Copenhagen for the start of the United Nations Climate Change Conference and people around the world will be watching to see if the negotiations will deliver a tough new deal to tackle climate change.
Learning and Teaching Scotland is giving your school an opportunity to take part in the debate and learn about more about the issues involved:

Heather Reid Glow meet
11:20am – 11:50am on Wednesday 9th December 2009
Join this Glow meet and put your questions on weather, climate and global warming to Heather Reid, BBC weather presenter and professional meteorologist.
Join the Glow meet on the Sustainable Development Education Glow page at https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Climate%20Change/default.aspx
Submit your question in advance by emailing Ian Menzies at I.Menzies@LTScotland.org.uk 

COP15 – join the event
Keep up to date with the latest news from the United Nations Climate Change Conference by tuning into the COP15 live event page on LTS online at http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/sustainabledevelopment/cop15/index.asp
We’ll be bringing you a range of perspectives from the conference including the official COP15 updates and blogs from:
• UNICEF youth climate activists
• Scotland’s Climate Change Minister
• Leading environmental and development NGOs.

Share ideas and resources or let us know what doing for COP15 by logging onto the Sustainable Development Education Glow page at https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Climate%20Change/default.aspx

Glow meet – UN Climate Change Summit, Copenhagen
10:15am to 10:40am Friday 11th December 2009
Representatives from the World Wildlife Fund and Oxfam will be on hand to answer your questions about climate change and its impact on people, nature and biodiversity around the world.
Find out why this UN Summit is so important and what is happening behind the scenes.
Join the Glow meet on the Sustainable Development Education Glow page at https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Climate%20Change/default.aspx
Submit your question in advance by emailing Ian Menzies at I.Menzies@LTScotland.org.uk