Global Citizenship

Our annual educational conference and exhibition, ‘Scottish Learning Festival 2009‘, is open for registrations through the event website. As usual, its in Glasgow at the SECC, and offers a great variety of international presenters, expert workshops, and an exhibition of educational services, products and experiences. This year’s dates are Wednesday 23rd September and Thursday 24th September.

Last year LTS welcomed over 7000 visitors to the show, mixing teachers, managers, trainee teachers, consultants, education companies and foreign educators.

Within the keynote and seminar programme, there are many opportunities to find out more about International Education, Education for Citizenship and Sustainable Development, all key contributors to the successful implementation of ‘Curriculum for Excellence’. Aspects of education in Brazil, China, Colombia, France and the USA are just some of the seminar themes.

Sign up online for this free Continuing Professional Development opportunity, and make your bookings for the best of the seminars.

LTS is seeking applications from teachers in Scotland for a group study visit to Uganda in July 2009, with a closing date of 8th May. Full details are on our website.

LTS works in partnership with Link Community Development’s Scottish staff to organise and support this visit and other activity. The Uganda visit is focused on School performance and review, and the group participants will spend two weeks in Africa contributing to local educational development.

A Scottish Government news story comments on the positive outcomes of projects in Malawi supported by grants from the Government’s International Development Fund. These projects contribute to the achievement of the ‘Millennium Development Goals’

Mary’s Meals, a charity which provides meals for pupils in Malawi to enable them to stay in education and improve their learning, is one of the positive examples highlighted in the review report.

In July 2009 a group of Scottish teachers will visit Malawi to support development in primary schools, supported through partnership working between Learning and Teaching Scotland’s SCIPD programme and Link Community Development’s ‘Global Teachers’ programme.

 The Scottish Government has reaffirmed Scotland’s links with Malawi.  Linda Fabiani, the Minister whose remit includes External Affairs, recently visited projects in Malawi to see the impact of Scottish interaction.

Another news story gives details of funding for some of these projects, such as the School Improvement Programme.

 The Commonwealth Games are coming to Glasgow in summer 2014. And the Scottish Government is inviting people to think about how to make the most of the event and leave a lasting legacy. A news release gives background information and a link to the consultation paper. In the section on the ’smarter’ strategic objectives, which concern Education and Training, there are already some ideas for increasing the impact for learners; for example, LTS “will feature the Games in developing resources and teaching materials” and “the roll-out of the Glow network in schools will offer additional ways for schools to make links and share projects”.

There will be international connections and interest from all over the world. What are your ideas for realising lasting benefits from the Games?

We are inviting applications from primary promoted staff and Headteachers for a SCIPD group study visit to Uganda in July 2008. The LTS International Education website has details and forms, and the closing date for applications is 14th March.

This opportunity is a partnership between LTS and Link Community Development. Participants will visit LCD’s ‘Uganda School Improvement Project’ in Masindi with a dual aim of supporting Ugandan schools in the improvement process, while developing a sound understanding of the process of school data evaluation to improvement.Outcomes for the Scottish participants will include greater knowledge and skills about school improvement and data evaluation; increased professional confidence as a result of mentoring and sharing expertise; enhanced understanding of global issues.