Global Citizenship

May 28th, 2010

Modern Languages - French

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories europe, international, modern languages

A Times Educational Supplement Scotland article entitled ‘Bienvenue a Belleville, Kirkie’ describes a showcase event in East Dunbartonshire which boosted both modern foreign language learning and pupil transition from primary to secondary school. Staff at Kirkintilloch High School created Belleville, an imaginary French town, as a focus for a wide range of activities for P7 pupils in the local cluster of primary schools.

This collaborative project between the High School and the Primaries will assist the growth of languages teaching in their implementation of ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ and also consolidated relationships between the schools.

May 26th, 2010

Action Plan for Sustainable Development Education

imenzies

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories international, sustainable development

‘Learning for Change: Scotland’s Action Plan for the second half of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development’ has been launched by the Cabinet Secretary on a visit to St Joseph’s Primary School in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire. A Scottish Government news story gives more details of the visit, which also celebrated the 1000th Scottish school to receive the Green Flag award of the Eco-Schools Programme for its environmental action work.

To integrate the principles, values and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning is the overarching goal of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. To help realise this aspiration, the previous Scottish Executive launched an action plan entitled ‘Learning for Our Future’ back in 2006 when the UN Decade began. Now, at this halfway point, the Government took stock of Scotland’s achievements in education for sustainable development so far, and now presents a new action plan which can help build on the momentum of the first half of the Decade.

The overall goal of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development is to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. This educational effort will encourage changes in behaviour that will create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society for present and future generations.

May 24th, 2010

Early Years education international dialogue

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories ICT, europe, international

The Early Years team at Learning and Teaching Scotland has hosted an international online discussion about early childhood curricula, parental involvement, etc. Participants from Poland, Romania, Iceland, Sweden, Italy and Serbia joined their Scottish hosts for the Glow Meet. This week’s ‘Times Education Supplement Scotland’ has a story about this first summit event.

May 20th, 2010

Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories CPD, ICT, citizenship, europe, international, sustainable development

The ‘Scottish Learning Festival 2010′ is now open for registrations, prior to the real event taking place in Glasgow on the 22nd and 23rd September 2010. The line-up at this year’s free show includes keynote presentations by Michael Russell MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning; Eric Booth, author, entrepreneur and arts education specialist; Richard Gerver, author of ‘Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today’; and Professor Sugata Mitra, professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University. The entire programme is online, to help reduce the carbon footprint of SLF, and also available for download.

SLF conference seminars are always popular with teachers, and there are a good number of seminars this year which focus on one or other aspect of Global Citizenship in the context of a Curriculum for Excellence. These include Holocaust Education (both a seminar and discussion sessions), Climate Change, a European Union Comenius Regio project for language learning, the London Olympics 2012, Global Footprinting, and Citizenship and young people.

The exhibition side of the show continues to attract organisations and companies with a lot to offer for Scottish education, and again there’s a good mix of exhibitors which relate directly to Global Citizenship activity in schools. British Council, the European Parliament office in Scotland, the British Red Cross, Holocaust Education Trust, Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Get Set for London 2012, and Amnesty International.

LTS welcomes many international delegates to the show each year, and we make special efforts to provide opportunities for overseas education professionals to share experience with their Scottish counterparts. So sign up online and come along to enjoy the SLF professional development experience.

May 19th, 2010

Human Rights resource

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories citizenship, international, modern languages

Scottish aid agency SCIAF has produced a new online resource for teachers about Archbishop Oscar Romero, who championed the rights of the poor in El Salvador. It combines text, photos, and video clips of young Salvadoreans expressing their views. It also provides teachers’ notes and worksheets, targeted at teachers of Religious Education and also Modern Languages as many elements of this resource are in Spanish. Teachers covering global citizenship themes within Curriculum for Excellence, such as Human Rights, will also find it valuable.

Romero lived and worked in El Salvador during the period of Civil War, speaking out for people’s rights against the military, and was assassinated in 1980.

May 14th, 2010

World Cup football

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories africa, citizenship, international

Now that the Scottish domestic football season is over, football fans will turn to the FIFA World Cup taking place in June and July 2010. The competition provides a unique opportunity to promote global citizenship issues within Curriculum for Excellence, by looking at the host nation South Africa.

For teachers, the Teachers TV service has produced ‘Africa is calling’ , a video documentary about South Africa’s progress in the lead up to hosting the tournament.

A BBC story ‘the tribe that built a football stadium’ reports on the arena at Rustenburg, which is generating profits that go back into the local community.

The Guardian featured a story about Portsmouth player and South African team caption, Aaron Mokoena, who as a child survived a massacre during the Apartheid regime.

Another Guardian article raises questions about citizenship, rights and inequalities within South Africa and the continuing problems of crime and poverty.

Engaging young people in thinking about inequalities also provides a route in to the ’1 goal’ campaign, an international effort to increase access to education for all children. This campaign has attracted mass support worldwide to encourage world leaders to make education a reality for excluded children, recognising a fundamental human right and a means to combat poverty. The campaign has produced a range of teacher resources, to help practitioners introduce global citizenship and rights issues in the classroom.

May 10th, 2010

Euroquiz

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories citizenship, europe, international

This year’s winner in the annual Euroquiz competition is St Mary’s Primary school, Duntocher, (West Dunbartonshire Council), which beat Drymen Primary (Stirling Council) in the finals held in the Scottish Parliament debating chamber. Euroquiz is a competition for Primary 6 pupils which helps them develop their knowledge of Europe and the European Union. In 2010 for the first time every one of the 32 Scottish local authorities was represented. The competition is organised and promoted by the Scottish European Educational Trust and has been supported by financial services company Standard Life as part of their corporate community engagement in Scotland.

A Parliament press story ‘School children descend on Scottish Parliament for Euroquiz competition’ gives more details, including the finalist school from each authority. The event was also webcast live on the Parliament website.

May 9th, 2010

Teacher development

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories CPD, europe, international

Here in Scotland the Scottish Government has set up a Review of Teacher Education, led by Graham Donaldson. A BBC web story covers its formation. The review will “consider the best arrangements for the full continuum of teacher education in Scotland”, including initial teacher education, induction and professional development. The review team is examining approaches from Scotland and a number of other countries, and its website is being developed further as a channel for engagement and dialogue with teachers. Each week the review team post a question for discussion, with teachers and educators responding to the statement. The review team consider the comments, and a selection is displayed on the website to assist further interaction.

A new piece of research conducted for the European Commission has confirmed the positive value of education staff undertaking in-service training abroad. The impact study focused on the EU-funded Comenius In-Service Training activities, part of the Lifelong Learning Programme. This kind of professional development opportunities, including the SCIPD study visit programme managed by Learning and Teaching Scotland, contribute to school improvement and pedagogical change.

The National Continuing Professional Development team continues to update its CPD Scotland website with regular blog posts about activity and events around the country.

May 5th, 2010

Pupil voice

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories citizenship

One of the Rights expressed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is the right for young people to have an opinion and for it to be listened to and taken seriously. The website of Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has a section dedicated to these rights.

The charity Children in Scotland has published a new report about the operation of Pupil Councils in Scottish schools, based on a research study called ‘Having a Say at School’. The report identifies ways to increase the effectiveness of pupil councils, and enhance pupil participation. A press release gives background detail. The HASAS research project website explains more about the process and the findings expressed in the final report.