Global Citizenship

March 30th, 2012

cultural identity and global citizenship

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories ICT, creativity, expressive arts, scottish culture, social studies

A key starting point for global citizenship education is a richer understanding of your own culture. Here in Scotland there are great new resources, challenges and projects which will facilitate learning about this country and what it means to be a Scot.

The ‘Studying Scotland’ online resource produced by Education Scotland is intended to support teachers in their work with students learning about aspects of Scottish culture, both historic and contemporary. There is already a wealth of material on the history, arts and cultural life of Scotland. The site will be updated with additional resources over the coming months, to give extra coverage of aspects such as Scotland’s place in the world and contribution to international developments. Museums and cultural organisations will be important participants in this shared endeavour to promote knowledge of Scottish life.

Education Scotland has launched a new design challenge through its ‘Marks on the Landscape’ website, as a means of engaging with creative young people. The challenge is aimed at CfE second to fourth levels and can be linked with a range of curriculum areas including art and design, science, and technologies, and themes such as sustainability. It invites learners to create a design for a double-sided billboard to signal the entry and exit points to Scotland - for example alongside the motorway as drivers enter the country. The design should offer different perspectives for people who are arriving and people who are leaving, and might also reflect on why people need to leave their home country or why they would come to Scotland today. The site has support material and further instructions for the billboard challenge, and entries should be submitted by 21st June.

Finally, the ‘Great Tapestry of Scotland’ project will involve the creation of a history of Scotland in tapestry-form, produced by hundreds of volunteer stitchers through a huge community arts initiative. A Scottish Parliament news story reports on the project launch. The final product will include key scenes from the span of Scottish history and demonstrate the creativity of Scots living today.

March 29th, 2012

Europe and inter-generational solidarity

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories ICT, creativity, europe, expressive arts, health and wellbeing, international, technologies

2012 is the European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, and celebrates the contribution that older people make to life and society. One aspect of this theme is the quality of the relationship and interaction between the different generations in society, and among the initiatives addressing this theme are two which will interest teachers.

The European People’s Party has launched a Film competition for young people in the European Union aged under 30 years old. It invites them to create a film on the theme of ‘Solidarity between generations’, to last just one minute - short and focused. The rules and application process are online, and the closing date is 15th May.

Another opportunity for Schools is the Life Story Challenge, run by the new generations@school project. This competition asks young European citizens to work with older people to collect stories about people’s lives, and then share these through the project website using text, images, audio and video. There is a particular emphasis on gathering material through activities around 29th April, the European Day of Inter-generational Solidarity, but uploads can be made until 30th June.

Such competitions offer a chance for students to demonstrate their creativity, film-making and communication skills, and some understanding of inter-generational issues.

March 28th, 2012

Enterpreneurial skills education across Europe

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: entrepreneurship education
 : Categories europe, international, social studies

The European Commission’s Eurydice unit has published ‘Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe’. This thematic report is a useful summary of the current position of education for entrepreneurial skills in schools across the European Union, providing both an overview and descriptions of the position in individual member states.

Scotland is in a strong position, having undertaken years of extra activity through the broad ’Determined to Succeed’ Enterprise education programme and also implemented a new curriculum framework . Organisations such as Young Enterprise Scotland and EthCo continue to work with schools to promote the Enterprise agenda and help our young people become enterprising, ethical global citizens.

Two of the categories in the Scottish Education Awards 2012 relate to Enterprise activity in Primary and Secondary schools, and these awards continue to expose excellent practice in many Scottish establishments.

March 27th, 2012

Review and catch-up: Learner Voice and Pupil Participation event, 23 March, Edinburgh

kmayer

Comments: none Tags: Tags: climate and energy, CPD, learner voice
 : Categories CPD, Uncategorized, citizenship, community, learner voice, outdoor learning, renewables and climate change, sharing practice, social studies, sustainable development

Delegates enjoyed a diverse and inspiring programme covering a wide range of approaches, themes, and initiatives across the educational spectrum. With the opening provided by Professor Kay Livingston (Director of International, Research and Innovation at Education Scotland) pupils set the tone for the day by sharing their vision on the theme with the delegates.

The key note address delivered by Tam Baillie highlighted the enthusiasm at all levels to provide learners with the opportunities to express making their voices heard and count, most of all by children and young people themselves.

Tree spotlight addresses provide exemplification and inspiration on ‘learner voice and pupil participation’ across a variety of sectors. A diverse workshop programme allowed practitioners to engage with key themes such as rights education, pupil profiling and sustainability education in more detail, followed by a discussion and networking session in the afternoon.

If you wish to catch up on the key themes of the day you will find a selection of presentations and support materials form in one of Developing Global Citizens Glow sections under ‘Learner Voice’.

March 22nd, 2012

School Open Day at Bo’ness Academy

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: CPD, europe, events, modern languages, school improvement
 : Categories CPD, china, commonwealth, curriculum areas, europe, expressive arts, health and wellbeing, international, languages, mathematics, religious and moral education, sciences, secondary schools, sharing practice, social studies, technologies

School open day - using international education to develop a whole school approach to global citizenship

Venue: Bo’ness Academy, Falkirk

9:30am – 3.00pm

Thursday 17th May 2012

Note: this event was due to place at an earlier date in the year but has now been rescheduled for the date above.

Theme: International Education

This CPD event offers practitioners and school leaders an exciting opportunity to visit Bo’ness Academy and attend Falkirk Council’s Global Citizenship Showcase Event.

Bo’ness Academy is an inspiring example of a school that has used international education as a vehicle to engage the whole school in global citizenship activities. Through the Comenius Programme and other well established links the school has developed a rich international programme connecting it to countries across the world including: The Gambia, The Netherlands, China, France, Germany and The Czech Republic.

A focus of the event will be to identify and share the practical lessons and ideas that have helped the school move forward on its journey including:

• Making global citizenship a key priority in the school and a focus for the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence
• Using international links to explore important issues in a global context and to create engaging, meaningful and challenging learning experiences
• Developing strong international partnerships which can be sustained and which have made an impact on every learner.

Participants will have the opportunity to meet and talk with the Head Teacher, International Coordinator, staff and learners and also tour the classrooms and school. Time will also be set aside for participants to reflect and share their own experiences.

Download Programme for Bo’ness Academy Open Day 17May12

How to book

To book, please contact Megan Farr, Policy Officer, Falkirk Council. Email: [email protected] or Tel. 01324 506671.

Places for the open day section of the event are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. This is a free event!

March 22nd, 2012

Students model the UN

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: united nations
 : Categories international, languages, learner voice, secondary schools, sharing practice, social studies

This March weekend the Model United Nations programme takes place in Edinburgh, organised and hosted by George Watson’s College. This annual event brings together hundreds of senior pupils and teachers, not just from Scotland and the UK but also groups from Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Norway.

The students take on the role of delegations to the United Nations, and work through a series of debates and deliberations to address key issues faced by the international community. It is a great example of global citizenship education in practice, encouraging consideration of global issues, democratic participation, and intercultural exchange. Students research, present and discuss topical subjects, demonstrating their abilities as effective communicators.

Afterwards: a news piece about MUN appeared in the Edinburgh Napier News. Congratulations to all the participants and the organising team at George Watson’s.

March 15th, 2012

TED-ED education videos

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories ICT, citizenship, creativity, international

The not-for-profit organisation TED is best known for outstanding videos called TED Talks, which disseminate new ideas on subjects such as technological developments and shifts in society. Now the organisation has launched a new education initiative TED-ED, which includes a dedicated education channel on YouTube.

This channel already includes some great video assets for Global Citizenship education, with expert teachers, communicators and animators creating videos which explain important concepts and issues. My current favourites are a piece on how Pandemics spread, and another on the impact of Containerisation in the trend towards globalisation. This bank of high-quality educational digital content will continue to build up, as new clips are added, and forms a valuable resource for teachers looking for a stimulating supplement to school lessons and class work.

March 14th, 2012

Sustainability event - Echt Primary School share through Glow TV

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: events, nature, school improvement
 : Categories biodiversity, community, curriculum areas, outdoor learning, primary schools, sharing practice, sustainable development

Echt School, Aberdeenshire, is holding a Sustainability Event on March 16th 2012 to share and showcase the learning the children have been engaged in this term around Sustainability and Global Citizenship.

From Nursery to P7, they have been involved in setting up a wormery, looking after chickens and hatching eggs, looking at our school’s Food and Waste Footprint, finding out about making paper to make their own compostable paper bags, Fairtrade and finding out about solar energy.

Go to Glow TV to find out more – click here (Glow log in required)

March 12th, 2012

Commonwealth Day 2012

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories citizenship, commonwealth, games and sport, international

Today is Commonwealth Day, a chance to celebrate a global diverse community of nations and peoples with different cultures and beliefs. The theme for 2012 events is ‘Connecting Cultures’ and the day is being marked in many ways, including these:

Glasgow will host the Commonwealth Games in 2014, and there is a growing sense of excitement in the city as the Games get closer. Games Legacy organisers and supporters have joined together to promote the ‘Sport your trainers’ campaign and a fitter, healthier lifestyle. (this author is eating an apple and tying up his trainers ready to go out, so the campaign is making progress!). One example: here are students at Anderson High School in Lerwick, Shetland, proudly displaying their commitment to the campaign.

Scottish singer Anne Lennox will be taking part in celebrations at the Scottish Parliament, and commenting on international work to address the problem of HIV/AIDS.

The BBC website has an article titled “Commonwealth of Nations ‘the club of the 21st century’“, which comments on the role of this international organisation and its appeal to countries applying to join as new members. The Commonwealth has grown beyond its roots in the British Empire and territories, and now provides a wider forum for networking and exchange which assists development and growth.

March 8th, 2012

International Women’s Day

nickmorgan

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

Thursday 8th March is International Women’s Day 2012. Events were held around the UK and in many countries to mark the occasion, with a focus on celebrating achievements and challenging discrimination and stereotypes based on gender. There’s plenty of global citizenship education opportunities around this theme, such as discussion about jobs, careers and roles in society. Among the activities taking place in Scotland for IWD are these:

The Take One Action film festival honoured IWD with special showings of the film ‘Bitter Seeds’, which tells the story of a young Indian woman and her efforts to publicise problems with agricultural production and globalisation in her community.

The Scottish Parliament held a gathering of women to share a discussion about the value and importance of lifelong learning.

And a BBC Scotland news piece reports on the launch of a project to celebrate the life of Mary Barbour, a Glaswegian community activist.