Global Citizenship

June 7th, 2012

SLF 2012 programme ‘live’ for visitors

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: slf2012
 : Categories citizenship, games and sport, health and wellbeing, learner voice, outdoor learning, religious and moral education, sciences, sharing practice, social studies, sustainable development

Education Scotland has published the seminar programme for the Scottish Learning Festival 2012, SLF 2012, our annual conference and exhibition for educators. The event takes place in Glasgow on Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th September 2012, and we’ll be expecting thousands of education professionals to join us at the SECC from across Scotland, the UK and the world. Free to attend, the programme offers a wide range of keynotes, seminars and opportunities for professional dialogue. The overall theme this year is ‘Creative Learning, Creative Thinking’, and delegates will be exposed to creativity in many forms.

Global citizenship themes are well-represented among the seminars. Among the list of inclusions are sessions on educational work relating to Homophobia, Sectarianism, Games legacy, environmental projects, ‘pupil voice’, and international links. The full list of sessions, with the codes necessary for booking, is provided on the event site and also in the online interactive version.

In the Exhibition hall you’ll find many organisations involved in Scottish education, from the public, commercial and voluntary sectors. These exhibitors offer support for educators in many forms, and our team will also be running a ‘developing global citizens’ stand again this year - a chance for delegates to meet us and talk about how global citizenship is developing in Scotland.

Come and join us! We will add further updates about SLF 2012 to this blog as the dates get closer.

June 6th, 2012

Cooperatives and Social Enterprise

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: cooperatives, social enterprise
 : Categories primary schools, secondary schools, sharing practice, social studies

Global Citizenship education has Social Justice at its heart, and has clear links with the approaches taken by co-operatives and social enterprises. Both economic concepts have a focus on community benefit and well-being, and the involvement of local people in leading initiatives to improve their world.

2012 is the International Year of Co-operatives, IYOC 2012, and part of the celebrations is a big event for educators to be held at New Lanark next week. The event will highlight the contribution that study about Co-operatives and the Co-operative movement can make to implementation of Curriculum for Excellence. The organisers, the Co-operative Education Trust Scotland, has a strong track record of support for schools which includes the development of teaching resources. New SQA Awards in Cooperative Studies are now available for education providers to use with their students.

In Scotland our schools have substantial experience of developing Enterprise education, and are still innovating. A feature article in the current issue of the GTCS magazine ‘Teaching Scotland’, titled “Future Proof“, reports on programmes to support development of social enterprises in schools such as Banchory Academy, Aberdeenshire, and St Mary’s Primary, Larkhall, South Lanarkshire. The Scottish Social Enterprise Academy works with schools to develop skills and extend the vision of social entrepreneurship.

May 30th, 2012

‘Polarlands’ climate change case study - Rhu Primary School

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: climate and energy, CPD
 : Categories CPD, ICT, curriculum areas, early years, expressive arts, primary schools, renewables and climate change, sciences, sharing practice, social studies, sustainable development

This comprehensive case study developed in partnership with Rhu Primary School in Argyll and Bute shows the climate change can provide an excellent context for learning even with the youngest learners.

The case study is a description of an extended, collaborative early and first level interdisciplinary study on climate change undertaken by the Primary 1, 2 and 3 classes at the school.

The study was called Polar Lands and was based on the book ‘Who will save us?’ by Rebecca Morch. It incorporated the themes of enterprise and sustainability. The project also involved parents and community partners from the planning stage right through to the evaluation of the success of the learning.

This study exemplifies the following characteristics of interdisciplinary learning:

• Choosing a theme or problem which requires knowledge and skills from different curriculum areas, aspects of a curriculum area or subjects
• Capitalising on themes for development across learning, including developing global citizenship

Click here to see the full case study and accompanying videos.

May 15th, 2012

Euroquiz success

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: euroquiz
 : Categories europe, international, languages, modern languages, primary schools, social studies

Yesterday the national finals of the Euroquiz 2012 competition were held in the Scottish Parliament Debating Chamber in Edinburgh. Congratulations to St Mary’s Primary School, Duntocher, West Dunbartonshire, whose team won this year’s event; and well done to all the teams of Primary 6 pupils from around Scotland who took part in the regional heats and in the finals. The knowledge displayed by the students, and their skills in information retrieval, were very impressive for all of us who saw them in action at the various stages of the competition.

The event was recorded by Scottish Parliament TV, and the archive video footage is now available for viewers on their website.

The Euroquiz competition has been organised annually by the Scottish European Educational Trust for some years, and continues to attract mass participation and enhance learning about aspects of the European Union.

May 1st, 2012

Teachers gain Professional Recognition in Global Citizenship

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: CPD, events, school improvement
 : Categories citizenship, early years, leadership, primary schools, secondary schools, sharing practice, sustainable development

Teachers from across Glasgow were awarded Professional Recognition by the General Teaching Council for Scotland in Education for Global Citizenship.

The 24 teachers were awarded their certificates at a partnership event organised by GTC Scotland, Glasgow City Council and the West of Scotland Development Education Centre (WOSDEC). The event took place at Glasgow City Chambers on 25 April.

Habib Malik, Scottish Director of Islamic Relief and the Burns Humanitarian Award winner 2010 spoke about his experience of Global Citizenship and there were short presentations by the Chief Executive of the GTC Scotland, Anthony Finn, and Maureen McKenna Executive Director of Education at Glasgow City Council.

Professional Recognition, which is managed by GTC Scotland, provides teachers with an opportunity to gain recognition for particular expertise they may have and display in their teaching. Areas recognised previously include the Scots Language and Mentoring, Sustainable Education and Enterprise. So far 758 teachers across Scotland have received this professional award, bringing considerable benefits to their own professional development but also to the learning of their pupils and of their colleagues.

For more information about the event see the GTCS website

Click here to find out more about professional recognition in global citizenship, sustainable development education and outdoor learning.

April 30th, 2012

Global Awareness and Community Showcase Event, East Renfrewshire

kmayer

Comments: none Tags: Tags: community, CPD, events, Fairtrade
 : Categories CPD, citizenship, international, sharing practice

Woodfarm High School will host this year’s global citizenship event in East Renfrewshire and invites members of their local community to see the diverse and inspirational work undertaking in schools across the local authority.

The programme includes music and dance performances as well as a variety of Fair Trade food and jewellery stalls, henna tattoos drawing and a plant sale.

Event details:

Woodfarm High School

Wednesday, 23 May

Time: 4 – 6pm

April 30th, 2012

Global Citizenship - teacher achievement

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories africa, europe, international, sharing practice

Teachers are adept at finding effective and innovative ways to support student learning, and I often see great examples of this for various aspects of global citizenship. Here in Scotland there’s a system run by the General Teaching Council Scotland by which teachers can get Professional Recognition for excellent practice.

Last week a celebratory event was held in Glasgow at which local teachers received their Award certificates for their achievements in education for global citizenship. It was a pleasure to talk to the teachers involved, and see the displays of material about school partnerships with sub-Saharan Africa, e-twinning projects, Comenius school partnerships in Europe, and much more. Congratulations to all involved.

Ten of those teachers are also involved in the ‘Global Storylines’ project led by WOSDEC (West of Scotland Development Education Centre), Glasgow City Council and the University of Strathclyde. This uses the Storylines approach to get pupils to develop stories around themes such as conflict, sustainability and food. A dissemination event to be held at Strathclyde University later this week will share some of the experience gained from this project with a wider group of teachers.

April 26th, 2012

Global storylines - CPD opportunity

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: CPD, events
 : Categories africa, citizenship, creativity, curriculum areas, expressive arts, languages, primary schools, sharing practice, social studies, sustainable development

Global storylines is an exciting, innovative three year project in which storyline and drama are used to embed an exploration of global issues into the learning experiences of pupils in Glasgow.

Now in its second year, teachers from 17 Glasgow primary schools are exploring challenging global issues with their pupils, within the safe fictional community that storyline offers. Each global storyline uniquely combines global citizenship methodologies with both the pedagogies of “Storyline” and the associated pedagogies of process drama.

Learners are supported to think creatively, make connections, solve problems, and examine values and attitudes.

The event will be introduced by Steve Bell, Co-creator of Storyline, followed by a presentation by the Global Storylines Team on the scope of the project, the methodology, learning contexts and research findings.

Displays and videos of children’s work, and presentations from the project teachers, help to give a flavour of the project.

Venue & Registration:

Thursday 3rd May 2012, 2.30-5.00pm

University of Strathclyde, McCance Building

If you would like to attend this event, please register at:

http://ewds.strath.ac.uk/engage/Events/GlasgowGlobalStorylinesProject.aspx

April 26th, 2012

Europe and schools

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories europe, games and sport, international, primary schools, social studies

May 9th is Europe Day, a chance to celebrate our place in the European Union, and many teachers will mark the occasion with some special activity in school. Modern Languages are often the focus of such activity, but teachers will approach the Day in different ways to explore aspects of culture, history and contemporary life - such as food and drink.

Euroquiz 2012 has stimulated a huge amount of positive work in Scottish primary schools, with teachers encouraging their pupils to increase their knowledge about European countries and institutions. Hundreds of schools are involved in this annual quiz organised by Scottish European Educational Trust, with each school putting forward a team of P7 pupils to represent them in local heats. An example; West Kilbride primary won the North Ayrshire heat. The local winners then go forward to the national Finals, which will be held in the Scottish Parliament on 14th May. If you would like to watch the Finals live, the event will be broadcast on Holyrood TV and you can test yourself against the questions presented to the pupils.

Football is often a topic which appeals to Scottish pupils and their teachers, and the Euro 2012 football finals in Poland and the Ukraine will provide another context for learning more about Europe. UEFA is running a Respect your Health campaign with schools in the two host countries, with another campaign for adults focusing on combating racism in the sport, showing how football can bring people together and encourage responsible behaviour. The Euros are now just 43 days away, and some of us are getting excited!

April 19th, 2012

School Open day - Stockbridge Primary School, City of Edinburgh

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: community, CPD, europe, school improvement
 : Categories CPD, citizenship, curriculum areas, expressive arts, health and wellbeing, international, languages, mathematics, primary schools, religious and moral education, sciences, sharing practice, social studies, technologies

School Open Day – Stockbridge Primary School, City of Edinburgh Council

Main focus: developing a strong pupil voice & partnership working with the local and international community

Thursday, 17 May 2012, 9.15 am – 3 pm (tbc)

The highly successful programme of Developing Global Citizens study visits to schools around the country continues with Stockbridge Primary School.

Stockbridge Primary School has worked hard to embed global citizenship themes at the heart of the curriculum. This work has involved the establishment of systems which promote pupil voice and meaningful partnerships with pupils, parents, the local community and international partners.

A focus of the event will be to identify and share the practical lessons and ideas that have helped the school move forward in its journey, and also to reflect on the challenges encountered along the way. Time will also be set aside for some professional dialogue and exchange of ideas.

To book, please email: [email protected] or Phone 0141 282 5172. Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. This is a free event!