Global Citizenship

February 24th, 2012

Open Day Study Visit - St Paul’s High, Glasgow

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: CPD, democracy, events, Fairtrade, holocaust education, learner voice, nature, school improvement
 : Categories CPD, citizenship, community, curriculum areas, leadership, outdoor learning, secondary schools, sharing practice, social studies, sustainable development

9:30am – 3.00pm, Thurs 10^th May 2012

Theme: Sustainable Development Education and Education for Citizenship

St Paul’s High School is an inspiring example of a school that has adopted a whole school approach to global citizenship. The school’s achievements in this regard have earned it national recognition as a finalist in the 2011 Scottish Education Awards (Sustainable School Category) and as a winner of the 2009 Scottish Education Awards (Active Citizenship Category).

The school’s approach and vision for global citizenship has made an identifiable impact on learners, helping them grow in confidence and providing them with real-life opportunities to develop their skills and transform their local community. The school has supported a wide range of activities to achieve this, most notably:

• Dedicated time within the social studies curriculum for learners to choose and engage with local community projects and tackle anti-social behaviour in the wider community
• A strong school ethos which puts respect for others and service to others at the heart of school life and the curriculum
• A sustained commitment to learner voice and a well-established school parliament that provides learners with decision-making powers and a budget to make things happen
• A diverse range of activities and initiatives which support a whole school approach including a Fairtrade group, Eco-Schools group and pupil campaign group
• Planned opportunities for personal achievement through S1 electives, S2 citizenship and S3 skills academy.

This CPD event offers practitioners and school leaders from across Scotland the chance to visit St Paul’s High School to meet with the Head Teacher, staff and learners and also tour the classrooms, buildings and grounds.

Those participating in the open day will also have time to reflect and share their own experiences.

Download Programme for St Paul’s Open Day>>

How to book

To book, please email: [email protected] or Tel. 0141 282 5172.

Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. This is a free event!

January 30th, 2012

Holocaust remembrance in Scotland

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: holocaust education
 : Categories citizenship, international, religious and moral education, social studies

Last week we commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day 2012 with events all over the country in communities and schools. This annual occasion is an opportunity to remember those who died in the Holocaust of World War 2 and in the genocides since, and to challenge the prejudice and discrimination which can lead to such horrors.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) takes a lead in facilitating such commemoration, and it picked the theme of ‘Speak Up, Speak Out’ for its 2012 campaign. It created education resources and material to help local organisers such as teachers and librarians to create activities which increased public participation.

Each year in Scotland one local authority hosts a national event. In 2012 Dundee City Council took the lead, working with partners such as the Scottish Inter Faith Council, HMDT, and the Anne Frank Trust. The event included participation by John Swinney MSP on behalf of Scottish Government, a local disabled dance group, students from Dundee schools, and visiting speakers from Denmark, Japan and Canada. A unique element of the evening was focused around ‘Inside Hana’s Suitcase’, the story of one victim of the Nazis, her family and how a suitcase stimulated learning about the Holocaust in many countries.

Two Grove Academy students presented personal views of the impact of their participation in the ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ programme managed by the Holocaust Education Trust. The Scottish Government recently confirmed that it will continue its support for this programme for another year, enabling more Scottish school students to learn from the experience.

In East Renfrewshire students from all the local secondary schools were involved in a commemorative event at Eastwood Theatre, covered by one of the local newspapers.

In Edinburgh the public library service launched its Ernest Levy archive at an event hosted by Portobello High School. Ernest Levy was a Holocaust survivor who made his home in East Renfrewshire and then dedicated a great deal of time to working with schools to spread a message of tolerance and respect.

February 25th, 2011

Holocaust education

nickmorgan

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: holocaust education
 : Categories citizenship

The Scottish Government has announced that it will provide funding for another year for Scottish school students to participate in the ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project conceived and managed by the Holocaust Education Trust. This project has already enabled hundreds of senior pupils to experience a visit to the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp and state museum in Poland, combined with preparatory sessions such as hearing the testimony of a Holocaust survivor. On their return the students commit to some peer education action in which they share their experience with school or community audiences as Student ambassadors. One recent example of such dissemination work is a short video made by students from St.Andrew’s and St.Bride’s High School in South Lanarkshire entitled ‘Auschwitz - a journey’, available on YouTube to a wider audience.

HET held an event in Edinburgh this week to celebrate the work of the Student ambassadors. The evening included a performance of a scene from a play written about Scottish missionary and Holocaust victim Jane Haining. Titled ‘A Promised Land’, theatre company Theatre Objectiv toured its production in Scotland last year.

February 6th, 2011

Holocaust Memorial Day 2011

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: holocaust education
 : Categories citizenship

This year hundreds of Scottish primary and secondary schools commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day in a variety of ways. There were special school assemblies, presentations by Holocaust survivors, art works produced by pupils, and much more. This annual event is an opportunity for learning about prejudice and discrimination, and remembering the victims of genocide and the people who contributed to a better future.

The national Holocaust remembrance event in Scotland was hosted by Craigroyston Community High School in Edinburgh, at which school students organised a powerful programme of presentations and music to mark the day. First Minister Alex Salmond spoke of the importance of remembrance and the building of communities which reject racism and discrimination, and of Scotland as one nation with many cultures. Video of the presentation is available on the Scottish Government website.

In Falkirk, Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss spoke to students at Larbert High School about her experiences before, during and after the Second World War. A BBC news story reports on this visit.

There are many educational resources about the Holocaust and genocide produced for teachers, with charities such as the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and the Holocaust Education Trust especially active each year. A newly published American resource, ‘Women and the Holocaust’, adds to the wealth of material which helps teachers to deal with this important topic.

September 17th, 2010

Holocaust Education

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: holocaust education
 : Categories citizenship

This week saw the first of this year’s Scottish flights to Poland as part of the ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project managed by the Holocaust Education Trust. The Edinburgh flight group was joined by Schools Minister Keith Brown MSP, and is described in a Scottish Government news release. The Minister has now blogged about his experience in Poland. A flight from Glasgow for several hundred students and teachers will go to Auschwitz in October.

Learning and Teaching Scotland will be running of its free Holocaust Education workshop days for teachers on Thursday 7th October in Stirling. Participants will engage with recent new approaches and fresh thinking on Holocaust Education, and explore new resources for use in school. Contact Nick Morgan for details.

Many Scottish schools already use the book ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne, or the movie version of his story. There is an excellent Film Education online resource to help practitioners use the book to teach about the Holocaust. Now LTS has produced video from a Glow Meet videoconference session with the author, held during the recent Edinburgh International Book Festival. This video is available to Scottish teachers through a Glow intranet national group.