Global Citizenship

May 18th, 2012

Global Citizenship and Storylines - update

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: storylines
 : Categories africa, expressive arts, international, languages, social studies, sustainable development

Storytelling is part of human existence around the world in every culture, and encouraging children to develop and tell stories is a frequently-used form of education. The Storylines methodology is well-established in Scottish schools, and involves children creating their own fictional communities in which their stories will be set. In the hands of imaginative teachers, this approach lends itself to some very thoughtful learning about global citizenship.

WOSDEC has worked with Glasgow City Council and Strathclyde University to develop a Global Storylines project, which has been trialled in Glasgow primary schools. It used Storylines in conjunction with drama to enable learners to explore challenging global issues such as peace and conflict, interdependence, land ownership, farming and food security.

A delegation from Glasgow will participate in the international conference ‘Storyline in Iceland 2012′ this summer, sharing their experience of using this approach in Scotland and also learning from the experience of teachers in other nations. And a recent dissemination event at Strathclyde University helped spread the message among teachers from a number of Scottish local authorities.

For teachers who want to know more, there’s also an article about the Global Storylines project in the Summer 2012 edition of the excellent ‘Stride‘ magazine, available for free download from the IDEAS network website.

For teachers who might consider how to use Storyline to support Language teaching, the Creative Dialogues website might prove useful.