Global Citizenship

March 3rd, 2013

ARKive – Team Wild

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: nature, resources
 : Categories africa, biodiversity, games and sport, sciences, sustainable development

Team WILD is a fun and unique way for students to discover the importance of a career in conservation and science – by turning scientists into superheroes!

“From jungle to savanna, rainforest to coral reef, the Team WILD game will test students on their speed, skill and coordination. As they play, students will discover a diverse range of field tasks a conservation scientist or ecologist must do in order to protect the world’s species and habitats – from surveying coral reefs in Chagos to evacuating non-infected mountain chickens from Montserrat where populations are being decimated by the deadly chytrid fungus.”

The game is supported by curriculum-linked topic pages on amphibian conservation, coral reef conservation, predator-prey relationships in the African savannah and reforestation in the Atlantic forest to support the learning element of the game and to inform young people and provide educators with supporting information and related education resources.

There are also two new education resources modules on species discovery which focus on amphibian discovery and classification, please see Species Discovery for 7-11 year olds and Species Discovery for 11-14 year olds.

February 27th, 2013

Scotland declared a Fairtrade Nation

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: action, enterprise, Fairtrade
 : Categories africa, citizenship, community, international, social studies, sustainable development

Scotland has become one of the world’s first Fair Trade Nations, International Development Minister Humza Yousaf announced this week.

The news comes on the first day of Fairtrade Fortnight 2013 and follows a nationwide campaign led by the Scottish Fair Trade Forum that has seen the people of Scotland rally behind Fair Trade principles.

The accolade means people, government, businesses, public bodies and community organisations across Scotland have come together to meet stringent criteria designed to promote Fair Trade.

Speaking ahead of a visit to the Urban Fox project in Glasgow, where he will launch an initiative to supply Fairtrade footballs to youth and sports groups in disadvantaged areas, Mr Yousaf said:

“People in every city and across all local authority areas share a vision of Scotland as a good global citizen, committed to playing its part in addressing poverty.

“That vision includes our commitment to Malawi, to take the lead in climate change, to promote clean drinking water and explains why we have doubled our International Development Fund to £9 million since 2007/08.

“I thank every person, business and organisation who has helped Scotland towards achieving Fair Trade Nation status. In particular I commend the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, who have been instrumental in driving forward our Fair Trade Nation agenda.

“We must now build on today’s achievement and continue to work hard to encourage even greater Scottish support for Fair Trade.

To qualify for Fair Trade Nation status, the Scottish Fair Trade Forum (SFTF) was required to demonstrate how Scotland had met a series of stringent criteria, including:

• All seven Scottish cities and at least 55 per cent of local authority areas to have Fairtrade status.
• All 32 local authorities areas and at least 55 per cent of towns with a population of 5,000 or more to have active Fair Trade groups working towards Fairtrade status.
• At least 60 per cent of higher education institutions to have active Fair Trade groups working towards Fairtrade status.
• Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government to use, promote and make available Fair Trade products internally, and to actively promote Fairtrade Fortnight each year.
• Fair Trade to be promoted in schools through the curriculum, procurement and other possible means.
• Schools, Further Education Institutions, Faith Groups, Trade Unions, business networks, voluntary and youth organisations to pledge to use and promote Fair Trade.
• 75 per cent of people to buy a Fair Trade product every year.
• 40 per cent of people to regularly buy Fairtrade products.

February 18th, 2013

Malawi – educational development

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: malawi
 : Categories africa, commonwealth, health and wellbeing, international, social studies

The links between Scotland and Malawi are long-established, with the David Livingstone bicentenary in 2013 providing a current reminder of the relationship. Malawi also continues to be the most common partner country for Scottish schools involved in international school partnerships, often supported with modest funding through programmes such as the British Council’s ‘Connecting Classrooms’.

For some years Scottish teachers and school pupils have been visiting Malawi to contribute their skills and learn from their African hosts, returning to Scotland with a greater personal understanding of what Global Citizenship means on a practical basis.

Link Community Development Scotland is one of the charities active in Malawi, working with local partners to improve the quality of education and increase access to educational opportunities, especially among young women. LCD is inviting applications for its ‘Malawi Cycle and Trek 2013′, in which a group of cyclists from the UK will ride through the country and visit school projects in July 2013. Each participant finds sponsorship from their friends, relatives, schools and communities to support LCD projects in Malawi. Scottish teachers have been keen participants in previous similar Bike Rides, and one Primary Headteacher has signed up to ride again in 2013 and described the benefits and challenges of the experience. The closing date for people to sign up is 8th March 2013. That leaves plenty of time afterwards for the training!

The Scotland Malawi Partnership holds regular networking meetings for Scots who are involved or interested in Malawi, and the next meeting of the its Schools Forum will be on 26th February in Edinburgh City Chambers.

January 25th, 2013

Global development goals – seeking the views of young people

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: development goals, global development, pupil voice, shape the future
 : Categories africa, citizenship, health and wellbeing, ICT, international, learner voice, religious and moral education, social studies, sustainable development

The current United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which underpin international efforts to reduce global poverty and support development in many poor nations, will come to an end in 2015. There has been great progress, and there will be more in the intervening years, but it is already clear that in some of the 8 themed areas the targets will not be met. The international community is now considering the next set of Development Goals which will follow the MDGs. A High Level Panel on the Post 2015 Development Agenda is leading this work, and Prime Minister David Cameron is one of the co-chairs of this Panel.

The Department for International Development has challenged Secondary schools acros the UK to engage pupils in the discussion about what the next set of goals should be. Its ‘Shape the Future’ competition, launched this week with the support of the Scottish Government, targets pupils from the first three years of secondary school. Each team of up to five students will discuss the issues and formulate ideas for the next goals. The team will then create a short presentation of their proposals in multimedia form. The deadline for this first stage is 28th March.

Five schools will be shortlisted for the second stage, and given mentor and workshop support to refine their proposals and prepare a final presentation. These school teams will gather in London to make their final pitches to an Expert Panel. The winning team will work with Oxfam on a special project over the subsequent months.

The challenge represents a great opportunity to get young people engaged with development issues that will change the world they will live in.

A dedicated resource pack for schools, to assist with taking part in the Shape the Future challenge, will soon be available to download from the Global Dimensions website. There are also many links to global citizenship resources and organisations from our own Education Scotland website.

An information sheet for teachers at Scottish schools is available for download and distribution.

Shape the Future schools competition – info sheet for schools (Scotland)

January 24th, 2013

Films and learning

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: film
 : Categories africa, citizenship, creativity, expressive arts, international, languages

Many Scottish education professionals make use of cinema films as a resource for learning and teaching, and the experience can assist coverage of both the subject of the movie and the media literacy aspects around its production, marketing, etc.

Teachers who work on global citizenship education have a wealth of films as potential resources: commercial films made for a mass English-language audience; independent movies such as documentaries made by local groups; and movies created in developing countries which offer unique and different perspectives on mainstream issues such as Rights.

The availability of films from developing countries is often very limited, but Scotland’s ‘art house’ independent cinemas and other organisations make the effort to present such films on appropriate occasions and reach new audiences. Often there is special programming for schools audiences, and sometimes the films are presented with accompanying activities or resources for learning.

For example:

Glasgow Film Theatre ‘Youth Film Festival for schools’ (Jan 31st to Feb 8th) offers showings of a wide range of films, including some with a positive value for Global Citizenship. For Secondary students, “China Heavyweight” focuses on the lives and training of young boxers in China; “Otelo burning” is set in the apartheid years in South Africa and tells a story about the lives of young surfers; and “Kaddish for a friend” is about the friendship between an elderly Russian Jew and a Palestinian youth in current day Berlin.

The Take One Action film charity will be taking its roadshow film showings around Scotland during February, bringing some award-winning foreign movies to towns and community venues in remoter parts of the country. Films will include “Five broken cameras”, reviewed here in The Guardian, about aspects of life in a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

January 24th, 2013

Food, Hunger and Global Citizenship

nickmorgan

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: food, hunger
 : Categories africa, citizenship, health and wellbeing, international, religious and moral education, social studies

The ‘Enough Food for Everyone IF’ campaign in the UK launched this week, aiming to persuade “politicians, institutions, organisations, faith groups, private companies and individuals to reflect on their role in tackling global hunger and to take action”. If changes are made, in areas such as taxation and development aid, huge numbers of people will see improvements in their lives and health.

It is a consortium approach from a large number of UK charities, working together to highlight key issues around food, land, tax justice, trade, sustainable agriculture and much more. Partners include Christian Aid, Oxfam, SCIAF, ActionAid and many more.

The IF campaign website explains more about the issues and the activities the campaign partners will lead, and a Schools section has resources for teachers to support them in covering these global citizenship issues in the classroom. A video introduction is available on YouTube.

This campaign to reduce global hunger has the support of the UK government, and the Prime Minister makes a video statement on the Department for International Development website.

The BBC TV story “End hunger for ever campaign launched by UK aid organisations” and the Guardian story “Anti-hunger campaign ‘IF’ launches with call for G8 to act” provide background and commentary.

Some of the charities involved have also produced dedicated resources for teachers, to help bring these themes into lessons. For example, Oxfam suggests ways to engage pupils about global hunger. Christian Aid has also produced a series of assemblies and activities around the campaign

December 12th, 2012

David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: david livingstone, exploration, malawi
 : Categories africa, commonwealth, international, religious and moral education, social studies

David Livingstone is probably the most famous Scottish missionary and explorer, an early example of a global citizen. In 2013 we will celebrate the bicentenary of his birth, and there will be many opportunities for the public and schools to find out more about his life. He spent many months exploring central and east Africa, charting territory which was unknown to Europeans in areas which are now the countries of Malawi and Zambia. A BBC profile provides historical background and biographical information.

Scottish Government has committed funding to activities and events which commemorate this great Scot.

Livingstone was born in Blantyre, Lanarkshire. The tenement which houses his family is now the David Livingstone Centre, managed by the National Trust for Scotland. The Centre welcomes parties of school pupils and visitors to find out more about the man and his travels.

The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh has just opened an exhibition about Livingstone’s life, work and legacy, titled “Dr Livingstone, I presume?“. The exhibits and interpretative comments provide a very useful overview of his times, his Christian beliefs and commitment, and his work to combat the slave trade in east Africa. Part of Scottish Government’s funding package also supports a partnership between the National Museum of Scotland and the national museums in Malawi, which is assisting with skills development in Malawi and the creation of exhibitions in which our two countries have a mutual interest.

This week the Education staff at NMS ran a conference for secondary teachers and pupils. The event attracted great interest, and included contributions by NMS curatorial experts, Lord McConnell, and teachers and students from schools with an active partnership with a Malawi school. STV reported on the day in its story ‘Scottish students mark legacy of Doctor Livingstone and Malawi’ 

The Scotland Malawi Partnership charity continues to promote the building of links between Scotland and Malawi.

October 1st, 2012

Food blog and Malawi

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: malawi
 : Categories africa, citizenship, health and wellbeing, international, learner voice

An Argyll and Bute primary school pupil made news headlines earlier this year by blogging about her school dinners. The huge audiences attracted to her blog ‘Never Seconds‘ have subsequently contributed many thousands of pounds to her chosen charity Mary’s Meals. Now Martha and her family are visiting Malawi to see how that funding is making a difference to the lives of children attending school in this part of sub-Saharan Africa.

BBC Scotland has already covered the visit in a news story and with a video piece. 

There are some great educational aspects to this story, including pupil voice, international links, food justice and hunger, and the values and attitudes of young global citizens.

September 7th, 2012

Food, hunger and global citizens

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories africa, curriculum areas, health and wellbeing, international, learner voice, religious and moral education, social studies

This week the ‘Global Student Forum Scotland‘ event was held in Edinburgh, organised by the Vine Trust and a range of contributing partners. The theme in 2012 was ‘Hungry for Justice’ and the delegates focused on thinking about the Millennium Development Goal concerned especially with global hunger and poverty.

It attracted students and teachers from around 35 Scottish secondary schools, with participants (including me) enjoying a  high quality of presentations and thoughtful discussion. Themes like Food supply, Fair Trade, ethical business, political representation and Development issues were examined by students during the day. Seminars by expert presenters, such as Christian Aid, helped the audience to get to grips with challenges such as the respective roles of UK consumers, charities, politicians and commodities multinationals. One presenter even managed to make the issue of ‘Tax justice’ understandable and interesting for students.

The GSF programme is not just a one-off event but aims to empower students to take action over the coming months and peer-educate other students to raise awareness of these global issues.

August 30th, 2012

SLF 2012 and Global Citizenship education

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: slf2012
 : Categories africa, CPD, curriculum areas, games and sport, international, learner voice, sharing practice, sustainable development

Its now only a few weeks until the start of Scottish Learning Festival 2012, and Education Scotland staff are rushing to have everything ready for the thousands of visitors and teachers expected to join us in Glasgow at the SECC.

Within the programme of seminars, discussions and professional development activities there is a good range of sessions focused on global citizenship themes, including: Games legacy, pupil voice, anti-sectarian education, micro-financing, homophobia, African links, and outdoor learning. Many sessions are practitioner-led, as a means of sharing effective practice, such as the Kingussie primary school seminar on global citizenship on the Wednesday afternoon.

In addition, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation is running a round-table discussion about the ‘circular economy’, fresh thinking about economic development and a more sustainable future. Ellen will outline the vision of her charitable Foundation, namely, to inspire a generation to grasp the opportunities offered by an industrial economy that mimics natural systems by designing-out waste.

Join us live in a Glow Meet from the SLF this year and be one of the first people in Scotland to welcome the Glasgow 2014 Mascot, fresh from his launch that morning! You will have a unique opportunity to meet the Mascot, see the Schools Premiere of his animated short film and engage with his prominent friends (watch this space!) in a Q&A session. The Glow Meet will take place in the Lomond Auditorium and online on Thursday 20th at 1.45pm – 2.15pm.

Our own Global Citizenship team, in partnership with colleagues from Outdoor Learning and other friends, will host a Developing Global Citizens village area within the exhibition side of the show. One of its highlights will be a ‘flooding model’ simulation developed by SEPA and Heriot Watt University, which enables visitors to see the positive impact that planning and preparatory measures can have on the flood effects of heavy rainfall. We will also be showcasing our new ‘Ready for Emergencies‘ online resource, which aims to help young people and communities to become more resilient and able to deal with natural emergencies.