Global Citizenship

May 16th, 2013

Euroquiz 2013

nickmorgan

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

The Euroquiz competition for Scottish primary schools has just completed its annual cycle. Congratulations to the team from Cradlehall Primary school in Inverness, the 2013 winners. A Highland Council news story reports on their success. Well done to all the teams that took part in the finals, and to all the schools that participated in the contest in the earlier stages.

Euroquiz is a competition which encourages the development of knowledge about Europe and the European Union among young people in primary education across Scotland. After winning the heat in their own local authority area, the top teams go forward to compete in the national finals, which this year took place in the Scottish Parliament debating chamber. The whole final event was broadcast on the Parliament’s TV channel, so that pupils back in their home schools could watch their team-mates in action, and the video is available for viewing.

Euroquiz is developed and managed each year by the Scottish European Educational Trust, and this year the competition is sponsored through funding from the European Parliament.

Note: Image © Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body – 2013. Licensed under the Open Scottish Parliament Licence v1.0.

May 9th, 2013

Refugee week

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: refugees
 : Categories citizenship, expressive arts, international, languages, religious and moral education, social studies

Refugee Week Scotland 2013 will be staged between 17th and 23rd June, and this year’s festival will celebrate the contributions that refugees and asylum-seekers have made in their Scottish communities and the welcome that they have received. There is a fascinating mix of heritages and cultures among people who have made new homes in Scotland, adding to the diversity and richness of everyday life in our communities. This annual celebration provides a focus for exploring and demonstrating that richness, and there will be events in many parts of the country. Details are available in the programme downloadable from the RWS webpages.

It is also an opportunity for educators. Many schools will run special activities during the week, bringing in members of the local community who came to Scotland as refugees to explain their situation and present aspects of their cultural, linguistic and religious background. Teachers will facilitate discussion and investigation of topics such as migration, citizenship and identity with students. Issues such as prejudice and discrimination, and the media coverage around subjects such as immigration, are discussed frequently. There are high-quality education materials and teacher resources, often produced by charities such as the British Red Cross, which assist teachers in planning activities on a Refugee theme.

April 10th, 2013

Campaign against Hate Speech online

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: hate speech
 : Categories citizenship, europe, ICT, international, languages, religious and moral education, social studies

In recent years the continuing development of the Internet, especially in the areas of mobile access and Social media applications, has enabled positive examples of free speech and ‘people’s voice’ but also many examples of Hate Speech. This form of Human Rights abuse “covers all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, antisemitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance” (Council of Europe definition). One current example might be Romaphobia and the abuse of Roma people.

Now the Council of Europe has launched an online portal for its ‘No Hate Speech movement’, as part of its programme of work with young people in support of democratic citizenship and Human Rights. This European youth campaign aims to combat racism and discrimination  “by equipping young people and youth organisations with the competences necessary to recognise and react against such human rights violations”. The project is achieving this through training cohorts of young activists, raising awareness, lobbying policy-makers, etc. The campaign website includes presentation slides for local use as a stimulus for discussion and participation, accompanied by use of social media and YouTube channels to disseminate material and encourage action.

Teachers and others working with young people may find this campaign useful for students and young people learning about cyber-bullying and behaviour online, and also for citizenship issues such as equality and diversity. Adult learners could equally explore these issues from a community concern perspective.

April 5th, 2013

Regional events – presentations now available for download

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: CPD, events, learner voice, resources, school improvement
 : Categories biodiversity, citizenship, community, CPD, curriculum areas, early years, expressive arts, games and sport, health and wellbeing, homecoming, international, languages, leadership, learner voice, mathematics, outdoor learning, primary schools, religious and moral education, renewables and climate change, sciences, scottish culture, secondary schools, sharing practice, social studies, sustainable development, technologies, waste

Thank you to all those who took part in Education Scotland’s regional event programme exploring children’s rights, global citizenship and outdoor learning. We hope this proved to be a valuable and worthwhile professional learning opportunity.

The majority of the presentations, handouts and videos from all three regional events (Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness) have now been uploaded to Glow for practitioners to access. These are available from the Developing Global Citizenship Glow Group at: http://glo.li/XtMdn9

Remember too that on-going support, advice and networking opportunities are available anytime through our professional learning communities on Glow: http://bit.ly/DGConline (global citizenship), http://bit.ly/12qxI1u (outdoor learning), http://bit.ly/10jWdgK (rights, support and wellbeing).

We hope these resources and communities are useful and provide further inspiration, ideas to support your work. Thanks once again to all those who participated (and supported the event) for your commitment and enthusiasm to these important areas of learning.

April 4th, 2013

Captain Scott’s letter to future generations

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: action, events, nature
 : Categories biodiversity, languages, outdoor learning, social studies, sustainable development

It is 100 years since Captain Scott of the Antarctic wrote his last letter to his wife from near the South Pole. In his letter he famously wrote, “Make the boy interested in Natural History if you can.”

His letter was such an inspiration is led to his son Peter (Sir Peter Scott) founding the WWT (Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) and the WWF (World Wildlife Federation). These organisations were instrumental in establishing the modern conservation movement and provided a legacy for people everywhere to learn about and care for the natural environment.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Captain Scott’s letter the WWT ran a competition in 2012 inviting members of the public to write a similar letter to an influential person of their choice which would have a similar profound affect on the future of our natural world. The competition was won by Brent Richards and his letter was transported to the Antarctic and posted to the children of the United Kingdom.

Read Captain Scott’s letter here: http://inspire.wwt.org.uk/view-scotts-last-letter/

Read the winning letter written by Brent Richards to the children of the United Kingdom: http://www.wwt.org.uk/news/all-news/2013/01/wwt-news/wwt-news-wwt/captain-scott-letters-competition-inspires-children/

February 7th, 2013

Scottish Learning Festival 2013 – could your school be involved?

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: CPD, events, learner voice, rights, school improvement
 : Categories citizenship, CPD, curriculum areas, early years, expressive arts, health and wellbeing, international, languages, leadership, mathematics, primary schools, religious and moral education, sciences, secondary schools, sharing practice, social studies, sustainable development, technologies

The Scottish Learning Festival 2013 will take place on Wednesday 25^th and Thursday 26^th September in the SECC, Glasgow.  The theme for SLF 2013 is Raising the bar in Scotland – transforming lives through learning.

The Global Citizenship Team would love to showcase some of the excellent work taking place in Scottish schools on the theme of children’s rights, global citizenship, pupil voice, sustainability and outdoor learning. If your school has ideas and interesting practice to share then we’d like to encourage you to propose a seminar.

SLF 2013 will support practitioners explore a wide range of practical approaches, resources and research aimed at improving achievement and attainment for all our learners in Scotland.

The Call for Participation is now open and full details of the theme along with the online submission form are available on the SLF website.

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/slf/aboutslf/callforparticipation.asp

If you would like to submit a proposal for consideration please do so before Friday 8^th March.

The 2013 conference programme and registration will be launched in May and will feature the sessions that have been submitted and selected for inclusion.

If you would like any further information or talk through a potential proposal then please contact the Team at globalcitizens@educationscotland.gov.uk

January 30th, 2013

Year of the Snake – more for Chinese New Year

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: chinese new year, year of the snake
 : Categories china, expressive arts, international, languages, social studies

The Year of the Snake will begin on February 10th 2013. Many schools are well into their Chinese New Year activities, often utilising resources made available by organisations which seek greater engagement with China.

The British Council’s ‘Snakes and Dragons’ pack for primaries, the subject of an earlier blog post, is proving popular. Teachers who want a copy of the actual pack, with its DVD resource, should contact the British Council office in London.

Now an associated competition has been launched, with the aim of promoting school work that explores Chinese culture and language. It simply requires details of activities that have already taken place or are planned for next week.

Education Scotland webpages include many links to resources for studying China, such as video Classroom Clips from the BBC.

Now, links to key organisations which promote closer links with China and learning about its rich culture and languages. Each of these has an interest in celebrations for the Year of the Snake:

Scotland China Education Network

The Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools , based at Strathclyde University (which replaced the Confucius Institute managed by Learning and Teaching Scotland).

Scotland-China Association

January 29th, 2013

Regional events – rights, citizenship and outdoor learning

imenzies

Comments: none Tags: Tags: CPD, david livingstone, democracy, events, human rights, learner voice, school improvement
 : Categories citizenship, commonwealth, curriculum areas, early years, expressive arts, games and sport, health and wellbeing, homecoming, international, languages, leadership, mathematics, primary schools, religious and moral education, sciences, scottish culture, secondary schools, sharing practice, social studies, sustainable development, technologies

Who should attend:  School leaders, local authority staff and those with a whole school responsibility for global citizenship, sustainability, children’s rights and outdoor learning

Sectors: Early Years, ASN, primary and secondary schools

When:                 

• Edinburgh (Wed 13^th March)
• Glasgow (Wed 20^th March)
• Inverness  (Mon 18th March)

Education Scotland will host three regional events in March 2013 to explore the implications of the Learning for Sustainability report and Children and Young People’s Bill

The Bill, which will be considered by the Scottish Parliament in 2013, will seek to enshrine the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child in Scottish legislation, thus placing statutory duties on all public sector bodies including local authorities and schools.  These events will also help schools consider how to move forward strategically in a range of related areas including children’s rights, pupil voice and participation, global citizenship, sustainability, outdoor learning and Games Legacy activities.

These events will showcase interesting practice from around the country and include input from school inspectors about the changes taking place within the policy landscape and how this might impact on schools. The events will also highlight the many inspiring moments of learning taking place in 2013/14, such as the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and Year of Natural Scotland, which provide exciting opportunities for schools to develop coherent whole school approaches.

Places will be limited and offered to local authorities on a pro-rata basis but if you’re interested in attending then please note the above dates for your diary.

These events will be free to attend. Please direct further enquiries to globalcitizens@educationscotland.gov.uk

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 21st, 2013

Chinese New Year

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: chinese new year, year of the snake
 : Categories china, expressive arts, international, languages, social studies

The Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by many schools in Scotland, often with the active support of local Chinese communities. The next lunar year in the Chinese calendar is the Year of the Snake, which will begin on the 10th February 2013.

The British Council has produced an education pack for Primary schools, titled ‘Snakes and Dragons‘. It encourages teachers and pupils to explore Chinese culture and Mandarin language. Focusing on China the materials, which were prepared in partnership with the London University Confucius Institute for Schools, will help introduce primary school children to some of the differences and similarities between the lives and culture of people in the UK and China.

Each pack contains classroom resources including; lesson plans, poems, assembly plans, posters and activities to keep your young people engaged throughout New Year celebrations and beyond. The print version of the pack can be downloaded from British Council’s Schools Online.

Education Scotland’s global citizenship online calendar includes links to a range of online resources for Chinese New Year.