Global citizenship

Citizenship

Primary

The school in India opens its box from Britain

Primary children in India learn about the UK through exchanging a box of objects with a school in Manchester as part of the Brilliant Box Project. Their teachers capture their discoveries on video as the children at Apeejay school in New Delhi discuss family values. The pupils then describe objects that represent these values and place them in a box to send to the UK. Meanwhile in Stamford Park Junior School in Manchester, a Year 4 class does the same thing and sends their box to Apeejay. The Indian children excitedly open the UK box and wonder what the objects mean. Finally, the programme shows heir reactions as they see how their objects are received in the UK,and how they come to the conclusion that despite their differences they are the same inside.

A Box for the UK

Bradford schools tackle community cohesion internationally

Schools in Bradford show how a three project with schools in Peshawar, Pakistan, have helped promote community cohesion. Teacher exchanges have been followed by developments in teaching, learning and the curriculum. Extended services and engagement have been addressed through collaboration across the Bradford schools and with other diverse communities in the UK. The projects focus on themes such as the outdoor classroom and cultural heritage and achieve an international dimension through email, skype, text messaging as well as the exchange of pupils' work between Bradford and Peshawar schools. There is also a look at how UK schools are developing video conferencing to allow pupils to share lessons and eventually work directly with the schools in Peshawar. This programme was filmed in association with the British Council.

City Challenges

How primary schools can benefit from appeals like Comic Relief

Lenny Henry contributes to this insightful film examining how primary schools benefit from engaging with non-governmental organisations and national appeals such as Comic Relief. The programme includes two school case studies revealing the enduring legacies felt by pupils and staff of participating in Comic Relief. Staff and pupils at Leigh Primary School near Manchester explain how they have developed empathy with the outside world, engaged with big global issues and even taken their views to Downing Street. At Bowes Primary School in North London the staff and pupils reveal how they put on a huge Red Nose Day event at their school, raising its profile in the local community and bring together the staff, pupils and parents to put on the event.

Comic Relief for Heads - Primary

Baroness Warnock examines the need for a global morality

In this public lecture at the RSA, Baroness Warnock makes an extensive, carefully constructed case for the need for a global morality that extends beyond nation states. From her own philosophical ideas on the roots of individual morality, learned in the classroom, playground and family, through to her experience of the ethics of medical research trials, she poses the question of whether there can be a kind of public morality that extends beyond the state, under some kind of global rule of law. Her arguments and conclusions on this weighty matter are discussed by a group of teachers and educators, who explore her points and reflect on their implications for schools and educators, after the lecture.

Foundations of Global Morality with Mary Warnock

Two UK schools work with their twins in Jamaica and Uganda

Pupils at two UK schools gain knowledge and understanding as they interact with their twinned schools in Jamaica and Uganda. Goodwin Junior School in east London is twinned with a school in Kingston, Jamaica. We see the London children talk with their Jamaican friends via a video link, where they discuss topics such as food, wildlife and sport. Faringdon Community College in rural Oxfordshire plays host to their partner school in Uganda, welcoming pupils to the school and working on a food sustainability joint project. The visitors take a food technology class and show the Faringdon students how to cook a typical Ugandan meal. As more and more schools establish links with other schools around the world, this programme discovers that there can be unexpected benefits for all involved.

Going Global

Two Iraqi refugee children speak of their difficult lives

Nine-year-old Dounia and 10-year-old Ahmed give an insight into their lives after being forced to leave Iraq and move to Syria in order to flee the continued violence in Iraq. Ahmed talks about how he misses his father, who was killed back in Iraq, and of how well he has settled into his new school, where he has made both Syrian and Iraqi friends. An unsettled life has resulted in Dounia missing over a year of school. Her parents do not have jobs, with her 16-year-old brother being the family's only breadwinner. Dounia talks about the difficulties of missing school and being put in a class with much younger children, including her six-year-old sister.

Iraqi Children Speak

What role do Japanese schools play in encouraging good manners?

Discover the role of Japanese education in encouraging children to have good manners and respect for others, in this comparative CPD resource for KS1/KS2/KS3 global citizenship teachers. The video reveals how two Tokyo schools encourage children to feel a sense of obligation to help others. Pupils are asked to work in groups with particular responsibilities, including serving each other lunch and cleaning the school buildings at Suginami Dai Elementary and Koenji Junior High. The Japanese Ministry of Education wants to encourage children's individual strengths, yet it's aware that if there's too much emphasis on this, young people may no longer feel a sense of public duty. As a result, schools are putting increased emphasis on moral education lessons, with great pressure on teachers to cultivate a sense of morality and citizenship.

Japan - Teaching Respect and Manners

How useful are NGO resources for teaching KS2 citizenship?

This programme looks at how resources like those supplied by NGOs, such as Comic Relief, can enhance KS2 citizenship lessons. Lisa Taner, a teacher at Bowes Primary School, North London, plans her lesson on global issues using resources supplied by Comic Relief as part of Red Nose Day 2007. Citizenship expert and ex-headteacher Marguerite Heath observes the lesson and then sits down with Lisa afterwards to explore how it went, and how to develop it in the future. From the opening of the lesson right through to the plenary, Lisa and Marguerite talk through good teaching practice, and precisely what sets citizenship teaching apart from any other subject.

KS2 Citizenship - Global Issues

A focus on a school in Israel for Jewish and Palestinian pupils

This programme looks at the work of Reem Nashef, an Arab, and Hezzi Schouster, a Jew, co-teachers at a remarkable school in Israel. It's the oldest of only four schools in the whole of the country where Jewish and Palestinian children are taught together in their own language. The programme follows Reem and Hezzi and their grade 5 students through a busy week. During the week the two teachers work in two languages, translating each other for the children. They talk about the joys and frustrations of working in the Oasis of Peace.

Oasis of Peace

A Year 4 class work on a project about India

A teacher introduces her class to social, political, economic and environmental issues by focusing a citizenship project on India. Year 4 teacher Amy Aviss at St Martha's primary school in King's Lynn, works with the West Norfolk Development Education Agency on this half term project to make her pupils think about the world beyond their local area. The class project includes learning about saris and dance steps, while also using maths to work out how to live on a low income budget similar to some families in Calcutta. The culmination of the project a festival for five other local schools, in which Year 4 give a presentation on India and demonstrate a traditional Indian dance.

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

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