Author: Jo-Anne Witcombe

Diane plots opportunities to teach global citizenship

‘So what is global citizenship?’ I asked the group of assembled teachers attending the Global Citizenship Training session, which was part of the ‘Environmental Education for a Sustainable Future’ day run by Salford City Council and attended by schools across the borough.

Most people seemed a little hesitant to put forward their understanding of global citizenship, but after a bit of a chat with their neighbours the ideas came pouring forth. The general feeling was that global citizenship was about involving young people in making connections between their world and the WHOLE world! Spot on – as well as this, of course global citizenship is a way of teaching that involves young people in taking charge of their own learning, covering global issues in all parts of the curriculum and developing the skills, values and knowledge needed to act a s a ‘global citizen’. 

After a quick definition of the term ’global citizen’ http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/teachersupport/cpd/, teachers brainstormed the skills, knowledge and vales they wanted their learners to adopt in order to become one. A wealth of wisdom was apparent in what the teachers concluded: In order for students to engage with the global, teachers wanted their students to know about themselves and distinguish the difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’. They wanted young people to gain social and creative skills and wholesome values such as integrity, kindness and a sense of justice. 

Teachers than plotted out opportunities for teaching global citizenship throughout the curriculum. Evaluations were positive,  one teacher said the training; “made me aware of ‘global citizenship’ which is a new phrase to me”, another commented “I really enjoyed this and have lots of different ideas to put on my action plan for school”.

Check out the pictures here: http://tinyurl.com/ylmex38

If you would like to book in similar training for your school or an event please contact Jo-Anne Witcombe on 01612342793 or [email protected].

Watery fun at Oswald Road Primary School

Hi there, I’m Sarah, International School Award Co-ordinator and Ethnic Minority Achievement Team Leader at Oswald Road Primary School in Manchester

On Tuesday this week we took a break from our normal schedule to think about how water is used, to understand water issues around the world and to consider water conservation.

The day kicked off with an assembly by Oxfam’s youth and schools campaigner, Jo-Anne Witcombe. The school then divided into classes to participate in cross-curricular activities devised by their teachers. Some year groups focussed on schools in Pakistan and Zambia, where we have partner schools, while other year groups learnt about countries they hadn’t studied before. Activities ranged from an ICT quiz about water, to maths work measuring how much water is wasted when we forget to turn the tap off when we brush our teeth. Year three pupils got creative and designed a means of collecting water from villages that rely solely on rainwater, and year five watched a power point presentation about the water supply in Brazil, then composed raps about what they had learnt!

The following day, we completed evaluation sheets about the day and pupils wrote on post-it notes what they had learnt. Eloise from Key Stage 2 wrote ‘I learnt how important water is and how it is limited’, and Aneeka said ‘I enjoyed watching all the rap performances. Global water day was absolutely terrific!’

This event will be submitted as one of the main international activities when the school re-applies for its International School Award later this year, and the whole school has had a fantastic time learning about the importance of water around the world.

We hope to hold more successful international activity days in the course of the year.

Speaker Speed Dating

Last night, Oxfam North West hosted its first ever Speaker Social – a fun opportunity for speakers from across the North West to come together and share their skills and experiences of speaking about Oxfam’s work in schools. The event was well attended, with speakers from Didsbury, Stockport, Chorley and even Leeds venturing out.

We began with a round up of all the exciting things the Youth and Schools team in the North West have been up to, including our fantastic climate change conference, and the video messages students sent to their MPs, before the action really kicked off with Speaker Speed Dating (quite appropriate with valentines day on Sunday!). Many of the speakers hadn’t met before, and it was a great chance for them to get to know each other a little better, as well as sharing their top tips and ideas for speaking in schools. A three minute date turned out not to be enough for our chatty speakers – they lived up to their name and required lots of nudging to move on to the next date.

At the end, we had a round up of the main themes discussed over some yummy biscuits from the Co-Op, and it was really encouraging to hear how active the speakers have been, as well as their creative solutions to the problems of working with school age students.

Unfortunately, after all that talking, we didn’t make it to the pub as planned, which is a great excuse for having another event in the future! We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the speakers who attended, as well as those who couldn’t make it – you’re doing a fantastic job, keep up the good work!