DEVELOPING GLOBAL CITIZENS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS. DEVELOPING GLOBAL CITIZENS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS. By Ali Brownlea and Alan Lambourne. The Central Bureau for International Education and Training, The International Broadcasting Trust. Video and booklet packs pound;15 each.
Are you are a new citizenship co-ordinator faced with introducing your subject to less than enthusiastic colleagues? If so, this could be the resource for you.
The focus is global citizenship, one of the key dimensions within the national curriculum subject. But the packs also introduce wider citizenship messages, reinforcing the subject’s flexibility.
Developing Global Citizens for Primary Schools and Developing Global Citizens for Secondary Schools are professional development packs. Each contains a 30- minute video and a 20-page booklet, with associated websites.
The videos were originally made for BBC Schools television and feature classrooms around the UK. The teachers and pupils of these schools are the stars.
Each booklet offers eight sessions with background information and tips. The sessions are practical, clearly explained and well supported by the suggested video extracts. They cover all the expected areas, such as “why teach global education?” and curriculum planning, and come cmplete with advice from Jan Campbell at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority about how global citizenship can and should affect your lessons and your school. And happily, each session takes less than an hour, some just 15 minutes.
But the sessions also cover some unexpected areas such as how to unlock the potential that exists within your school. Citizenship encourages us to value the wider expertise of staff, pupils and the community and use it to create exciting and relevant lessons. This is a session guaranteed to get your colleagues talking.
There are also thought-provoking sessions on how to teach controversial and topical issues. Footage of Sam Bruku of Millfields primary, east London, encouraging his key stage 1 children to debate the political situation in Zimbabwe would impress even the most cynical.
Other sessions tackle active citizenship. This ensures your pupils will not only know the problems but also understand how to influence solutions, and is at the heart of good citizenship teaching.
Developing Global Citizens is a good starting point to introduce your colleagues to the global dimension of their work and is an excellent way into teaching citizenship.
Gillian Temple is head of schools at the Commonwealth Institute
