June 2015 – Learning for Sustainability

Global Citizenship News and Resources

Scottish teachers are able to benefit from a wide range of free resources produced by charities and NGOs to support global citizenship education and learning for sustainability. The online magazine Stride, produced by the IDEAS forum in Scotland, is a very helpful means of finding out about new projects and materials for education. The summer 2015 edition includes an article about a Literacy project linking Scotland and Rwanda , features such as ‘taking global learning outdoors locally’ , and class activity suggestions.

The IDEAS forum is also behind “Signposts for Global Citizenship“, a new searchable collection of resources which can support education practitioners.

One fresh example is a resource created by education staff at Oxfam, ‘Maths and Global Citizenship’, which describes how maths can be taught with a global citizenship approach. They argue that “Global Citizenship provides real-life contexts which engage learners’ curiosity and make them want to use maths to explore patterns and formulate ideas about the world. The motivation for mathematical learning often hinges on its application. Therefore using real-life statistics is a great way to demonstrate the purpose of maths to learners and to inspire them.

In early 2014, Oxfam found that the world’s 85 richest people owned the same wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population. By January 2015, this number had fallen to 80. What story about inequality do these statistics tell? Are the numbers reliable? How was the research carried out? Does everyone agree with these figures? Learners can develop their mathematical understanding both in making sense of such data and by investigating its context and validity. Through a Global Citizenship approach to maths, learners critically analyse the statistics they are exposed to in daily life; make connections between the local and the global and then share their understanding with others.”

Young Reporters Scotland

Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) have launched a national journalism programme for young people. Young Reporters Scotland (YRS) is a sustainable development initiative which offers young people the opportunity to build their skills and experience in journalism and be part of an international group producing creative solutions to issues within their communities.

Schools and community groups running relevant clubs and activities are invited to enter the 2015 national competition by submitting entries which investigate an environmental problem or sustainability issue. A range of suggested themes are designed to support entrants to identify topics. Creativity is encouraged so entries can be in a range of different media; articles, blogs, videos, animations and photographs are all eligible.

Find out more, register to take part and access support materials at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/yrs or email enquiries to lyndsay.sutton@keepscotlandbeautiful.org.

‘Out to Play’ with Eco Drama

During a number of recent events and presentations about learning for sustainability, I have displayed the above word cloud with the question “Where do we start?”. Different practitioners offer different responses. My response is to assure everyone that where you start is far less important than actually getting started and making the connections between the many exciting areas of this agenda.

Making connections is exactly what Ben Mali MacFadyen from Eco Drama has been doing throughout the Out to Play project. Working with children and teachers across Glasgow, Out to Play seeks to facilitate interaction with the natural world through quality artistic experiences, re-thinking traditional views of nature as merely ‘sites’ and ‘reserves’, noticing and appreciating nature on our doorstep.

Sessions have been tailored to the unique surroundings of each school, and through imaginative play & adventurous learning, Out to Play aims to deepen young people’s connection to our natural world.

Ben’s blog offers a detailed and reflective account of the process thus far, providing some wonderful insights into the children’s learning. He has also shared a number of very practical ideas and approaches for engaging pupils in the outdoors.

For further information on Education Scotland support for outdoor learning, click here.

Kenyan Connections Conference: Inverness, Monday 8th June

Kenyan Connections is a partnership between Crofting Connections and NECOFA Kenya School Gardens Initiative which works with rural schools and communities in the Eastern Rift Valley of Kenya.

Four Crofting Connections schools have been awarded funding through the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms programme to host exchange teacher visits with Kenyan schools, using food growing in the school gardens as a starting point for learning about local food production and for delivering learning for sustainability.

This conference is part of a visit to Scotland by Kenyan teachers to the participating Crofting Connections schools. It provides a valuable CLPL opportunity for teachers, as the Scottish and Kenyan partner schools share their learning with other schools.

Speakers include Dr Margaret Bennett, writer, folklorist, singer and broadcaster; Dr Rehema White, lecturer in Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews; Samuel Muhunyu, director of NECOFA Kenya, and Catriona Willis, Global Learning coordinator at Highland One World.

For further information and to book a place at this event, click here.