Global Citizenship was a context for learning where we felt we had areas of really good practice but we did not have an embedded, coherent approach across the whole school. Therefore, we felt we needed a strategic approach to Global Citizenship to ensure that our children developed the skills to allow them to play a full and active part in their world.
“Visitors to the school are impressed by our pupils’ ability to articulate their views and opinions about their world and their place in it.”
We looked at three areas; a short time focussed input on Global Citizenship, curricular planning and staff development. We felt this would give the children a range of age appropriate experiences across curricular areas ensuring there is a breadth of themes and progression of the skills, values and attitudes linking, where appropriate, with the United Nations Convention Rights of the Child.
Focus Fortnight
Firstly, we decided to start each school session with a Citizenship focus fortnight. During this fortnight, classes establish class rules and contracts, elect representatives to councils such as the Learning Council and Eco Committee and revisit what the Golden Rules stand for. In addition, each class is given some Experiences and Outcomes with a citizenship focus to explore and we planned to ensure there’s no duplication. For example, P2 ran an awareness campaign to remind children how we should behave in our playground whilst P6 looked at sweatshops and modern day slavery.
Curriculum planning
Following advice from a recent HMIe inspection, we started to look at how we planned and designed our curriculum with a particular focus, initially, on Social Studies. We linked the ‘Experiences and Outcomes’ with skills and a suggested context at First Level for People in Society, economy and business. For example we selected ‘Experiences and Outcomes’ linked to needs, wants and rights, and linked them to relevant skills. For Year 1 we suggested ‘Houses and Homes’ as the learning context and in Year 2 ‘Rights’. These will form the focus to plan an interdisciplinary experience for the pupils.
Staff development
In a parallel, a focus on staff development has helped to embed Global Citizenship. Six members of staff have chosen Global Citizenship as a focus for their professional development and have attended courses run by WOSDEC and Glasgow City Council, which has enabled them to implement storyline topics in their classroom. This work is on-going, with feedback on how the topic is developing and forming networks with other teachers.
Impact
So what impact has this strategic approach had? Pupils throughout the school take on leadership roles and show a commitment to citizenship. For example, P7/6 children contacted our local councillor and MSP to speak to them about community improvements they felt were needed after they had consulted local residents. This gave them an insight into the different needs of various community groups and how they could have a positive impact on their local community.
Visitors to the school frequently comment on the warm and respectful ethos of our school, in particularly, they are impressed by our pupils’ ability to articulate their views and opinions about their world and their place in it.
