Life in a small, monocultural Yorkshire village provided the impetus for staff at Dunnington C of E Primary School to embrace the idea of global education and devise a far-reaching programme designed to bring a world perspective to the children's experiences.
Although Bradford is a mere 40 minutes' drive away, there is little ethnic diversity within the village. So, explains head teacher Roger Highton, 'We work extra hard to make sure the children understand the wider world.'
The school started by working with the Centre for Global Education in York to identify links between the curriculum and concepts outlined in Developing the global dimension in the school curriculum and to establish the school's strengths and weaknesses in promoting a global perspective.
Aims
Since then, it has drawn up a policy for global citizenship and devised a school-wide programme of initiatives. 'Our wish,' states the policy, 'is to provide those at our school with confidence in themselves and respect for others, so that they can live and flourish in a changing and challenging world.'
Mr Highton explains, 'Children have to be able to adapt to a changing world where 60 per cent of the jobs that they will be doing haven't even been invented yet. You have to prepare them for that, so it's more about skills and processes rather than knowledge. Empathy is very important.'
Through its global citizenship programme, the school aims to:
* celebrate similarities and explore the differences between different cultures and societies at home and abroad
* develop the social skills to cope and live in a multicultural society
* encourage respect for our own and others' cultural and religious beliefs and practices
* enable children to share views, opinions and develop their own personal beliefs
* assure children of the role and impact they can have on their society and community.
Initiatives
Initiatives to achieve these aims include:
* themed days, marking, for example, religious festivals; awareness programmes (such as anti-bully week) and important dates (for example, Black History Month). The school has also organised assemblies and themed days around the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
* termly themed weeks, include 'World Stories', 'Ghana week' and 'European week'
* establishing links with a school in the Fanteakwa region of Ghana and schools in the Gordon Bay area of South Africa. As part of these links, the Dunnington children have received guests from Ghana and South Africa. They exchange newsletters and themed topic work on subjects such as weather, the seasons and 'where we live'
* exploring art, music and dance of other cultures through visits from specialist artists and performerse
* becoming involved in local initiatives, such as clearing litter and planting bulbs
* forming a school council of pupils from Year Two to Year Six, which has gone on to meet local councillors, has been extended to other primary schools and instigated a day in which children can meet local policy-makers.
Approach
Far from being a series of discrete activities, however, the global dimension is woven into all aspects of school life and has a strong emphasis on the local.
The children have regular access to stories and resources from around the world. They are made aware of recycling and conserving the world's resources and are encouraged to show empathy, respect and tolerance .
'The global education programme intertwines with the school's child-centred approach and supportive and spiritual ethos,' says Mr Highton.
'New starters learn how best to interact within their own classroom, but, as they mature through the school, their experience is widened to include the whole school, neighbourhood, local authority and the national and global levels.'
The school ensures that the children are always involved in activities at a level that is meaningful to them. 'We pitch it at a relevant level for the children so that it makes sense for them,' says the school's global citizenship co-ordinator, Kathryn Cummings.
Circle time in reception class is used as a way to explore some themes of global citizenship. The younger children explore 'rights and responsibilities' in the context of behaviour in the playground, 'wants and needs' in the context of food and water, toys and games, friends and families, and begin to make the connections between themselves and others.
In European week, the youngest children try special foods, explore different currencies and learn some words of a European language. They learn how diverse European countries are and how they link to the wider world.
The reception class children send newsletters to the kindergarten children in Ghana. Themed work has included games and toys, a favourite of children everywhere.
Games
As part of their links with the Ghanaian school, the children learned how to play Oware, as Katie and Eleanor explain:
'I have never played Oware before. It's my first game from another continent that is Africa, and a different country, which is Ghana. Some of the other children went on a trip to learn how to play the game Oware and they taught us. We think Oware is really fun. It is good to play a game that can be played in other countries, especially in our link school in Ahomahomasu.
'Mr Agbenyo, the head teacher from Ahomahomasu School, came to our school in Dunnington. Mr Agbenyo was very good at playing Oware. We enjoy playing Oware and it helps us in our counting.'
Changing views
Staff and children have been changed by the inclusion of the global dimension in their curriculum. Mrs Cummings, who has visited the Ghanaian school on three occasions - twice at her own expense - says, 'It's an amazing place and changes your perspective on everything. It makes you realise what's important in life.'
As for the children, the school's approach is helping to equip them with the skills needed to be active citizens - at global, national and local levels. 'The main benefit is that our pupils are open and confident enough to discuss the real issues facing our world. This helps them become good citizens who will grow up to have a positive impact on society,' says Mr Highton.
Mrs Cummings adds, 'We aim to equip them with the tools for life, to see that just because something is different, it's not frightening - it's just different.' She cites an example. 'A Year Three child explained to her classmate who had made a somewhat negative comment, "It's just different, not bad or wrong". Everyone then shrugged and nodded and carried on positively.'
Dunnington staff spoke to Ruth Thomson
TOYS
Another project involved making a toy, says Mrs Cummings. 'We wanted to focus on a toy that would unite the children, as something they have in common. Using the Toying with Technology pack, we read the Galimoto story and looked at the pictures and photos involved. We then collected together the materials needed to create a toy car: simply a strong box, thin dowel, drinking straws and plastic milk carton tops. These were coloured, decorated, stuck, cut, sawn and completed with a lot of close adult supervision.
'The discussion was amazing and the discussion on how to make the wheels move was hilarious and eye-opening. We involved the Year 1 children in writing about the process and how they felt about what they had done. The children were very pleased with their finished cars, which were photographed and the pictures sent to Ghana.
'In the afternoon, the children built ramps and roadways on which to run and test our Galimoto cars. Some did go home in one piece, but the children had fun, learned skills and used new and different tools.
'More importantly, they discovered the similarities between themselves and children who live half a world away.'
