A skills based approach

A number of Developing Citizenship project teachers have found the Get Global! teachers' guide a valuable resource to organise student participation and action. The guide provides information and suggestions on how to facilitate and assess active global citizenship. Get Global! aims to:

	provide students with an experience of being able to make a difference through action;
	develop skills of enquiry, participation and reflection;
	develop an understanding of the world as a global community, and to discuss the political, economic, environmental and social implications of this.

The Guide provides a structure for students to manage their own learning: raising issues, deciding on an issue to investigate, researching, planning actions, being active, and evaluating.

Students in one of the project schools used the approach to investigate the origins of the names of their school's Houses (all British men from the days of empire). Their research led to presentations to the Headteacher which included them questioning the appropriateness of the existing House names for the 21st Century. Putting learning into action in a meaningful way.

A school in Suffolk used the Get Global! approach to get year 9 students actively involved in developing the global dimension to their environmental education work and to attempts of the school to become an eco-school. An added challenge for them was the inclusion of a global dimension in these attempts since the eco-schools process does not, surprisingly, give much attention to the global dimensions of sustainable development.

	To what extent does it advance the student's ability to reflect?
	To what extent does it develop the student's skills in presenting opinions and arguments?
	To what extent does it expand the student's ability to place opinions and experiences in a values framework?

More: Examples

Websites

The Get Global! website provides access to a free downloadable copy of the guide.

The Eco Schools movement site gives information about various aspects of making sustainable development a part of the school's ethos.