International School Awards (ISA) Presentation - Stubbin Wood School

On 11 December John Rolfe, from the British Council (www.britishcouncil.org.uk) in London joined 20 teachers, Local Authority Officers, Global Education Derby staff and regional representatives to watch presentations by students about how the Global Dimension has enriched their learning. Students talked about their learning from recent visits to partner schools in China, Latvia and France as well as dynamic work they have done with a variety of artists from different countries (The Gambia, China). Carolyn Briggs, International Co-ordinator explained how teachers had brought the Global Dimension into every aspect of school life through the curriculum and whole school projects.

John Rolfe then presented the school with their full International School Award, a real achievement.

In the afternoon there were presentations about:

• ways of accrediting global learning for students
• the work of Derbyshire Local Authority in supporting schools to apply for the ISA ( now 172 schools are engaged)
• the work of EMNGPS in promoting the ISA in partnership with Regional Network for International Learning

The group plans to take this work forward by organising a conference for Derbyshire primary Headteachers about ISA.

EMNGPS Community Cohesion Meeting

12 educators from Local Authorities, Universities, Schools and Development Education Centres met at the second EMNGPS Community Cohesion Working Group meeting in Nottingham on 8 December.

Participants shared their experiences of Community Cohesion work including:

• Learning from Teachers International Professional Development Visits to the Phillipines and Bangladesh
• Reflecting on the 3 day Community Cohesion training provided by the Schools Learning Network
• Exploring the unique contribution that Supplementary Schools can make to Community Cohesion work
• Discussing Ofsted inspection requirements
• Planning participatory training for teachers using the diverse expertise of the group

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 5 February, 10am - 1pm at Global Education Derby.

School Leadership Project - meeting 2

On 5 December 13 Headteachers from schools across the East Midlands region met to discuss how the Global Dimension could be mainstreamed in their school. They identified the benefits and challenges that adopting a Global Dimension (GD) could bring and gave ideas for a GD CPD tool for other Headteachers which explained the rationale for the GD, engaged parents and governors and clarified how to measure the impact of the GD on school life.

Deana Aldred, former Headteacher at Wych Primary School in Cheshire shared her experience of using the Global Dimension as a school improvement tool and turned a school in Special Measures to a Good School with outstanding features. She explained that the use of Philosophy for Chlldren had been instrumental in building an inclusive ethos based on the needs and interests of the pupils.

Feedback showed that the meeting had been stimulating.

ESD Schools Working Group

On 2 December 20 regional educators with an interest in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) from Local Authorities, schools, NGOs, regional networks including EMNGPS and GOEM met to share information and discuss the challenges of mainstreaming ESD.

The meeting included:

• Helen Garforth explaining the opportunities offered to young people (aged 16 - 19) by the new Inter Climate Challenge Project to exhange information about Climate Change with peers in India, Kenya and the USA before designing projects to tackle any aspect of the Climate Change challenge. The project can link young people up with relevant contacts in government and business and will provide opportunities to showcase the work of young people via a website and conferences.The project is developing stimulus materials using OSDE (Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry) materials.
• Feedback from the Expo Event in Lincoln in November
• Feedback on ESD training given to 450 students from 90 schools in Dubai by Kim Hudson
• Feedback from the RCE Management Group (www.rceem.org.uk) who congratulated the Schools Working Group for their range of contacts and diversity of work
• A discussion about the visit of Romanian students to Lincolnshire
• Reflections about Eco schools assessor training
• Brief update from GOEM about national progress in mainstreaming ESD using the s3plus tools for Local Authorities
• Website and case-study updates (see www.sustainableschoolseastmidlands.org.uk)
  

NASUWT Conference

On 29 November Rohini Corfield ran a workshop about the work of EMNGPS in supporting schools with Community Cohesion at a NASUWT conference for Black and Minority Teachers. The workshop generated interesting debate about whether Community Cohesion was a burden or opportunity for Black and Minority Ethnic staff.

Click here to view programme.

Of the 200 delegates present, 80 were able to attend the workshop.

Feedback has been really positive and Rohini plans to engage the East Midlands based teachers in EMNGPS work.

DEA AGM

On 27 November 2 EMNGPS members attended the DEA AGM. This included Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of DEA , reporting back on the progress that the DEA has made in the areas of Policy, Practice and Promotion.

Highlights include:-

Policy

• Influencing the Primary Curriculum Review
• Launching Questioning Education and Research about Young People's Experiences of Global Learning to stimulate debate
• Building credibility with key stakeholders
  

Profile

• Global Matters case-studies, Global Dimension wall calendar and Think Global Supplement
• Poilitical Party conference workshops
• Media coverage about the inclusion of work about Slavery in the National Curriculum
  

Practice

• Global Youth Action Project, involving 1500 young people
• Fortnightly e-newsletter to members with policy updates, events, resources, job details
• Updating of Global Dimension website

Sir Keith Ajegbo also gave a keynote speech about the links between Community Cohesion and Global Learning and members participated in strategic planning.

Beyond Borders Making Connections - Diversity Arts Pool

On 25 November Rohini Corfield attended the Diversity Arts Pool event which enabled artists in exile across the East Midlands to connect with programmers, schools, arts organisations and community organisations to begin developing mutually useful links. Knowledge about funding and training was shared, thus building the capacity of artists to access opportunities to make their work sustainable. The event was organised by Beyond Borders (www.beyondbordersuk.com); a partnership between Nottingham City Arts, Charnwood Arts, Long Journey Home, Soft Touch Arts co-operative and Loughborough University. The event also included fascinating short films about identity, racism, class, migration and demonstrations of classical Kathak dancing and Egyptian belly dancing. Sharing the artistic heritage of new arrivals can help schools to deliver authentic work about cultural diversity and explore commonality and difference with their students and staff through a variety of participatory arts-based approaches.

School Leadership Project Advisory Group

On 24 November a diverse group of educators from a variety of organisations ( eg, World Wildlife Fund, Leicestershire Children's Services, University of Leicester, Education consultants, Oxfam and EMNGPS) met to assess the current progress of phase one of the School Leadership Project ( 5 Headteacher meetings) and to scope phase 2. Apologies were also received from the National College of School Leadership (NCSL), Ofsted and DEA indicating the level of interest in this strategic initiative. A variety of ideas and suggestions were generated which the Project Management Group will now discuss.

EMNGPS/Oxfam school Leadership Project

On 10 November 17 Headteachers from schools across the region met at Beaumanor Hall for the first meeting of the EMNGPS/Oxfam School Leadership Project. The meeting was facilitated by Phil Smith and Barbara Smith and included the chance for each Headteacher to share what they were doing at their school to embed the Global Dimension and International Perspectives, to share challenges and to outline what they wanted to gain from involvement in the project. Rohini gave a presentation about the eight key concepts of the Global Dimension, followed by a presentation by Richard Baker about Oxfam's Global Citizenship Framework. The meeting ended with ideas to shape the next session.

Community Cohesion Masterclass

Rohini Corfield joined 70 other delegates from England and Australia at the Masterclass given by Ted Cantle, from the Institute of Community Cohesion (www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk)

Ted raised eight wicked issues affecting cohesion and asked people for their ideas about how to tackle them.

The issues were:

1. The Diversity Paradox -are we personally and collectively more comfortable with the super diversity around us?
2. Is the Black/White paradigm used in discussion of race outdated? How can we engage with the plethora of identities people have today?
3. Is Community Cohesion about structural issues? What is the relationship between poverty and community cohesion?
4. Is Community Cohesion just about tackling spatial segregation and separation?
5. How can we deal with new concepts of Migration eg, lifestyle, sequential?
6. Is CoCo about regulation and Social Engineering? What is the relationship between the individual, state and society?
7. What place does faith have in the public sphere?
8. How are we building the capacity, competence and confidence of people to embrace CoCo?

An interesting discussion ensued.

EMNGPS Consultative Day - 4 Nov 2008

5.11.2008

As elections were taking place across the USA, 32 EMNGPS members from Local Authorities, schools, NGOs and community groups met to discuss the questions in the DEA's Questioning Education Paper (www.dea.org.uk/ourglobalfuture) about how Global Learning can be mainstreamed in the education system. Similar events are taking place around the country and will enable the DEA to lobby for policy change at the national level. Such an event enabled the practical experiences of EMNGPS members to be shared in policy formulation and lobbying.

For the first time at an EMNGPS event, four students from Northampton Boys School and their teacher shared their reflections about how doing a community project in Malawi affected their values, knowledge and skills as global citizens.

In the afternoon the EMNGPS Funding Working Group(FWG) led a consultation exercise about how EMNGPS could raise money to ensure the existence of EMNGPS once DFID funding ends in 2013.

Evaluations indicated that members had found both parts of the day stimulating ( many creative ideas were generated) and were pleased to have the opportunity to network with others from different sectors.

Helen Young from the DEA will keep EMNGPS informed of policy progress and the FWG will draft a fundraising strategy based on members ideas.

Refugee Action training

3.11.2008

Annette Jarvis, EMNGPS Project Assistant, attended a one day course at Refugee Action on Thursday 30th October 2008. The course was presented by Rayhana Brydson, Service Development Caseworker, and her co-worker Nathalie. Refugee Action is an independent, national charity working to enable refugees to build new lives in the UK.

The course objectives were:

• To raise awareness on why refugees flee their country of origin and to explain the asylum process and policy
• To explain the ‘facts and fibs’ about asylum
• To highlight the impact of destitution on failed asylum seekers and to provide information on how you can help

Annette said “This interactive course more than met its objectives. It was delivered by trainers who have both theoretical and practical knowledge of the asylum system and recent legislation. By the end of the day I had a better understanding of:

• The role of Refugee Action
• The legal journey of an asylum seeker
• Asylum support
• Asylum seekers’ access to Healthcare/Education/Legal Services
• Support available locally

It was a real ‘eye-opener’, and shocking to realise the media often portray a negative picture of asylum seekers, who are often living in the UK in fear and isolation, having fled their homeland to escape persecution.”

For further information about Refugee Action please visit www.refugee-action.org.uk

Great feedback for EMNGPS - well-done all!

28.10.2008

Harm-Jarn Fricke, on behalf of DFID has analysed our regional Monitoring and Evaluation report and said that the East Midlands and 3 other EES regions (West Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland) meet the intentions, aims and strategies of EES (very) well.

Key success factors include:-

• A logical relationship between EES intentions , strategies, activities, outputs and results
• A focus on the needs of learners
• A questioning approach to the work done- how can we do better?, what can we learn from this experience?
• A genuinely mutually accountable partnershrips approach, involving educators, statutory sector and voluntary sector interests
• Explicit review processes and attempts at learning from experience

This is a great acknowledgement of the way that EMNGPS works and an achievement for all members to be really proud of.

Particular thanks go to:-

• the Executive Committee for their strategic leadership and on-going support for Rohini
• the Locality Group co-ordinators for their active engagement of educators, event management and for sending in detailed annual reports of the work of their Locality Group
• the Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group for their advice and vision
• Bob Hirst for being a Critical Friend of EMNGPS and challenging us to keep improving
• Annette Jarvis for helping Rohini manage EMNGPS activities , keeping members informed and helping me produce reports for DFID
• Skillshare for the range of professional support they provide, including website updating and enabling Annette and Rohini to go on a Continual Improvement Course

The challenge will now be to maintain / further improve our standard.

Well-Done all - have a happy half-term

Stand Up Against Poverty and Inequality

20.10.2008

On Friday 17 October Rohini Corfield joined Skillshare colleagues and individuals from a variety of community organisations to Stand Up Against Poverty and Inequality at Leicester's Clock Tower.

Jonny Gutteridge made a short speech about the aims of the event to the 55 people present, and read the pledge (see attached document) before photographs were taken to share with the campaign internationally. This event is an example of local citizenship about global issues.

Skillshare Leadership Development Programme

15.10.2008

Three EMNGPS members (Rohini Corfield, Annette Jarvis and Raul Pardinaz-Solis) all attended a three day Leadership Development Programme run by Skillshare. The course covered:-

• Leadership and Management
• Learning about Systems Thinking through the Red Beads Experiment
• Domainal Mapping
• Transformational Leadership
• Process Improvement Cycle
• Improving Customer Focus
• Objectives and Improvement Statements
• Analytical Tools - Flowcharts, Cause and Effect diagrams
• Data - analysis, graphs, variance

All of the participants had found the mix of theory, discussions and practical exercises stimulating and useful. There were many tools and ideas that the EMNGPS team can incorporate in their daily work to make EMNGPS more effective and efficient.

Common Purpose - Maximising Performance

09.10.2008

On 8 October Rohini Corfield joined 60 other leaders from the private, public and voluntary sectors across Leicestershire who had all participated in Common Purpose training programmes (see www.commonpurpose.org) at the new Curve theatre in Leicester to hear Gavin Drake from Inspire International (www.inspireinternational.co.uk) talk about the characteristics of high performers.

• succesful leaders
• have success orientated attitudes
• focus on what they want
• have clarity of purpose
• take personal responsibility for their actions and choices
• engage with others positively and creatively
• have good self-esteem

The evening provided thought-provoking discussions and a chance to network with leaders across Leicestershire.

Leicester University's Botanical Gardens Support for Education in Environment and Development (SEED)

07.10.2008

Rohini Corfield visited the Botanical gardens on 7 October to see how EMNGPS members Ruth Godfrey and colleagues worked with students on a variety of global dimension learning using the gardens as a stimulus.

She observed Uplands Infant school pupils do an exciting treasure hunt to search for ingredients for the World Cake. This involved vising tropical rainforest, desert and woodland habitats and learning about Fair trade.

Other courses include:-

• Journeys to Christmas
• Investigating Different habitats
• Sculptures
• Woodland adventures

Further details at http://www.le.ac.uk/botanicgarden/education.html

EMNGPS Community Cohesion (CoCo) Working Group Meeting- 6 October

07.10.2008

11 educators from four Local Authorities (Nottingham City, Lincolnshire, Derby City and Northamptonshire) and NGOs like MUNDI, Global Education Derby and Leicester Council of Faiths met at an EMNGPS meeting to share their knowledge and experiences of projects supporting schools with their new statutory responsibility to embed Community Cohesion.

Participants shared information about CoCo school case-studies, LA CoCo guidelines, training events, School linking projects and Early Years work. 11 apologies from other LAs and NGOs were also received indicating the amount of interest in this theme. The group has decided that it will meet in December to use the joint expertise of the group to develop a CoCo training tool kit. For further details of the next meeting contact Rohini or Annette.

Derby City Put the World Into Your Class Conference

25.09.2008

On 24 September 62 teachers, Headteachers, Local authority staff and NGO staff attended a conference organised by Derby City and Global Education Derby.

David Gardener from the QCA emphasized the importance of the Global Dimension in providing compelling learning experiences to help prepare young people for their future.

John Rolfe explained how schools in the Middle East and Asia could also apply for the International School Award and congratulated the Derby City Schools who gained the full ISA.

EMNGPS members helped run the Fairtrade and Trade Justice and Global Dimension workshops, had display stands, organised school case-studies and will provide follow up support to schools.

EMNGPS members helped run the Fairtrade and Trade Justice and Global Dimension workshops, had display stands, organised school case-studies and will provide follow up support to schools.

Derby City also launched GD Guidelines for schools signposting them to key sources of information.

The day was a great success and demonstrated the added value of working in partnership.

Regional Network for International Learning (RNIL) meeting

23.09.2008

On 23 September the EMNGPS Project Manager joined seven Officers from five Local Authorities at the RNIL termly meeting held at Quorn Hall.
Items discussed at the meeting included:

• The RNIL training programme for 2008-9 - all course details will be posted on the EMNGPS website calendar
• The School Linking Network Community Cohesion programme- Derby City, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire have already secured funding from this and will be working with 20 schools in each of their areas to promote linking within their authority. This supports both the Community Cohesion agenda and the Diversity and Identity strand of Citizenship. see www.schoolslinkingnetwork.org.uk
• Local Authority Updates about a variety of British Council -funded international development opportunities eg, Teachers International Professional Development Visits (TIPD), progress across LAs on schools progress with the International School Award (ISA), Asian Dialogues Projects, Area European links, Transversal visit hosting, Connecting Classrooms , Regio applications and Living Together. see www.britishcouncil.org.uk
• EMNGPS Update about the School Leadership Project, Community Cohesion Working Group and Consultative Day based on the DEA's Questioning Education discussion paper www.dea.org.uk
• Ideas for the content of the next RNIL newsletter

Such regional sharing facilitates partnership working. 52 schools in the East Midlands have been awarded the full ISA - a great achievement!

Nottinghamshire schools have won a variety of awards including the Link to Learn Award and European Award for Languages -congratulations to the schools, LA and MUNDI staff involved in developing excellent practice.

Northamptonshire-Extended Services Open Day

19.09.2008

On 19 September the Northamptonshire Extended Services team, which includes the Global Dimension Officer, organised an event to disseminate good practice around the Every Child Matters outcomes.

There was an International Marquee, where 10 schools showcased their work on embedding the international and global dimension. Other exhibitors included EMNGPS, the British Council, Spurgens, Cafod, Oxfam, Carnival, Supplementary school, Fairtrade and the Black History Association.

The audience included young people, parents, governors, Family/support workers, teachers, senior management, and county advisers - a truly inclusive approach.

Students from Northampton Boys School shared their volunteering work in Malawi.

Sally Keeble, MP talked about supporting HIV and AIDS orphans through the Boxes for Africa campaign.

Flossie Gomile, deputy High Commissioner from Malawi talked about education in Malawi and the importance of young people connecting across international boundaries to share ideas and knowledge.

Young people participated in a variety of activities including steel pans, drumming, dance, kayaking, climbing, story telling, arts and crafts and circus skills.

Special exhibits available were the Waste bus, the Community Police Unit and The Duke of Edingburgh Award Bus - all with interesting information and activities to try.

The Market Place included a range of Extended Service partner organisations eg, Arts in Education, Connexions, Museums and Art Galleries, Playing for Success, University of Northampton, Youth Offending Service etc

The Annapurna Indian Dance Company closed the event with a dazzling session of classical dance.

In total over 150 young people and 250 adults participated in this exciting event to show how the five outcomes of Every Child Matters are being brought to life in Northamptonshire by incorporating the Global Dimension.

EMNGPS would like to congratulate Danielle Stone and Dorcas Adusei and colleagues for organising a vibrant event celebrating learning.

Shifting Margins:Shifting Centres

18.09.2008

On 17 September four EMNGPS members joined 75 other development educators from NGOs and universities across the world at the above conference which explored how to negotiate difference in education.

Dr Doug Bourn from the Institute of Education welcomed everyone and Dr Vanessa Andreotti from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand introduced inputs from Dr Jagdish Gundara (UK) and Professor Lynn Mario T Menezes de Souza (Brazil) to stimulate discussion about Diversity, Difference and Critical Reflection.

A new International Journal for Development Education and Global Learning was launched (see www.trentham-books.co.uk) before further inputs about education and diversity issues from New Zealand.

Delegates chose a workshop from the following:-

• Stories from Refugees
• Through Our Eyes - Seeing the World from the Outside In
• Teaching Our Student Teachers to Shift Centres and Margins
• Through African Eyes
• African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS) and the achievement of Education For All (EFA)

The conference concluded with delegates receiving a copy of the Learning to read the world Through Other Eyes booklet - an online study perogramme focussing on engagements with indigenous perceptions of global issues - see www.throughothereyes.org.uk

A new book, Development Education - Debates and Dialogues was also launched. This aims to stimulate debate and dialogue on development education, involving academics, policy-makers and practioners, to identify issues and themes for research and pose questions for future research. To order see www.jscampus.co.uk/ioe

ESD Schools Working Group

18.09.2008

On 16 September 14 Local Authority Officers, staff from GOEM and 4 EMNGPS members from across the region met at Silverhill Primary school in Derby to discuss:-

• DCSF support for the implementation of the Sustainable Schools framework
• The Expo event in Lincoln on 19 November - an opportunity to share good practice
• The s3plus audit tool for Local Authorities
• Progress on case-studies for the Sustainable Schools website www.eastmidlandssustainableschools.org.uk
• Share news of ESD events around the region

The work of this group complements the work of EMNGPS in bringing ESD and Global Citizenship into all aspects of school life in an engaging and strategic way.

Sapere Level 1 Training

12.09.2008

Annette Jarvis, EMNGPS Project Assistant, attended the above course on 4th/5th September 2008 at Eco House, Western Park, Hinckley Road, Leicester, along with 15 other participants representing organisations, such as

Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire, Brocks Hill Primary School, Council of Faiths, Leicester Masaya Link Group, Leicestershire Early Learning and Improvement, and Support for Education in Environment and Development. Read more...

Global Youth Action

11.09.2008

On 10 September 2008, several members of EMNGPS attended a Global Youth Action event in Derby.

The agenda was

PART 1:
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. David Woollcombe – President of Peace Child International
3. James Edleston – Development Education Association (DEA)
4. Global Youth Work East Midlands – Greg Woolley (Global Education Derby)
5. Question & Answer

Part 2:
6. Regional Roundup
a. EMVY Update – Lindsay Allen, EMVY
b. Children In Need fund
c. Platform2 - Muhammad Imran, Islamic Relief
d. Lucy Waldron, Christian Aid
e. Mick Appleyard – Staffordshire University
f. Clare Meakin, EMRYWU – One World Week Event
g. Greg Woolley - Global Youth Work Resource – NYA

EMNGPS and the new Global Youth Work Project East Midlands plan to share expertise in mainstreaming the global dimension across the formal and informal education sectors.

Consultative Day

21.08.2008

On 4 July 2008, EMNGPS held its annual consultative day. Read more...

The Co-operative

On 14 August 2008, Rohini Corfield from EMNGPS met with Pinky Badhan, Co-operative Affairs Officer for our region, to discuss common agendas including working with schools and young people on issues like Fair Trade, diversity, democratic participation, sustainable development and global citizenship. EMNGPS will explore possible joint work. The Co-operative have just launched a new educational website explaining how co-operative values can be brought to education at www.school.coop

Meeting with new Chair of DEA

On 6th August 2008, Linda Barker, from Global Education Derby and Rohini Corfield from EMNGPS met with Roger Clarke, the new Chair of the DEA.

They discussed the diverse work of GED, EMNGPS and current links with the DEA as well as exploring potential joint work in the future. Roger commented "I am impressed by the approach to Global Dimension work in this region".

East Midlands Schools working for Fairtrade Schools Accreditation

Clare Carr, on behalf of EMNGPS, has been working with Locality Group Co-ordinators to encourage schools to register for the Fairtrade Schools Accreditation scheme. There are now 85 East Midlands schools registered (compared with 57 on 16 March), distributed as follows:

Derbyshire - 14
Lincolnshire - 16
Leicestershire and Rutland - 25
Northamptonshire - 17
Nottinghamshire - 13

Congratulations to two East Midlands Schools that have achieved Fairtrade Status:

St George's College of Technology, Lincolnshire was approved on 5 May 2008.

Eyam School, Derbyshire was approved on 16 July 2008.

There will be a meeting of the Fairtrade Schools Scheme network on Monday 29 September 2008 from 11.30am to 3.30pm at the Fairtrade Foundation's offices (Room 204, 16 Baldwin's Gardens, London EC1N 7RJ) to share progress and challenges.

School Leadership for the Global Dimension

14.08.2008

This is an exciting project run jointly by EMNGPS and Oxfam. Although we have had a good response from Head teachers to date, we are hoping to encourage further applications, particularly from Secondary and Special Schools in the East Midlands. In view of this, we have decided to extend the deadline to 17th September 2008. Download more information and an application form.

iCoCo Masterclass - Tackling Extremism

30.07.2008

On 17 July 2008 Rohini Corfield joined 70 other Community Cohesion practioners to hear about the fascinating experiences of Andy Sykes, a former BNP organiser turned anti-racist campaigner. Andy explained , how in the aftermath of riots in Bradford in 2001, he joined the BNP and then realised the harmful impact of their message on the cohesion of diverse communities. Andy then used his insight and knowledge of Far Right Groups to inform his anti-racist work with young people and community groups. He argued that schools and parents have a pivotal role to play in helping young people develop secure identities and self-respect, and an interest in and respect for diverse cultures.
The Rewind project from Sandwell then shared how they work with young people and professionals on anti-racism. Find out more at www.rewind.org.uk For more information about future iCoCo masterclasses see www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk.

Children's International Summer Villages

30.07.2008

On 21 July 2008 Rohini Corfield met with Kiran Hingorani, Education and Training Officer at CISV to explore how EMNGPS and CISV might work together to support young people in developing the values, knowledge and skills to become active global citizens. Initially Kiran will make contact with the Derbyshire Locality Group to learn how they function in supporting schools to embed the global dimension across all aspects of school life and then he will see what other opportunities EMNGPS can offer for joint work. Find out more about Children's International Summer Villages at www.cisv.org

EMNGPS explores how to support City of Sanctuary

30.07.2008

EMNGPS signed the City of Sanctuary pledge in January 2008.

Rohini Corfield, EMNGPS Project Manager met with Gill Buttery of Leicester City of Sanctuary to discuss possible ways that EMNGPS and City of Sanctuary can work together to bring the issues faced by refugees and asylum seekers to the attention of schools, as part of their work on active global citizenship, international perspectives, diversity & equality and community cohesion.

Locality Groups in Leicestershire and Rutland will explore practical ideas for working with schools on the City of Sanctuary project through their future action plans.

Find out more about the City of Sanctuary at www.cityofsanctuary.com

Three-day Global Citizenship Advocates Course

Dorcas Adusei (Global Dimension Officer, Northamptonshire Local Authority) and Rohini Corfield (EMNGPS Project Manager) have just completed the Global Citizenship Advocates course, run by RISC (Reading International Solidarity Centre). Find out more about RISC at www.risc.org.uk

Teachers, NGO workers, teacher trainers and local authority staff attended the course at RISC over three days. The participatory course included sessions on:-

• How to handle Controversial Issues eg, Peace and Conflict issues
• Gender and Sexuality
• Race and Ethnicity
• Representations of Africa
• World Music
• Majority World Artists
• Use of artefacts, photos, quotes to stimulate discussion
• Global Gardens and Sustainability issues
• Reviewing resources for bias
• Futures education
• School linking
• Justice not pity - fundraising issues
• Active Local and Global Citizenship
• Assessing progress - Global Schools

All participants found the course extremely valuable for both theory and practice and left brimming with ideas about how to implement Global Citizenship in both their professional and personal roles.They were each given £100 worth of resources to support their implementation.

Dorcas and Rohini would both recommend this course to colleagues - see RISC website for details.

Initial Teacher Education conference

14.07.2008

New UK Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Network for ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) and GC (Global Citizenship) conference

On 7 July 2008 this network held its inaugual conference in London. Download the programme here.

Rohini Corfield from EMNGPS joined 70 other educators from across the UK to learn more about how the UN Decade for ESD (2005-15) was being implemented in different countries, and in discussing the particular role that teacher educators could play in bringing the ESD/GC agenda to life.

A series of paper presentations enabled a diverse range of current ESD activity in ITE institutions to be shared eg, the role of school gardens, rights respecting schools etc

Rohini also convened an open space session exporing how NGOs could build strategic and sustainable partnerships with ITE institutions in order to try and influence their teaching curricula and ethos.

A new ESD/GC website for ITE tutors, students and teachers has been launched at http://esd.escalate.ac.uk

The event provided an opportunity for strategic networking and peer learning.

East Midlands Headteacher contributes to national policy roundtable with David Blunkett

14.07.2008

On 7 July 2008, Kate Nash, Headteacher at Silverhill Primary School in Derby travelled to London for a policy roundtable discussion organised by the DEA. She was one of 20 people who shared ideas about how the government could support schools to embed the global dimension across all aspects of school life as a way of delivering quality education, which would enable young people to become active global citizens. Other contributors included the DEA, QCA ( Qualifications and Curriculum Authority), Ofsted and the Geographical Association.

Kate was able to share her experience of working with Global Education Derby and EMNGPS on a range of school linking, environmental sustainability and community cohesion projects. Silverhill Primary use Thursday afternoons for a range of enrichment activities and have found that this has not affected SATs results which have been good.

Kate enjoyed the opportunity to meet other educators with an interest in global learning and to contribute to a national think tank.

Rutland Sustainable Development and International/Global Education Conference

02.07.2008

Phil Smith, (Strategic Learning Lead Consultant, Rutland County Council) opened the event by explaining its objectives. Barbara Smith (Consultant) then introduced the DCSF National Framework for Sustainable Schools and highlighted key documents and the new East Midlands Sustainable Schools website.

Next Helen Trilling (International Links Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council) gave detailed information about a variety of British Council funding streams for teacher and Headteacher international professional development opportunities and support for school linking. Find out more at www.globalgateway.org.uk

Rohini Corfield (EMNGPS Project Manager) facilitated discussions about the diversity of the Global Village and summarised the 8 key concepts of the Global Dimension.

Rutland Case Studies

Margaret (teacher) from Edith Weston Primary School then showcased the work the school had done to promote global citizenship and sustainable living:-

• Teaching European languages and cultural awareness in curriculum time through involving parents with connections to other countries
• Learning about Fair Trade
• Supporting Water Aid
• Developing a school link with a German school
• Applying for the International School Award and Eco School accreditation
• Delivering the 5 outcomes of the Every Child Matters agenda through ESD eg, Eco Warriors, Gardening, wild life watches
• Embedding ESD in the School Development Plan

Matt (teacher) from Castleton Business and Enterprise College then explained the work of the college Ethical Committee (a tent structure that pulls together social enterprise within the college) which brought together students working on:-

• Young Chambers (to develop business and enterprise skills)
• Eco-Schools ( environmental issues)
• Amnesty International (human rights issues)
• Charity Committee (fundraising )
• The Base ( gardening projects eg, Sensory Garden)
  

For details of the college's work on Healthy Schools and Sustainable Schools see www.cbec.rutland.sch.uk

Phil Smith then summarised the big picture issues (eg, Community Cohesion, Eco Schools, Sustainable Schools, Multi cultural education and Ofsted reports) and signposted the key documents for each. Helen Trilling gave information about how schools can apply for the Intenational School Award. The day concluded with reflections about how each participant would take ESD and the international/global dimension forward.

UKAEIES Conference

02.07.2008

Six members from EMNGPS participated in the UKAEIES conference in Cardiff 26-27 June. At the AGM UKAEIES members (Local Authority International Education Officers and Enabling Effective Support staff) agreed to change the name of the organisation to UKGLAS (UK Association for Global Learning in Schools) and to establish a website summarising the work of the organisation.

In the afternoon members worked in groups to generate creative ideas about how the QCA document "The global dimension in action" could be used in training sessions with teachers. Ideas included asking teachers to identify the success factors of each case-study and to consider how sustainable the work is.

Kevin Dixon from the DCSF's Community Cohesion Unit gave an overview of what schools needed to do to meet their new statutory duty to promote community cohesion. He encouraged contact with the Schools Linking Network, the Institute of Community Cohesion and other external partners. He also encouraged schoools to make cross-curricular links between work in RE, Citizenship, History, Geography and whole school initiatives. For more information and a tool kit see www.globalgateway.org/communitycohesion

Members then discussed ideas for an event that could bring together the current school agendas of Community Cohesion, The Global Dimension and International Linking.

The conference provided a valuable opportunity for networking, and the sharing of information and resources.

Peer Mentoring

On 20 June 2008 the Co-ordinators and an Executive Committee member from 3 regional Enabling Effective Support (EES) networks (EMNGPS, Yorkshire and Humberside Global Schools Association (YHGSA) and North West Global Education Network (NWGEN) met to explore how they could share their experiences of EES work (both the challenges and successes) to improve their effectiveness. The day was facilitated by Katy Newell-Jones who introduced action learning set methodology.

Participants found the day stimulating and all returned with practical actions to follow up.

NWGEN

Developing Community Cohesion course

The course was held at Beaumanor Hall, and funded by The British Council. On the day, 29 schools in the East Midlands were represented, and all delegates fully participated in the group activities.  

Rohini Corfield, EMNGPS, and Bev Milner, RNIL, welcomed the delegates and introduced the programme.
 
Presentations included:

• What is a Global Learner?  - Maggie Talty-Sanghera, Global Education Derby

A group of students from Shirebrook School in Derby showed a film of the area in which they live. It highlighted some issues relating to a local sports store which chose to employ staff from the local Polish community, causing mixed feelings within the rest of the community. The students also presented their views and experiences.
Maggie facilitated an activity during which groups were invited to draw a picture of a global citizen, and describe the citizen’s values, knowledge and skills.

• Get-In – Promoting an inclusive international dimension in the curriculum - Clive Billingham  

• The DCSF International School Award, Overview of funding opportunities - Helen Trilling, International Links Co-ordinator, Leicestershire County Council

•  Faiths Literacy – George Ballentyne, Faiths Equality Officer, Leicester Council of Faiths

George presented information from the 2001 Census, and showed the Leicester figures for different faiths, beliefs and religions.
                www.leicestercounciloffaiths.org.uk

• Engaging & inspiring young people to take leadership on community cohesion - Val Carpenter, Director, Diversity Hub

Val took the lead on a simple, but effective, practical exercise which encouraged the whole group to value and appreciate the diversity within the room.

• Good practice in whole-school linking - Lisa Young, Education & Funding Officer, MUNDI, Nottingham

 Choosing a funding opportunity, Action Planning, Identifying further support – Helen Trilling & Claire Plumb. Global Education Leicester-Shire

Feedback showed that participants had found the day useful, and had learnt more/had a better understanding of community cohesion.

A further community cohesion course will be held in March 2009.

A Celebration of Global Learning

On 11 June Rohini Corfield joined 75 colleagues from the development education sector at the launch of Global Matters, a collection of Global Dimension case-studies compiled by the DEA including a foreward by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The OSDE (Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry) methodology developed in the East Midlands was also highlighted.

Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) Practioners' Network Meeting

On 5 June Rohini Corfield joined 60 Local Authority staff, academics, community activists and iCoCo experts at the above network meeting.

The programme included:-

An introduction and national overview by Ted Cantle, Chair of iCoCo. Issues discussed included the greater international interest in Community Cohesion, funding for English language learning, Citizenship procedures for new arrivals and feedback about national consultations iCoCo had responded to. An interesting international project was that of Living Libraries where people share their life stories as a way of building intercultural understanding.

Living Libraries – borrowing real life experience

Living Library’, as an idea, originated in Denmark in 2000. Instead of a book the public have the opportunity to “borrow” (talk) to an expert in their field, someone who has significant experience to share, or is passionate about a hobby. Living Library projects often focus on fostering respect and countering fear and prejudice in the community. The library is clearly seen as a safe house and as a facilitator of discussion in the community.
Living Libraries have been successfully held across Europe, Canada, and by the end of this year there will be a living library in every state in Australia except Tasmania.

A population mapping and engagement workshop included a presentation about estimating population numbers and assessing migration impacts by Linden Rowley and an example of population mapping in Derby

Jenny Page demonstrated the new iCoCo portal - a one stop shop for Community Cohesion practioners and Andrew Lawerence outlined the plans for the Health and Cohesion initiative

Harris Beider summarised the research iCoCo may carry out to ensure grass roots involvement in community cohesion eg, engaging with alienated white communities, exploring the relationships between different minority groups and investigating the role of women and the voluntary and community sector in enhancing community cohesion. The aim was for research to be used as an empowering tool leading to practical change at the individual, organisational and community levels.

The Awards for Bridging Cultures (ABC) are new and reward grass roots projects that promote intercultual dialogue and understanding through activities like sport, art and learning. see www.bridgingcultures.org.uk

iCoCo are also offering Community Cohesion master classes and post-graduate work-based learning ( Certificate, Diploma and MA in Community Cohesion Management).

Meeting with Ofsted to discuss Global Dimension work in schools

• the curriculum, in particular through Citizenship Education, Geography, Religious Education
• developing work for the new statutory duty on Community Cohesion
• helping implementation of national frameworks like the Sustainable Schools and International School Award

Ofsted have published a series of reports (available on www.ofsted.org.uk) with recomendations for the DCSF (Department of Children, Schools and Families) , Local Authorities and Schools on the followoing themes:-

• Schools and Sustainability - A climate for change (May 2008) Ref number 070173
• Geography in Schools:changing practice (January 2008 ) Ref number 070044
• Towards consensus? Citizenship in secondary schools (September 2006) Ref number HMI 2666

EMNGPS plans to continue this dialogue with national stakeholders about recognising the importance of the Global Dimension in all aspects of education.

Global Education Leicester-shire (GEL) runs Global Citizenship and Controversial Issues Conference on 30 May for Leicester University trainee teachers

Dr Hillary Cremin and Dr Paul Warwick from the School of Education at Leicester University ( insert logo) invited EMNGPS to orgainse a Global Dimension awareness day for 14 PGCE ( Post Graduate Certificate of Education) Secondary Citizenship trainee teachers.

The aims of the conference were to:-

• Raise awareness of external agencies that can help citizenship educators to provide vibrant and engaging learning opportunities for their students
• Enable trainees to experience a range of learning activities for promoting active citizenship, and an appreciation of its global dimension
  

Claire Plumb, Locality Group co-ordinator for GEL organised the following programme of presentations and activities:-

Rohini Corfield faciltated a game of GloBingo as an introduction to the concepts underlying the Global Dimension and then outlined the support available for teachers from regional EES (Enabling Effective Support) networks like EMNGPS - see www.globaldimension.org.uk

Claire Plumb then explained how the diverse work of the Leicester Masaya Link Group (eg. arts projects, international visits, school linking, civic linking) could support active citizenship in schools in England and Nicaragua


Helen Trilling went on to outline the variety of international professional development opportunities available for teachers and schools through the British Council - see www.globalgateway.org

Rachel Toach and Julia Fergusson then led a RSPCA education workshop using active learning methods - see www.rspca.org.uk/education The RSPCA aims to promote kindness and prevent cruelty to animals. The RSPCA Education team can offer schools free school-based training linked to the National Curriculum, Work with School Councils on animal welfare issues and run teacher training sessions for schools and universities

Anne Liddle then facilitated a session on CND which included a powerful DVD about the impact of nuclear armaments , discussions about Hiroshima, Chernobyl , peace education and distributed CND Peace Education Packs For more information about Peace education see www.cnd.org.uk

George Ballentyne then led an interactive session about faith diversity based on national and Leicester data from the 2001 Census - see www.leicestercounciloffaiths.org.uk

Clare Carr finished by explaining the Fair Trade Schools scheme and exploring Trade Justice issues - link with doc below and www.bigquestioncompany.com

Hillary asked students for their feedback and thanked all contributors for their stimulating inputs.

ESD Schools Working Group

• The new East Midlands Sustainable Schools website going live on Monday 16 June. This website includes ESD case-studies from East Midlands schools on all eight doorways of the Sustainable Schools Framework and signposts where schools can access regional support through listing ESD providers. EMNGPS members MUNDI and Skillshare International led on co-ordinating the sign-posting.
• Tenders in ESD - for the co-ordination of the SWG (see www.goem.gov.uk) and for the Young Activists Project (www.dcsf.gov.uk)
• Possible involvement in the Expo 2008 event
• The Nottingam declaration on Climate Change for Schools - see consultation
• The new toolkit (Valuing our future:a toolkit for developing sustainable schools) produced by the National College of School Leadership

It's all about about Behavioural Change

On 8 May Rohini Corfield represented EMNGPS at a regional conference about Behaviour change in the context of Climate Change organised by the East Midlands Regional Assembly, Government Office for the East Midlands(GOEM) and supported by the East Midlands Development Agency and Department of Health.

View invite

The aims of the event were to:

• enable regional stakeholders to explore how behaviour change can deliver a lower carbon, better adapted and more sustainable East Midlands
• to agree co-ordinated actions in 4 priority areas - Energy in Homes, Transport, Food and Shopping, Health and Well-Being

70 delegates from government agencies, regional bodies, local authorities, NGOs and universities attended the event at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham.

Click here to view the programme for the day

Stan Crawford explained the sustainable design features of the Sherwood Energy Village which had been set up as a community business and has won a variety of environmental awards.

A series of workshops then showcased success stories in the East Midlands:

• The Big Wheel organisation described how they were encouraging sustainable transport use www.thebigwheel.org.uk
• Global Action Plan shared how they brought communities together to achieve environmental, social and financial change www.globalactionplan.org.uk
• The Food Initiative Group explained the links between Sustainable development - Food, Climate Change and Peak Oil www.foodfig.org.uk
• Living for Tomorrow, the local sustainability magazine for Nottinghamshire detailed practical ideas about how to live sustainably
• The BBC Breathing Places provided ideas for one environmental activity that children could do every term www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces
• Groundwork discussed what people could do to tackle climate change www.groundwork.org.uk

Philip Stamp then summarised the work that Defra ( Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - insert logo) are doing to drive behaviour change including the framework for pro-environmental behaviours see www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/social/behaviour/index.htm

David Fell from Brook Lyndhurst then fed back from their recent research " Investigating Behavioural Change with respect to Sustainable development in the East Midlands: A scoping study"

Finally delegates identified the following priority actions for the region to take forward :

1. setting up an energy meter loan system
2. expanding bicycle and ride schemes
3. encouraging co-operative local generation schemes
4. promote car sharing
5. promote behaviour change in schools
6. promote local shopping
7. set up regional food co-operatives
8. transfer freight from roads to rail
9. encourage employers to provide a holistic health MOT for employees and more home working
10. expand and promote cycle routes

EMNGPS Moodle group scopes feasibility study

On 29 April 4 EMNGPS members met in Nottingham to agree the format of the feasibility study - research of Moodle usage would be carried out with schools, colleges, and Local Authorities. Plans to host a temporary EMNGPS Moodle site were explored, and the possible involvement of other regional and national partners. Watch this space.......

Meeting with BT Regional Manager - Building a Better World

On 30 April Rohini Corfield met withTom Hamilton to explore how EMNGPS and BT might work together with regional schools on sustainability issues, global education and active citizenship projects.

BT were named Company of the Year in the Business in the Community Awards, and have a wide ranging Corporate Social Responsibility Programme.

The BT Better World Campaign

BT believe that core communication skills are even more essential in the digital age and that there is a need for a renewed emphasis on developing these skills in young people in order to meet their three key objectives:

• To ensure young people most in need are heard and helped
• To develop young people's communication skills by sharing information
• To help young people campaign to create real social change.

What other activities do they do?

The BT Better World Campaign is a key element of BT's Corporate Responsibility Programme. They believe that Better Communication can help create a Better World. Their strategy is to maintain their current momentum in CSR and to focus their efforts on the three biggest challenges:

• The need for sustainable economic growth
• The need for wider inclusion of all sections of society
• The need to tackle climate change.

International activity

Under the Better World Campaign they have launched a number of international projects which extend the reach of the Campaign globally, enabling BT to make a real difference to the lives of tens of thousands of young people around the world.

BT Education
BT have been instrumental in linking schools in the UK with schools world-wide, through the BT education programme, and through other projects.

Initiatives in India
BT are providing education support to two schools, and a phone-based information service, (Lifelines), that supplies vital information to poor rural farming communities.

Inspiring Young Minds
This is a three year strategic programme in partnership with UNICEF, where BT is investing £1.5 million into projects in South Africa, Brazil and China.

International Recognition
In April BT's Campaign received international recognition when BT and ChildLine were jointly awarded 'Listener of the Year 2008' for 22 years of listening and supporting children. Nominations are made from around the world for this presitigious award, and past winners have been U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.