digitalLEARNING-Nov-2010-[44-46]- Connecting Schools

case study

Connecting Schools Face to Faith Programme aims to offer an authentic and meaningful environment in which students can develop key 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem-solving.

By Simmi Kher

A

cross the seas, in a conference room students of Bal Bharti Public School, Dwarka and students of Westhoughton School, Bolton, UK sat talking to each other as if they were in the same room. This was made possible by the Face to Faith Programme of Tony Blair Faith Foundation which aims to offer an authentic and meaningful environment in which students can develop key 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problemsolving. It also aims to improve young people’s cultural/religious literacy, which is a vital skill in an increasingly complex, global society. Eyes glued to the plasma screen television and speaking to their peers at Westhought students were eloquent, honest and curious - which is a great starting point for any successful Video Conference. They had obviously really taken in the messages about communicating honestly in a respectful way.

Today one of the greatest challenges that the world faces is to allow people of different faiths, creeds, religions, beliefs to live together by celebrating the differences, which makes each individual unique. Collaboration, communication skills, information and media literacy are all to be regularly found on the syllabus, acknowledged as vital tools for the 21st century.

We can already see how new technologies are stimulating radically new approaches to teaching and learning.

Launched last June a global education programme ‘Face to Faith’ from the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, is designed

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to support this initative. By means of video-conferencing and an online community, students of different faiths work together to investigate specific global issues; discuss a range of opinions, values and beliefs; and explore the reasons for similar and different views. By learning about those of differing social, cultural and religious perspectives, young people build their awareness of the role of faith in their life and in the lives of others. As the name of the project suggests, it is based

upon direct encounters between groups of young people from around the world, and is focused upon ideas of identity and belief. In India, 40 schools are enrolled as part of the programme. These schools have been connected to schools internationally as well as nationally. These students of different faiths work together to investigate specific global issues, discuss a range of opinions, values and beliefs and explore the reasons for similar and different views. By learning about those

from differing social, cultural and religious perspectives, young people build their awareness on the role of faith in today’s world.

All schools participating in Face to Faith undertake an introduction module focusing as it does upon developing the skills to enable meaningful dialogue. This is key which guides them through the principles and approaches of the programme and prepares students to engage in dialogue with those of different faiths. Thereafter, the programme is entirely flexible, offering subsequent modules focused upon major world issues approached through the perspectives of faith. Each of these issues modules also encourages students to get involved, in a very practical way, in meeting the challenges of those issues. Currently offering three distinct yet complementary modules on the topics of charity, poverty and wealth; environment; and the Art of Expression.

Face to Faith is a global educational programme comprising of: • A series of facilitated video conferences, enabling direct encounter and structured exchange between students • An online community providing sustained engagement between schools as well as opportunities to link with a wide range of schools • Teacher training and support • A set of optional programme resources and modules • A team of facilitators who are on hand to moderate discussions and ensure that schools can find appropriate linking partners.

• Face to Faith is designed to enhance your existing curriculum not to replace it. The suggested teaching modules address a range of • Different curricula subjects including humanities, religious and cultural studies and social sciences.

Face to Faith has been developed by a team of international educational experts including leading academics and teachers, drawing on the latest pedagogical thinking and practice. Schools in India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, UK, US and Canada are already engaged in the programme.

Within ‘Face to Faith’ we are operating within a wide range of educational cultures, from those that are student-centered to those that are extremely traditional and didactic.We use a threestage model to help empower students (and teachers) with the skills of dialogue

Each module is offered as a full course, which requires an average of seven hours’ class time, or as a short course, requiring approximately three hours’ teaching time. There are also five short projects available for those schools which simply would like to try a one-hour taster session. Schools are also encouraged to design their own modules/projects and share these with the Face to Faith community.

The video conferences between partner schools are a vital element of the Face to Faith programme. These vary in format in terms of certain dimensions.

First is the structure. The students prepare their thoughts and ideas on a common issue, for example, the environment and present these to one another. Next is presence of Guest speakers. The students can pose questions to guests from a particular faith background – discussing how their faith informs what they think and how they act. And finally, semi-structured nature. In an open yet facilitated conversation, students discuss any current issue or latest news story and how it relates to religion.

Within ‘Face to Faith’ we are operating within a wide range of educational cultures, from those that are studentcentered to those that are extremely traditional and didactic. We use a threestage model to help empower students (and teachers) with the skills of dialogue.

The foundation is the use of Cooperative Learning techniques which encourage students to get involved in discussion in a safe and supportive manner (and give them practice at sharing ideas, as well as building their confidence). Upon this foundation, the second layer is built of some quite explicit work concentrating upon building dialogue (much of which is taken, not from an educational setting, but from the methodologies of inter-faith dialogue). Through on-going practice of these techniques, eventually students will be able to reach the third stage of participating in dialogue naturally. As one

might expect from a programme that is rooted so heavily in a student-centred approach, there are regular opportunities for self- and peer-assessment built into the teaching materials, along with guidance on successful methodologies to support this, but this is not merely for students.

We are constantly striving to improve the materials that we offer, responding to the varied challenges of, and feedback from, different countries. In addition, Professor Robert Jackson and a team of researchers from the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit at Warwick University are carrying out an independent evaluation of Face to Faith.

In India we have been able to take the programme to different sectors of the society. There non-formal schools for the underprivileged like The Anugrah Foundation and The Kutumb Foundation involved in the programme. There are Kendriya Vidyalayas, Private schools from different parts of India engaged in communicating with students of different faiths across the world in learning directly with, from and about each other.

We intend over the next year to widen the number of schools in our existing countries, as well as increasing our geographical reach. It is common knowledge that religious faith can be used to cause problems in the world, but there is also a desire to see examples of the ways that faith can be used to bring the world together, and to move towards addressing those problems. Face to Faith is one step towards that goal. \\

about author

Simmi Kher

Simmi Kher is Serving as Coordinator India and Advisor to Face to Faith Programme, Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

digital LEARNING

NOVEMBER 2010

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