Teaching Citizenship journal / Issue 37 / Autumn 2013

TEACHING

BUILDING PEACE THROUGH EDUCATION From Coventry to Israel Palestine to Hiroshima survivors, teachers & activists share their stories

Also inside this issue – Creating citizenship communities / p31 Education in Nepal Special Report / p32 Curriculum Review Update / p36 News, reviews & more ...

Issue No 37 Autumn 2013

Journal of the Association for Citizenship Teaching www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

Education in Nepal Text & photos by Pete Pattisson see page 32

Contents

Autumn 2013

Peace Education 06 Editorial – Peace Education & Citizenship 12 CND’s Anna Liddle introduces the theme 07 Teaching Citizenship Special Editorial Karl Sweeney gives Lee Jerome a vote of thanks 08 The evolution of modern peace education...

The progenitor of Citizenship? by Charles Harlock 12 Peace-building through Peer Mediation Sara Hagel & Ellis Brooks create more peaceful schools 16 Testimony in the classroom Tom Jackson explains how survivor testimony enriches the experience of learning about conflict 19 The legacy of the A-bomb Tatsuya Tateishi on the Hiroshima Peace Museum 20 Routes to Peace Diane Hadwen on the Peace Museum UK 24 21 Coventry: City of Peace & Reconciliation Balbir Sohal involves young people in peace projects 24 Inspiring Global Citizens by ‘Connecting Classrooms’ British Council’s Andrea Mason links with schools abroad 26 “Helpless, but not without hope” Teaching Israel / Palestine by Matt Jeziorski 32 28 Much more than ‘statutory requirement’ Chris Gabbett & Mollie Edwards’ peaceful school Features & Research 31 Creating citizenship communities Young people’s place in society by Gillian Hampden et al 32 Still at War? Pete Pattisson explores Nepal’s conflicted, post-war education system 36 Curriculum Review Update ACT’s lobbying activities on the new curriculum by Lee Jerome Reviews & Regulars 37 Seen and Heard by Unicef; Truman on Trial by CND Teaching resources reviewed by Lee Jerome and Balbir Sohal 38 ACTually... there’s more to a curriculum than facts Lee Jerome finds the draft programmes of study offensive Design & Production Editor : Lionel Openshaw | Telephone +44 (0)7985 979 390 Email lionelopenshaw@me.com | Web www.openshaw.uk.net Published by the Association for Citizenship Teaching, 63 Gee Street, London ec1v 3rs Email info@teachingcitizenship.org.uk | Telephone +44 (0)20 7253 0051 © 2013 Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) ISSN 1474-9335 No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied

or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission of the publisher.

Teaching Citizenship is the official journal of ACT.

Editorial notes We have rather grandly conceived of this edition and the previous one (Issue 36) as our ‘War and Peace’ collection and our guest editor has commissioned a fascinating range of articles to explore Peace Education and the connection to Citizenship.

Thanks to Anna Liddle, from cnd, for the amazing job she has done and we hope you find something here that inspires you to act. Clearly the tradition of Peace Education is a particularly important one whilst we spend the year ahead talking to young people about War and Commemoration, and Anna has pulled together a good range of perspectives.

We also welcome back some old friends to the journal. We have the final news update from a major research project from colleagues in York, and an update from Pete Pattisson about his experiences in the wider world of Citizenship.

There is also a timely update from act and Democratic Life on the national curriculum and the ‘Actually…’ column focuses on what’s wrong and what needs to happen next. As we move out of the campaign phase and into the interpretation and implementation phase, act will be very active producing resources and providing support to members. Please stay in touch to let us know what you want and what you can help with. Most importantly, share your thoughts on any aspect of the new curriculum that will be a focus of the next edition of the journal. We will make space for a range of opinions on what we do with this curriculum next.

Lee Jerome & Gavin Baldwin, Teaching Citizenship Editors Email l.jerome@qub.ac.uk – or – g.baldwin@mdx.ac.uk The views expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent those of ACT, and we cannot accept responsibility for any products

or services advertised within the journal. Printed and distributed by Premier Print Group: www.premier printgroup.com.

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Events & News

Disapplication of the National Curriculum from September 2013

The dfe plans to disapply the current National Curriculum from September 2013 to August 2014 to allow schools flexibility to develop plans to teach the revised National Curriculum from Autumn 2014.

Disapplication means that maintained schools are required to teach each National Curriculum subject, including Citizenship, but do not have to address the teaching requirements as set out in each subject’s programme of study. Nor do they have to use the attainment target (level descriptions) as the standard against which to judge pupil performance at the end of key stage 3 during the period September 2013 to August 2014.

The dfe expects schools to continue to report on pupil’s progress and attainment during the one year of disapplication. Reports to parents should identify for each pupil strengths and areas for development in every subject, including Citizenship. However, act advises that in order to ensure there is absolute clarity about what is being taught and assessed to what standard, it makes sense for teachers to continue with their current curriculum and assessment arrangements, rather than introduce interim arrangements for the one year period.

Compiled by Sheila Clark on behalf of ACT Council.

Share info and news about forthcoming events – email: sheilaclark.sedu@gmail.com.

GCSE Citizenship Studies — Status Confirmed The dfe consulted on new Secondary School Accountability measures earlier this year. This included a proposal to extend the ‘Ebacc’ measure to include a wider range of eight subjects, where one slot is reserved for each of English and Mathematics, and three slots reserved for the Ebacc subjects: Sciences, Computer Science, Geography, History and languages.

The remaining three slots could be taken by further qualifications from the Ebacc subjects or any other high value arts, academic or vocational qualification (as set out on the dfe approved list of qualifications). On 27 June 2013, the Minister Lord Nash confirmed in parliament that gcse Citizenship Studies would continue to count within School Performance tables and could contribute as one of eight subjects that would comprise the ‘best eight’ measure, as it has become known.

Commemoration through football?

German and English soldiers played football in No Man’s Land between the trenches on Boxing Day 1914.

Peace One Day aims to harness the power of ‘the beautiful game’ to foster the spirit of Peace Day on 21 September. Football matches are played all over the world to commemorate the day. Each match celebrates cooperation, unity and the power of football to bring people together. Peace One Day Founder, Jeremy Gilley explains that throughout history, football has been a game that has brought people of different creeds, colours, races and religions

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together. He states “I myself have seen first-hand, how football rises above difference. I have seen different tribes in Somalia coming together to play, Israelis challenging Palestinians in peaceful sportsmanship.” To find out how to organise a match, see http://peaceoneday.org/ one-day-one-goal.

The Global Peace Games for Children and Youth coincides with the United Nations Day of Peace on 21 September and was founded by Play Soccer Nonprofit International in 2001 – which held the first global grassroots event to celebrate the contribution of children and youth to the achievement of the United Nations goals for peace, nonviolence and human development, and to unite their voices and support through the universal language of sport. It offers an opportunity for young people all over the world to demonstrate their commitment to making the world a better and healthier place and to express their solidarity to the mission of global friendship, peaceful solutions and nonviolence.

If your students are really keen on sport, this is a good way to capture their interest and explore global citizenship. Find out more at: www. playsoccer-nonprofit.org.

Sheila is a professional trainer, regional subject advisor, ACT Council Member, partner in an educational consultancy business and is involved in the teaching of Citizenship and PSHE at The King Edward VI School, Morpeth, Northumberland.

Parliament Week 15-21 November and beyond

next years’ commemoration of the 100th anniversary of World War One. All Secondary schools in England should by now have received information about teaching resources and also opportunities for their students to go on a tour of the great battlefields – such as the Somme, Verdun and Fromelles. Pupils will be able to learn at first-hand about sacrifices made by troops and the personal stories of those involved in the war effort. It’s a good way to encourage intergenerational work too. Look for other events that will be happening near you through the special website that’s been set up by the Imperial War Museum. The website has a list of events and resources and includes podcasts, latest news and projects.

For more information see http:// www.1914.org/centenary.

If your school wants to get involved in activities connected to Parliament week, look no further than the Parliament Education Service.

They can provide a wide range of fun, educational resources to support young people’s understanding of Parliament and democracy.

Visit the website to find out about subscribing to the news service for teachers where monthly updates include details of upcoming events, programmes, and resources ofThe Congress has dedicated the fered by the Parliament Education European Local Democracy Week Service. Annual competitions and in 2013 to “active citizenship.” awards include the Speaker’s School Motivating citizens to take part in Council Awards, the ‘Lights, Camera, decision-making processes at the Parliament!’ film competition, and grassroots level will be at the centre the bbc Schools q&a competition. of the new edition of the European They also offer training days, semiLocal Democracy Week which will nars and resources to support the be organized on the theme of teaching of democracy and political “Active citizenship: voting, literacy in Citizenship, which look sharing, participating.” set to become much more important Dubravka Suica, the Political in the revised programmes of study.

Coordinator said, “Functioning For more see www.parliament. democracy at the grassroots level uk/education. implies active citizenship and this is a common responsibility of citizens and their elected representatives.

Interaction between citizens and local politicians is key in this respect – each part has to contribute.” For further details and information see the Don’t forget the support that’s website at: www.coe.int/t/congress/ available to you when preparing for demoweek.

European Local Democracy Week 14 –20 October

Preparing for the centenary of WWI

Get Inspired and Make a Difference in October 2013 with CSV Throughout October everyone will be encouraged to participate in voluntary action in their communities, events, services, charities all working together to inspire people to get involved. Check online for the latest information about voluntary opportunities in your area: www.csv.org.uk/ campaigns/csv-make-difference-day.

ng p i h c n u Rela Citizenshi Our annual conference was well attended in July with a wide variety of workshops and supporting materials available. If you didn’t manage to make it to the event, but would like to know more and access materials from the conference take a look at our new website. You can also listen to what Keynote Speaker David Blunkett had to say about the importance of Citizenship in schools and for young people. Chris Waller, act’s Professional Officer, ran a consultation workshop for members to steer our work on responding to the new national curriculum. These suggestions will feed into the act Council working group’s first meeting in September, when we will agree what support act will provide for members to help them plan ahead for 2014 and implementation of the new programmes of study. The plans and materials will be published on the website towards the end of September. Check out the new look website at: www.teachingcitizenship. org.uk.

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Editorial

Peace Education & Citizenship Anna Liddle, Peace Education Officer for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and Guest Editor, introduces the theme s Citizenship educators, we are always trying to get our young people to think critically about global issues. But how often do we get them specifically working on issues of peace? And what is ‘peace education’ anyway? The concept of ‘peace’ is open to interpretation, but it is largely agreed that it is more than just the absence of war. Peace can be seen as a condition in which human rights, justice and opportunity are available to all. Conflicts are resolved non-violently and there is equality among members of the society. Peace is as much about positive interaction between citizens as it is about governments’ actions.

This is where peace education comes in. Just like peace itself, it can take various forms. Educating about peace involves young people developing an awareness of past and current conflicts, treaties and other forms of peacemaking. Educating for peace is about pedagogical methods in the classroom and relationships in the school as a whole. Peaceful pedagogies promote active learning, peer cooperation, critical thinking and student-led investigation.

Students learn to work together and listen to each other – key peacemaking skills.

Peace can be seen as a condition in which human rights, justice and opportunity are available to all ... it is as much about positive interaction between citizens as it is about governments’ actions

Many of the above skills and topics sound a lot like the things we work on in Citizenship. But is Citizenship education synonymous with peace education? In the first article of our special theme, Charles Harlock examines the evolution of peace education and wonders whether the absence of the phrase ‘peace education’ really matters if Citizenship has similar effects?

Sara Hagel and Ellis Brooks explain how peer mediation in the playground can equip even very young children with the skills necessary to resolve conflict and build peace. At the opposite end of the scale, Tom Jackson discusses how survivors’ stories can enrich teaching about the Holocaust and allow young people to fully understand the impact of the horrors that were experienced.

In peace education, connections can be made between the seemingly small and the horrendously vast.

Colleagues in museums also discuss making connections. Diane Hawden, from the Peace Museum in Bradford, tells us all about how they educate, engage and inspire young people through the items that they hold in their collections. Visitors are given the chance to learn about past peacemakers and link this to how they can make a difference in their local areas.

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Tatsuya Tateishi, from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, describes the importance of young people hearing the testimonies of those who witnessed the bombing of Hiroshima and making links to their own lives.

Our first case study looks at Coventry, a City for Peace and Reconciliation.

Balbir Sohal outlines how young people are involved in numerous peace education projects, from tackling knife crime to meeting with Nobel Peace Laureates and linking with schools in Hiroshima!

Continuing the school linking theme, Andrea Mason reports on the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms project, and how international links can strengthen global understanding and encourage active citizenship.

Matt Jeziorski tells us about schools that have paid a visit to Palestine and the benefits it brought to students.

In our second case study, Principal Chris Gabbett and student Mollie Edwards share their thoughts as their school seeks to build a community along peace lines.

I hope that you will feel more confident in exploring issues of peace with your students. It is one of the ultimate global issues, and one that all the contributing authors argue is central to Citizenship education. ▪

Teaching Citizenship Special Editorial As the new Chair of ACT National Council I’d like to thank my predecessor Lee Jerome for the all the work he has done to move ACT Council and this journal forwards in the four years of his tenure, writes Karl Sweeney.

much greater influence on the work of the association. Lee has in particular ensured that this journal has a vibrant range of editors for each edition and helped strengthen its identity, overseeing a distinctive redesign.

I’m pleased to say that Lee will continue to have oversight of the journal as we enter this critical next phase in the evolution of Citizenship Education as a national curricufter 2005 Lee moved from Anglia lum subject – so please keep giving him and Ruskin University to London the rest of us on the Council your views and Metropolitan University and at ideas for the journal. that time became more involved Lee’s chairing of Council meetings has with act. During 2009 act crealways struck me as firm, purposeful and ated a new management structure above all focused unrelentingly on moving of Trustees and Council. David us on to greater levels of effectiveness and Barrs, act Chairman was keen impact. In particular he has encouraged oththat the members of act should er council members to take a much more achave more say in the running tive role in planning and delivering the act of their organisation, helping Annual Conference – the result of which was it to connect to the issues in what I think was one of our most successful Citizenship that matter to teachers and othevents ever, last year. His perceptive and ‘to ers. In creating the act Council the associa- the point’ manner has made Council meettion developed a middle tier forum between ings both coherent and business-like on the Trustees and the wider membership that is one hand and good-humoured and enjoymade up of representatives of the members. able on the other – no mean feat when you Lee Jerome became the first Chairman of consider the wide range of characters and act Council, with David Barrs remaining interests around the table. In short, Lee has act Chairman until 2011. been an immensely likeable and at the same As Chairman of act Council, Lee has time, authoritarian leader of the Council. enabled the wider membership to have a That’s what I call a hard act to follow. ▪

Lee has been an immensely likeable and at the same time, authoritative leader of the ACT Council

Peace Education

The evolution of modern peace education in UK schools There was a rich tradition of peace education projects in UK schools in the 1970s and 80s, such as the World Studies 8-13 Project, teaching critical thinking skills and global awareness. However, these declined with the introduction of the National Curriculum, writes Charles Harlock, until a subject called ‘Citizenship’ was introduced... here has been criticism that peace education in this country has effectively disappeared from the educational system, practiced only by a dwindling number of peace activists and that the teachers of the 1970s who were “like meteors across a dark sky radiating enthusiasm for peace education” 1 have burnt out. It is true that the term ‘peace education’ is no longer in widespread use in our formal educational structure but does that mean that the aims and objectives that fuelled the fire of those meteors have dissipated into nothingness?

When examining the role and place of peace education the major hurdle encountered is one of definition. This lies in the very nature of the constituent terms ‘peace’ and ‘education’, as there is no perfect way of defining either so there cannot be an ideal way of defining peace education. Placing a fence around the term or trying to create a single, concise ‘accepted’ definition counteracts what it stands for, because as can be seen from the many varied definitions offered by those actively involved, the diverse nature of peace education reflects the diversity of our world 2. What can be said is that in its broadest sense it’s a study of human behaviour and human experience, past, present and future.

It is true that the term ‘peace education’ is no longer in widespread use in our formal educational structure but does that mean that [its] aims and objectives have dissipated into nothingness?

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But however we define it there has been continuing acceptance that the overall objectives of peace education broadly conform to those detailed by Hicks in 1983 (see illustration on facing page, adapted from Studying Peace: The Educational Rationale).

Modern peace education in uk schools has involved many non-governmental organisations, peace activists, and bodies within the formal education system. Below I will consider two projects that, in my opinion, had a significant impact on the current position of peace education in the uk schools and finally give my understanding of where we are now.

The Schools Council for Curriculum and Examination (scce) Humanities Curriculum Project Established in 1964 scce was primarily concerned with developing the curriculum through progressive, child-centred teaching methods and over its lifetime developed a series of pioneering projects in partnership with other educational establishments.

Amongst these were projects that had relevance to the development of peace education in schools both because of their content and the innovative manner in which their teaching materials were presented.

The Humanities Curriculum project was established in January 1967 and was jointly funded by scce and the Nuffield Foundation. Under the directorship of Lawrence Stenhouse the project set out to cover “aspects of human experience where the traditional boundaries of subjects such as English, history and religious education overlap” 3.

The project content covered seven controversial topics; War and Society, Education, The Family, Relations between the Sexes, People and Work, Poverty, Law and Order and Living in Cities.

Charles Harlock is a PhD student at the University of Coventry, currently writing up his thesis on the evolution of peace education in UK schools.

Email: charles.harlock@ntlworld.com.

Skills 1. Critical thinking 2. Cooperation 3. Empathy 4. Assertiveness 5. Conflict resolution 6. Political literacy

Education for Peace: A Visual Summary Knowledge (Issues) 5. Gender 1. Conflict 6. Race 2. Peace 7. Ecology 3. Justice 4. Futures 4. Power Various scales: personal, local, national, global

Teaching information consisted of a teacher’s handbook, a student’s book, photographs, audiotapes, records and recommended films. The project leaders acknowledged that the material supplied was inevitably selective but the intention was that as a school developed the project so pupils and teachers would make their own contribution to the core material.

The project used discussion rather than instruction as a primary teaching method and the role of the teacher was seen to be that of ‘a neutral chairman’; they should not use their authority as teachers as a platform for promoting their own views.

Students would take responsibility for their own learning and the process would aim to avoid any form of teacher bias affecting their conclusions. Students would gain the self-assurance to express their own opinions, improve their skills in critical thinking, recognise that others have valid, different viewpoints and opinions, and develop the skills of cooperating with others. The link to current Citizenship education practices is obvious.

There can be little doubt that the Humanities Project was enthusiastically

Attitudes 1. Self respect 2. Respect for others 3. Ecological concerns 4. Open mindedness 5. Vision / 6. Justice

received by the teaching profession and by 1972 was in use in over 800 British schools 4.

Between 1970 and 1972 alone over 400 teachers attended centralised training courses and although funding for the project formally ceased in 1972 work continued and in March 1975 new national training and support programme was established, funded in part by an allowance from the Nuffield Foundation’s share of the royalties from the published materials 5.

World Studies 8-13 Project Established in 1951 by the All Party Group for World Government (apgwg), the One World Trust (owt) was a charitable organisation created to promote relationships with global institutions. In 1970 they set up a committee tasked to create a curriculum development project. In September 1972 they appointed Robin Richardson as Director of the World Studies Project. Under Richardson’s indefatigable leadership the project ran many highly successful residential teacher and sixth form conferences, published Learning for Change in World Society – a practical handbook on teaching world studies, Debate and Decision: schools in a world of change,

Students would take responsibility for their own learning and the process would aim to avoid any form of teacher bias affecting their conclusions

Peace Education The evolution of modern peace education ... / Charles Harlock a handbook on in-service training and Ideas into Action that detailed courses and projects running in schools. These were accompanied by a set of four booklets of classroom teaching materials for use by students. The delivery method focussed on debate, discussion and activity within the classroom with the teacher tasked to “create a classroom climate of mutual interest and support in which the pupils themselves accept a share of the responsibility” 6.

In April 1979 the Trust appointed Simon Fisher as Field Officer, working alongside Richardson and when Richardson left in late 1979 Fisher became Director. It is clear from archival records that future funding for the project was becoming a problem and it was at this point that another influential figure appeared on the scene.

In 1979 David Hicks had approached the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust for funding to create a Centre for Peace Studies at St Martin’s College of Higher Education in Lancaster. The Trust suggested that Hicks and Fisher submit a joint funding application for a world studies curriculum project.

In September 1980 this became the World Studies 8-13 Project. Work began with 22 pilot schools, mainly in Avon and Cumbria.

In-service training courses covering curriculum planning, learning objectives, enquiry based topic work and experiential learning, focussed on four themes, ‘Getting on with Others’, ‘Learning about other Peoples’, ‘Understanding the News’ and ‘The World Tomorrow’.

In its lifetime (1980-89) the project ran many workshops, in-service training courses and national conferences that ensured both the effective dissemination of the practical outcomes from the classroom and also that a global perspective in the curriculum was kept firmly in the educational spotlight. The project also produced two influential teacher resource books, an Interim Guide in 1982, followed by World Studies 8-13: a teacher’s handbook in 1985. The handbook covered curriculum planning, a wide range of classroom activities and a section on in-service activities. In 1987 work began on a second handbook Making Global Connections: a World Studies Workbook, edited by Hicks and Miriam Steiner and published in 1989.

Where are we now?

Before the introduction of the National Curriculum in the early 1990s, lea s and their schools had a free hand in determining what would be taught and many had some aspect of peace education in their curriculum. This was to end as the rigid structure of the curriculum and the added burden of statutory testing gave teachers little time for work outside of the curriculum.

Membership of organisations such as Teachers for Peace and the Peace Education Network declined leaving the promotion of peace education in the hands of a small number of organisations that were unable to make any significant impact getting peace education into the mainstream education arena.

The position was to change in 2002 when following the publication of the Crick Report 7 in 1998 a new subject ‘Citizenship’ was added to the National Curriculum.

In the report Citizenship was described as having three strands “social and moral responsibility, community involvement and political literacy.” Further support for these concepts came in 2005 when the dfes re-issued Developing a Global Dimension in the School Curriculum 8 that set out that the school curriculum should: “contribute to the development of pupils’ sense of identity through knowledge and understanding of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural heritages of Britain’s diverse society and of the local, national, European, Commonwealth and global dimensions of their lives”. Various reviews have since developed Citizenship so that pupils are expected to develop the knowledge and skills required to make a positive informed, contribution as active and responsible citizens. They explore questions about democracy, how we are governed and organised, justice, rights and responsibilities and the inequalities that continue to bedevil our society. They do this by learning to work together to understand and relate to the challenges facing their cultures, communities and environment led by teachers that are prepared risk the challenge to their ‘authority’ that this entails.

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Citizenship continues the rich tradition of helping children to develop awareness of their responsibilities to the future development of their societies, led by teachers who realise that ‘learning’ is much more than ‘telling’

The two programmes I briefly described earlier helped to develop awareness in children of their responsibilities to the future development of their societies. They were led by large numbers of teachers who recognised that ‘learning’ is much more than ‘telling’ and that education is more than just providing the skills for wealth creation and the potential for the abuse of power that comes with it.

Citizenship continues that rich tradition and now has the added authority of being embedded in the curriculum. Its hold may be tenuous, once again subject to the political winds of change and yet as one Citizenship teacher so eloquently says; “As a subject, Citizenship has the power to motivate and educate young people into becoming thoughtful, active citizens who engage with, and participate in, public life. It is not enough to assume that young people will somehow acquire this knowledge without being educated in it.” 9 Conclusion This article set out to examine in a small way the evolution of modern peace education in our schools yet nowhere do we see the term ‘peace education’ mentioned or even alluded to in any of the project titles, aims or objectives. I would ask whether that is so important?

I risk the ire of many of my peace education colleagues to argue it is not.

I risk the umbrage of Citizenship teachers to suggest that Citizenship is peace education in another guise but then peace education has worn many guises: humanities, world studies, development education, global education, multicultural education to name but a few.

Surely the title is less important, it’s the end result that counts? That young adults are aware of their responsibilities to themselves, the people, communities and environment around them, equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to challenge the status quo in order to create a better, more peaceful world and that we have teachers prepared to assume the responsibility of guiding them along that uncertain, complex path? ▪

I risk the umbrage of Citizenship teachers to suggest that Citizenship is peace education in another guise but then peace education has worn many guises

Footnotes 1. Harris, I. A.: Peace Education Commission News Letter. International Peace Research Association. July 2007. Oslo. pp. 6-7 2. Enter the term “the definition of peace education” into any internet search engine to find the wide variety of definitions and opinions about the nature and extent of peace education to understand the confusion that the term can create. You will also find Development Education, World Studies, Global Studies, Futures Education, Human Rights Education, Multicultural Education and International Education and others all turning up in the same search just to add to the confusion.

3. Stenhouse, L. The Humanities Curriculum Project: The Rationale. Theory into Practice 1971 vol:10 iss:3 pp:154 -162 4. Parkinson, J.P. and MacDonald B. (1972): Teaching Race Neutrally. Race and Class Vol. XIII, Iss. 3. pp.299-313 5. Ruddock, J. (1976): Schools Council Working Paper 56. Dissemination of innovation: the Humanities Curriculum Project. Methuen Educational. London. p.126 6. Fisher, S. Hicks, D. (1985): World studies 8-13: A Teacher’s Handbook. Oliver and Boyd.

Edinburgh. p.14 7. dfee, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (1998): Education for citizenship and the teaching of democracy in schools: Final report of the Advisory Group on Citizenship London.

8. dfes 1409-2005DOC-EN: Developing a Global Dimension in the School Curriculum. dfes Glasgow. p.5 9. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2011/apr/14/ why-schools-need-citizenship.

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Peace Education

Peace-building through Peer Mediation Peer Mediation uses the lauded Citizenship skills of communication, critical thinking and active engagement to create more peaceful school communities argue Sara Hagel and Ellis Brooks. magine you are at school, and you have just had a blazing row with your best friend. You feel hurt and angry. You don’t know if your friend wants to know you. You don’t know if you want to know her. What do you do now? You could tell a teacher, you could ignore her from now on, you could go back and say you’re really sorry (but you’re not sure you are really, you’re still mad).

What if, instead, you could talk to your friend in a safe way, get everything you want to say out, and find out why she’s been acting the way she has? That’s where peer mediators come in. Peer mediators would sit down with you and your friend, listen to both sides of the story and help you agree a solution you can both live with. They won’t make you do anything. They won’t take sides.

They won’t judge you. Instead, they offer a chance to find a real solution independently of adults.

But who are these peer mediators?

Where did they come from? There are peer mediators in primary and secondary schools around the UK and the world, who, using the same skills as professional mediators, are helping other young people resolve conflict.

‘‘

When the teachers don’t know what to do, we can help them peer mediator

’’

Supporting Peer Mediation in Schools Cresst (Conflict Resolution in Sheffield Schools Training) and Peacemakers are two organisations that offer training in Peer Mediation. Peacemakers is the working name of the West Midlands Quaker Peace 12 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 37 / Autumn 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

Education Project, which, since 1984, has been promoting peaceful relationships in schools, building skills in emotional intelligence and conflict resolution, and facilitating processes that support peace in schools such as restorative approaches.

Cresst has been supporting schools in South Yorkshire to establish Peer Mediation schemes since 2003, establishing a selfsustaining whole school approach in 28 schools. Both organisations are part of the Peer Mediation Network, which brings together educators and organisations to share best-practice around Peer Mediation nation-wide.

Peer Mediators need confidence in their skills. King Edward vii Secondary School in Sheffield received training for Year 10 peer mediators in 2012, and the students said the skills proved very applicable: “I’ve learnt how to diffuse arguments calmly, without escalating the problem any more.”

“I have learned a lot, especially how to handle people arguing and to encourage them to come up with a solution themselves.

I also feel I have learnt more about conflict in general.”

“It has been really helpful to learn how to deal with situations like these and also you could use it outside of school if needed.”

Arbourthorne Community Primary School At nearby Arbourthorne Community Primary School, Peer Mediation has been operating since 2005, when cresst trained staff and young people as part of a whole school approach. Since then, the school has been largely self-sustaining, though they attend the annual Peer Mediation conference and run an evaluation of the impact felt in school.

“They love it,” says Michelle Fenech, Behaviour Support supervisor at

Sara Hagel is Director at Peacemakers, email: info@peacemakers.org.uk. Ellis Brooks is Training and Development Manager at CRESST and was previously an English teacher, email: admin@cresst.org.uk.

Arbourthorne. “It’s a bit of status and they find it very self-affirming.”

Paige, a mediator in Year 5 described a problem she mediated. “Everyone likes the same skipping rope and kept falling out, so we talked to the people who argued about who was using it. We did ‘glide’, then they agreed to stay friends… they took it in turns with three people - one at each end” ‘GLIDE’ stands for : Greet, Listen, Ideas, Decision and End It is the acronym CRESST uses to help peer mediators learn the stages to go through, stages that are similar to those used by Peacemakers – and in school programmes throughout much of the world: l Establish each participant’s independent consent to participate and to keep the proceedings confidential (Greet) l Each participant tells her/his own view of the problem (Listen) l Mediator assists the participants to communicate together to understand the solvable parts of their problem (Ideas) l Mediator guides participants to generate and describe possible solutions, and to negotiate a resolution that they both/all can accept (Decision) l Affirmation and closure (End)

‘‘

It has been really helpful to learn how to deal with situations like these and also you could use it outside of school peer mediator

’’

Shannay, also a Year 5 pupil, said, “By the time you’re finished helping, they usually are happy. You can say to your partner, “Good job!’”

Paige’s mediation partner, Chelsea said “It’s made me more focused and calm – I used to be rushed. Now I think about problems.

I feel more confident.”

“We’re more caring about other people,” Paige added. “And the skills can be good in other situations. If we weren’t peer mediators maybe we’d be the ones going to it!”

Evidence of impact Peer Mediation has a very high rate of success according to the students who utilise it, with 94% of disputants saying it helped them. 95% say that they think mediation makes their school a better place. Staff report that it helps them do their job, reducing the number of incidents that require their involvement. It has been identified as the most effective peersupport mechanism to reduce bullying by the Department for Education. In Sheffield alone, ofsted has mentioned Peer Mediation positively in 32 separate inspection reports with tangible benefits across the whole school. Research backs up this finding with Johnson and Johnson in 1996 finding “conflict resolution and Peer Mediation programmes do seem

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Peace Education Peace-building through Peer Mediation / Sara Hagel & Ellis Brooks

to be effective in teaching students integrative negotiation and mediation procedures; after training, students tend to use these conflict strategies, which generally leads to constructive outcomes; and students’ success in resolving their conflicts constructively tends to result in reducing the numbers of student-student conflicts referred to teachers and administrators, which, in turn, tends to reduce suspensions.”

Organisations like cresst, Peacemakers and other members of the Peer Mediation Network work with schools to set-up Peer Mediation schemes. We believe that a Whole School Approach to conflict is key.

Peer Mediators will be out on a limb if the school as a whole is not trying to find winwin solutions when conflict arises.

In Sheffield alone, OFSTED has mentioned Peer Mediation positively in 32 separate inspection reports with tangible benefits across the whole school

Kings Norton Primary School For Kings Norton Primary School in Birmingham, Peer Mediation is a key strand in their whole-school approach to creative conflict resolution. They are striving to build better relationships at all levels through the school with the help of Peacemakers. The Senior Management canvassed adults and children about their experience in school as part of their commitment to social and emotional learning and found from the adults that lunchtime and break time were hot spots for incidents of conflict. There were many incidents of falling out, boisterous play, lack of creative play and a dearth of compassion for isolated/friendless children. The children reported feelings of frustration when an adult takes sides without understanding the problem properly. They often felt as though 14 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 37 / Autumn 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

they were not listened to, frequently being forced to apologise prematurely or unnecessarily.

Part of Kings Norton’s consequent vision of building and maintaining healthy relationships was that children have the skills and confidence to address issues of conflict for themselves, with trained peer mediators being a strand of this. The Peer Mediation scheme has been in place now since 2008 and the impact they have noticed is of children resolving issues with little or no adult (or other) intervention as well as less involvement of senior staff in dealing with behaviour issues.

Mediators themselves seem to appreciate this autonomy: “I help them because they don’t have to wait to tell a teacher and that is when more people can get involved” and even more confidently! “We help people because when the teachers don’t know what to do, we can help them.”

Citizenship skills Whilst Peer Mediation may seem at first to belong in the domain of pastoral support, the skills required to carry it out effectively are essentially those valued by Citizenship education. Peer Mediators require communication and facilitation skills, enquiry, critical thinking and a commitment to take action. They ask questions that help disputants articulate their position, and summarise the main points fairly. They need to recognise bias and identify what is important to each party. They must take account of different viewpoints without becoming an advocate for one side, not that this is always easy: “The hardest thing

is having to deal with people who want different things”, said a Kings Norton Year Six mediator.

By echoing key points and asking enabling questions, they aim to ensure that both parties’ needs are discussed. As they seek to find a tenable solution, they and the people in conflict are grappling with the rights and responsibilities they each have.

The number one reason peer mediators give for volunteering their time is “helping people” or “making a difference”. “I think it really cool because we help not make things wrong and also fun even though we miss our lunch.”

Mediators are engaged with the needs of their peers and community, and sometimes they take on other initiatives in consequence. Earlier this year, it was Paige at Arbourthorne who realised that, with the bad weather keeping students inside at lunchtime, conflicts were happening more.

Paige organised a competition for all of Year 3 to help them feel occupied; the girls designed posters and the boys designed a football.

Peer mediators are not necessarily the ‘good’ students or outgoing children. At English Martyrs’ Catholic Primary School in Birmingham, one mediator had been very shy and quiet in class, yet gained greatly in self-confidence through the training and was a not only a successful mediator but also much more confident in class as a result.

In addition, students who previously had been aggressive or disruptive frequently become particularly effective peer mediators (Cunningham et. al. 1998, Lupton-Smith et.al. 1996).

There is evidence that the skills of mediation and creative conflict resolution spread beyond the trained mediators to the wider student population, through participating in mediations. A common complaint of mediators is that the number of mediations drops off through the school year. Upon investigation, teachers reported that this was because more children on the playground were using the skills themselves to resolve conflicts, without recourse to mediators.

Although Peer Mediation schemes are common throughout the uk (and internationally), it is also true that the take up is far higher in primary schools. It is a shame that more secondary schools are not utilising the skills that students are bringing with them and setting up their own Peer Mediation schemes, seeing the benefits to both the mediators and the wider school community.

If Citizenship is more than a set of knowledge, but about being actively engaged, Peer Mediation provides an opportunity for students to apply and hone skills in a way that strengthens relationships across their community. For schools looking for support in setting up and training Peer Mediation, see cresst.org.uk, peacemakers. org.uk or peermediationnetwork.org.uk for providers near you. ▪ Reference David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson (1996) ‘Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation Programs in Elementary and Secondary Schools: A Review of the Research.’ Review of Educational Research, 66 (4).

Peer Mediators require communication and facilitation skills, enquiry, critical thinking and a commitment to take action

Pictured above: Peer Mediators at Carfield Primary

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Peace Education

Tom Jackson is Education Officer for the Holocaust Educational Trust and was a teacher for 16 years.

Testimony in the classroom More than ‘another guest speaker’ Tom Jackson explains how survivor testimony can enrich the experience of learning about conflict. He argues that eye-witness accounts humanise those caught up in conflicts and genocide, such as the Holocaust. By hearing a testimony first-hand, students are able to gain a deeper understanding of the events and even make connections to their own lives.

Holocaust survivors to schools and colleges across the UK and this work is based on the fact that survivor testimony is fully and differentially accessible to students of all ages and abilities. In the academic year 2011-2012, the Outreach programme was delivered in 409 schools, with approximately 59,000 students taking part in the programme. During this year, 35 survivors shared their testimony in schools and colleges across the uk, with the average audience size being 144 students per session. cross the world, first-person surBefore beginning the process of invitvivor testimony is regarded as an ing a survivor speaker into the classroom integral aspect of good Holocaust teachers will obviously give consideration to education. It is almost axiomatic some fundamental questions: what makes that hearing first-hand testimony survivor testimony different to other forms from a Holocaust survivor is ‘a of learning about conflict? How can survivor good thing’. But we must be caretestimony contribute to classroom educaful with this. Although there is tion? How can survivor testimony help undoubtedly an intrinsic value deliver aspects of Citizenship education? for students in hearing testimony What will my students gain from hearing a we must ensure that this increassurvivor? Are there any potentially problemingly rare opportunity is fully atic issues to be aware of? Or even: why not integrated into meaningful and effective circumvent the work involved in organising Holocaust education. This article aims to a guest speaker and simply use an extract of explore the importance of survivor testifilmed testimony? mony in the classroom and its relevance to Clearly, the first thing to acknowledge peace education. Although the focus will be is that filmed testimony, of which a great on Holocaust survivors, the points raised are deal is available 1, is a valuable resource. applicable to survivors of other conflicts and However, students will see a fair amount of thus are likely to be relevant to Citizenship filmed talking heads throughout their school teachers tackling international conflict and life. The presence of a Holocaust survivor rights abuses. helps to make a distant event from the past The Holocaust was a vast, complex immediate and compelling. Research referseries of events and the teaching of it has ring to primary school children observed, the potential to allow students to explore a ‘[Teachers] commented positively on the range of human behaviours and challengvalue of these [Holocaust survivor] speakers ing social and moral issues. However, due in helping the pupils understand that the to the sheer scale of the Holocaust and the Holocaust was real and not just another stomaterial available, teachers need to carefully ry.’ 2 Here, then, lies one of the fundamental select resources that are accessible to their benefits of first-hand testimony: the past is students. A primary aspect of the work of made real. History is given a face and a voice, the Holocaust Educational Trust is to bring a personal experience to which students

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What makes survivor testimony different to other forms of learning about conflict? How can survivor testimony contribute to classroom education?

can relate. When giving their testimony Holocaust survivors talk about their lives before the war; their families, friends, schools, likes and dislikes, things which resonate with students and which therefore provide a link. Sometimes survivors show photographs, and a school photo, for example, is something to which all students can relate.

Building on this, students are able to learn about history from an individual perspective.

One of the fundamentals of good Holocaust education 3 is that all those involved in the Holocaust must be rehumanised. This can be challenging for students but allowing them to be “in the presence of someone who has experienced the unimaginable can create genuine empathy in the classroom.” 4 After hearing a Holocaust survivor one student was moved to write: “what you had to say about why we learn about the Holocaust and your own personal story, your family past and present, was touching and inspiring, and brought a very human element to what we pupils might neglect as a distant event in history.” In other words, this student was brought to the realisation that the Holocaust (and thus by extension any other persecution or form of intolerance) happened to ordinary people.

For many students meeting a Holocaust survivor could be the first time they have knowingly met a Jewish person. This presents an opportunity for Citizenship teachers to explore the process of religious stereotyping (and from there other stereotypes). The variety of experiences of Holocaust survivors (in any of the range of Nazi camps, as hidden children, in ghettos, in coming to the uk on the Kindertransport etc.) can help to dispel stereotypes not only about the experience of the Holocaust but also what it means to “be British”. The diversity of national, regional, ethnic, cultural and religious identities in the uk can thus be acknowledged and

One of the fundamentals of good Holocaust education is that all those involved in the Holocaust must be rehumanised.

This ... can create genuine empathy in the classroom.

Pictured above and overleaf: Students visiting Auschwitz, May 2013.

Photos: Blake Ezra.

the need for understanding and tolerance emphasised. It is not unusual to hear a Holocaust survivor explaining how proud they are to be British and, as part of their testimony, explaining to students the role played by Britain or British people in their rescue (eg. through the Kindertransport) their liberation (primarily from BergenBelsen) and/or as a place of refuge after the war.

It is this aspect of survivors’ stories – escape, refuge and rebuilding lives – that provides Citizenship teachers with an individualised, personal resource through which students can discuss and debate the issues surrounding refugees: what it means to be a refugee; the responsibilities – moral as well as legal – placed on national governments; the problems inherent in integrating refugees into established communities. From there it is possible to diversify the discussion and look at the treatment of minority groups. An obvious example in the uk would be the portrayal in the media of gypsies and traveller people. It is extremely unlikely that students will have the opportunity to hear from a Roma or Sinti (gypsy) survivor of Nazi persecution 5, but eyewitness testimony from a Holocaust survivor allows students to better understand the Porajmos and thus creates the opportunity to humanise a local traveller or Gypsy group.

Understandably perhaps, students bring a range of misconceptions and generalisations to their study of history, religion, cultural and ethnic groups and so on. Meeting a Holocaust survivor is a means by which these misconceptions and generalisations can be explored, evaluated and dispelled.

Coincidentally, for many students it may also be the first time they have met and talked with an elderly person outside their family. Not only does this humanise the elderly in our society but students can

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Peace Education Testimony in the classroom / Tom Jackson

see and hear how refugees can contribute to society in valuable and meaningful ways. At the same time, particularly in a q&a session with a survivor, students are able to explore the effects and perhaps, with due sensitivity, long-term impact of traumatic events. Here, of course, teachers need to be sensitive to their students and be aware that, in some cases, there may be students present who are themselves victims of traumatic events.

Knowledge of the audience is important.

Most Holocaust survivors prefer to talk to large groups of students – an entire year group is common. Understandably teachers can be concerned about the practicalities of this. A perhaps unwitting comparison can be made to school assemblies. However, these words from the Learning for Life Coordinator at a school in Surrey are the norm: “I just wanted to thank you again for your testimony last week to our students. The girls got so much out of it and I’ve honestly never seen year 10 so focussed and interested in a talk. Your talk was so interesting for staff and students alike and you delivered it in a manner that gave the students insight into the atrocities of the Holocaust, without upsetting them. As people, I find you both to be inspirational role models for the girls and I do hope that in the future you might be able to visit us again.”

So, hearing first-hand testimony from a Holocaust survivor can help students (and teachers) to better understand the human impact of prejudice and intolerance.

Students are able to make meaningful and powerful connections to their own lives and experiences. Minority groups of all stripes and hues are seen in a more positive light as being contributors to the local and national

‘‘

your own personal story … brought a very human element to what we pupils might neglect as a distant event in history

’’

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warp and weft of society. This in turn helps to promote tolerance and respect. These are the fundamental building blocks of peace and essential to Citizenship education.

Perhaps the final words should go to an ex-student who in an email sent recently to a one of the Trust’s Holocaust survivor speakers wrote: “I am currently in Western Australia on a journey across the world...

Maybe I wouldn’t be travelling here now if your journey hadn’t taught me how much we value life... If I can grow older to be half the respectable, understanding man you still are despite your run-ins with death, I shall forever be a happy man.” ▪ Footnotes 1. The Holocaust Educational Trust’s Recollections – Eyewitnesses Remember the Holocaust is available free of charge and contains 18 eyewitness testimonies from all victim groups as well as from rescuers, aid givers and liberators. An accompanying interactive dvd-rom contains innovative learning activities which cover a number of Citizenship requirements.

2. Maitles, H. and Cowan, P. (1999) Teaching the Holocaust in primary schools in Scotland: modes, methodology and content in Educational Review, vol. 51 no. 3 pp. 263-272.

3. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance provides comprehensive guidelines. See their website: www.holocaustremembrance.com.

4. www.holocaustremembrance.com/ node/319 (accessed 17/6/2013 12.05pm).

5. This persecution is referred to as Porajmos (literally ‘devouring’ or ‘destruction’) by Roma, as opposed to ‘Holocaust’.

Tatsuya Tateishi was born in Hiroshima in 1952. He has worked as Assistant Director of General Affairs of Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation and is currently of Deputy Director at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

The legacy of the A-bomb The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum The following pair of articles focus on peace museums in the UK and abroad – which are fantastic resources when discussing peace issues with young people.

Tatsuya Tateishi explains how the use of Hiroshima survivor testimony can inspire young people to consider the importance of peace in their own lives. he Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum was established in 1955 and is close to the site where the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945 devastating the city and killing over 140,000 by the end of the year. It examines the history of Hiroshima before the bombing, the development of the bomb and the damage it caused. The museum has a number of different artefacts such as possessions left by victims and photographs. It also looks at our current nuclear age and international efforts for peace.

The four main pillars of our programmes, including educational elements, are: 1. Direct and personal exposure to A-bomb testimony Students on school field trips listen to A-bomb testimony; and Peace Education Programmes for elementary, junior and senior high students.

2. Communicating the factual reality of the A-bombing Publishing workbooks and handbooks for peace education; A-bomb exhibitions at home and abroad; loans/donations of relevant materials from our collections.

accounts will have also had cancer, an after effect of exposure to the radiation from the bomb.

As of April this year, we have approximately 30 hibakusha serving as official A-bomb storytellers.

From April 2012 to March 2013, we arranged testimonies for about 3. Welcoming visitors from 134,000 people in approximately Japan and abroad; helping them 1,500 organisations. understand the reality of the A-bomb testimony depicting the A-bombing unimaginably horrifying conditions English seminars to teach the facts created by the atomic bomb and the of the Hiroshima bombing. many obstacles the survivors were forced to overcome offers a valuable 4. Communicating the desire for opportunity for young people who total abolition of nuclear weapons have never experienced war to Peace Club for junior and senior contemplate the inhumanity of high school students, Kids Peace nuclear weapons and the importance Camp, and Children’s Peace Drawing of peace.

Competition.

In addition to meeting hibakusha we also run a Peace Educational The most important and best-known Programme for elementary, junior educational program of the Outreach and senior high students. The main Division is providing opportunities purpose is to deepen the students’ for pupils and students from Japan understanding of the facts of the and abroad to listen directly to A-bombing and to promote the A-bomb testimony from hibakusha abolition of nuclear weapons. We (A-bomb survivors). also want to help them think about Survivors typically explain peace in their everyday lives and about their lives before the bombing encourage them to get involved in and then proceed to describe what other peace-related programmes. happened to them on the day. Often To support the schools, we send they were children or young people, a trained lecturer to each school, similar in age to their audience. drawn from among our Hiroshima They speak of their houses falling Peace Volunteers who guide tours on top of them, desperately trying of the museum and from our recital to locate relatives in the rubble, volunteers who perform readings of peeling skin and the fires that raged A-bomb testimonies. for many hours after the blast. Many This programme is currently also speak of a flash, brighter than available only to schools in the City the sun as the bomb exploded, and of Hiroshima. However, we hope the black radioactive rain that later to expand it to students visiting fell. Several of those giving their Hiroshima on school field trips. ▪ www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Autumn 2013 / Issue 37 / Teaching Citizenship / 19

Peace Education

Diane Hadwen joined the Peace Museum in 2011. She is a qualified teacher with interests in the humanities, citizenship and diversity.

Email: diane.hadwen@peacemuseum.org.uk.

Routes to Peace The Peace Museum Diane Hadwen from the Peace Museum based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, writes about how their museum includes young people at all levels, including their peer education programme. he Peace Museum uk is an independent and accredited Museum based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It is the only museum dedicated to the history and (often hidden or untold) peacemakers, peace-making, social reformers and peace movements in the uk.

We aim to engage, educate and inspire through using items in our collection.

In addition to exhibitions we: • offer learning and education activities (based on our collection and exhibitions) • provide opportunities for interaction and dialogue • work with all sectors of the community, schools, colleges and universities, focusing on local, national and international people, events and stories • pose questions about choices, equality, diversity, cohesion, conflict, peace and non-violence • ask that individuals and groups consider peace and peace-making as a challenge • encourage voice, action and positive citizenship • ask big questions – “What did they do? What would you do? What story will you tell?”

What do we do with schools?

We offer support for learning across the curriculum (particularly Citizenship, the Humanities, Art, English and Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (smsc) development).

Schools visit the Museum and engage in sessions using items from our collections. We work in schools with pupils and teachers, attempting to build longitudinal relationships with and across schools. Pupils who started work with us in year four are still working with us going into year 10! This embeds the work in the life of the school.

We have a Peacemaker peer education project which involves pupils becoming experts on an aspect of the collection and/or a place on our Routes to Peace Trail and then becoming peer educators.

Back in school the Peacemakers work with staff and the school councils to implement measures to help their schools to be more peaceful and cohesive, sometimes they initiate things like a school peace tree, sometimes they ring up and ask for a speaker at an assembly or to the school council!

We are part of the partnership that has organised the Routes to Peace cross agency/community peace season and which culminated in the ‘Big Sing’ for Peace in Bradford’s Centenary Square, involving some 500 children from local schools.

What resources do we produce?

Our resources address the National Curriculum programmes of study, community cohesion and smsc

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development. Teaching resources available from the Museum include: • Routes to Peace Heritage Trail and Aurasma app with simple information about peace-making, philanthropists and local Bradford reformers.

• The Peace Challenge – a peer education project, looking at Bradford as a city of peace, social reformers, philanthropists, peacemaking and peacemakers.

• Sport, Courage, Peace and Friendship – teachers’ booklet and cd-rom, stories, pupil resources, detailed lesson plans and activities, suitable for ages 6-16.

What projects are in the pipeline?

‘Choices Then and Now’ is our big new project, which will commence in 2013-14. The project will include training, lesson plans and resources designed to explore the concept of choices, then and now, looking at very different responses to the same situation and exploring the consequences of those choices for example in 1914, conscription in 1916, 9/11, 7/7 and 2013 postWoolwich. The resource balances the often ‘untold stories’ of peacemakers and attempts to solve conflict, with the better known stories of ‘the Great War’ and very recent controversial issues. Keep an eye on our website for the latest news: http://www. peacemuseum.org.uk. ▪ Pictured above: The Routes to Peace ‘Big Sing’ finale in Bradford’s Centenary Square – in which some 500 children from local schools took part

Balbir Sohal is the Learning & Achievement Consultant (Citizenship & Equalities) in Coventry, and is also a member of the ACT Council. Email: balbir.sohal@coventry.gov.uk.

Coventry: City of Peace & Reconciliation How we involve our young people Coventry has a reputation as a city of peace and reconciliation, but how does this transpire at a local level and more specifically in schools? Balbir Sohal reports on how Coventry schools have been getting involved in peace education projects for a number of years and the benefits for all involved. f one glances at the welcome sign whilst driving into Coventry, it states boldly: “Coventry, the City of Peace and Reconciliation”. In the aftermath of the Second World War the City of Coventry did not lose hope but re-imagined and rebuilt itself. Coventry holds an international reputation as a City of Peace and Reconciliation; however, locally this reputation often goes ignored. The theme of Peace and Reconciliation has relevance and potential for the whole area given its historical roots, as well as links to faith and specifically to the Cathedral. It also comes with the challenge of making it meaningful and relevant for Coventry’s diverse communities today and in the future – translating its international reputation into a reality. The following case study outlines the various initiatives over the years that have tried to promote this legacy to our children and young people.

Peace Education can be viewed as a controversial issue, as we are talking about empowering our children and young people to question what type of world they want. Unicef, one of the key promoters of peace education defines peace education as: “The process of promoting the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to bring about behaviour change that will enable children, youth and adults to prevent conflict and violence, both overt and structural; to resolve conflict peacefully; and to create the conditions conducive to peace, whether at an interpersonal, inter-group, national or international level”. Peace Education therefore entails learning about peace as well as learning for peace. Learning about peace means acquiring the knowledge and understanding of what peace is, whereas learning for peace means learning the skills, attitudes and values needed in order to contribute to peace and maintain it. Martin Luther

King Jr. puts this quite succinctly: “Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” A call to active citizenship!

The current Citizenship curriculum allows the development of key concepts (democracy, justice, rights and responsibilities, identities and diversity) that children need to understand and key processes and skills (critical thinking and enquiry, advocacy and representation, taking informed and responsible action), therefore this subject is an ideal vehicle in which Peace Education can be explored. So, how has Coventry developed Peace Education in a way which is central to the life experience of children and young people and what opportunities are offered to our peacemakers of the future?

Coventry Projects The African proverb rings true in that it does take a whole community to educate and raise a child.

Partnership work has been vital in bringing the message of peace to our schools. The Education and Learning Service has worked in partnership with a number of statutory and non statutory bodies within the city over the years: • Community Safety Partnership team and West Midlands Police – work around Hate Crime has resulted in a number of campaigns that have been driven and developed by young people. This includes creating resources such as ‘I’m Hating it!’ , which examines disability hate crime and ‘45 mm’ – a project tackling knife crime.

• Coventry Cathedral – supporting student conferences, commemorating national events, hosted the National Holocaust Memorial Day in 2009, hosting the Anne Frank Trust uk Exhibition twice, developing the Youth for Fair Trade Resource pack with young people in partnership with Y Care International.

• Coventry Multi-faith Forum – schools celebrating Inter-faith week and Coventry Positive Images Festival which has been running for over fifteen years.

• Coventry University Centre for Peace & Reconciliation Studies – schools were involved in a public exhibition called ‘Playing for Peace’ focusing on the role of sport in peace (leading up

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Peace Education Coventry: City of Peace & Reconciliation / Balbir Sohal to the 2012 Olympics). The exhibition was awarded the prestigious Olympic Truce ‘Inspire Mark’, for its work promoting the principles of the Olympic Truce.

This tradition, originating from Ancient Greece, encouraged countries throughout the world to lay down arms during the Games and embrace goodwill, unity and reconciliation.

• The Belgrade Theatre – pioneered the Theatre-inEducation (tie) movement in the 1960s. As early as 1983, the performance ‘The Peace War’ was produced for pupils, teachers and parents exploring whether the nuclear bomb was a symbol of peace or destruction. This has been followed by a number of productions that deal with controversial issues relating to peace, the most recent production being ‘The First Time I Saw Snow’.

• The Peace House – which developed out of the Coventry Peace Camp, opened in January 1999 this is a permanent resource for the city. Workshops have been delivered to schools on peace and reconciliation and a number of our schools are involved in active projects in supporting the Night Shelter which accommodates destitute asylum seekers.

• Coventry City Council – schools enter their work and projects for various awards; Coventry Young People’s Anti-bullying Charter Mark (this is student led and coordinated). The School of Sanctuary Award, this was developed in response to Coventry becoming a City of Sanctuary in 2011. The City of Sanctuary is a movement of local people, community groups, organisations and businesses who share a common aim of ensuring that their city is a welcoming place for people seeking sanctuary from war or persecution. The city also holds an annual Peace Festival in the autumn term in which schools participate and, last but by no means least, the annual Coventry Cohesion Awards • Consultation events/projects – Coventry schools have been involved in consulting, developing and piloting materials for organisations such as; Facing History and Ourselves, Save the Children, Ministry of Justice and the Citizenship Foundation and the forthcoming ‘Peace through Unity’ Project which is to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day next year.

Schools also foster a number of local school links through School Linking and international links.

Coventry was the world’s first twin city when it formed a twinning relationship with the Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) during World War II. Currently a number of our schools are working with the school district of Hiroshima in Japan. Opportunities to work with national and international organisations have been instrumental in keeping the legacy of peace alive and relevant for our children and young people.

PeaceJam One of the resounding success stories is Coventry’s young people’s involvement with PeaceJam. This international organisation aims to bring about positive change by putting secondary school students together with Nobel Peace Laureates to create a new generation of leaders committed to making the world a better place.

For the past few years delegates have attended the annual Peace Jam conference at Bradford University in a bid to reignite the message of peace within the city.

Through their involvement with PeaceJam, students from Coventry have also met the Dali Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Denver, travelled to Los Angeles to the international PeaceJam Conference and worked in Belfast with Mairead Corrigan Maguire (the Irish Nobel Peace Laureate) on a project aimed at increasing social cohesion. The ripple effect has been amazing, resulting in students running campaigns on blood diamonds, domestic violence, landmines and food banks. In the past, Peace Jam has transformed the lives of Coventry youngsters – they have met incredibly influential people they have never heard of before and broadened their horizons – becoming passionate about making a positive difference in the world.

“PeaceJam was a really interesting and inspiring event. I liked everything: meeting a Nobel Peace Prize winner, the people you connect with, and the activities.

It was a fun but productive weekend. It inspired and encouraged me to stand for what I believed. It also taught me that staying silent and doing nothing is not the answer. Doing something about an issue might not solve it 100% but at least you can do something that makes it a bit better than it was at first.” (Sweet, age 13).Teachers are similarly impressed, “It makes being peaceful cool! It also widens students’ interests – they become interested in the world around them and start to think seriously about world issues. They feel empowered to make a difference in their own communities and schools”.

Peace Education is about our children and young people transforming themselves, their local communities and the world! It’s about becoming a new generation of peacemakers and active citizens. It’s about learning practical skills for conflict resolution and active citizenship. It’s about doing hands-on volunteering and community action and learning and knowing how to deal with a range of issues concerning problem solving skills, racism, violence, peace and conflict resolutions.

It’s about preparing and empowering our children and young people to do something practical for peace. In the words of Crick: “Education should not attempt to shelter our nation’s children from even the harsher controversies of adult life, but should prepare them to deal with such controversies knowledgeably, sensibly, tolerantly...”

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Speakers at a ‘PeaceJam’ event

Or as one young peace maker remarked, working on a peace project, peace starts within: “It has taught me that we need to get everybody together to work together to make things better in our community. Everybody needs to support each other – like the fingers of a hand working together – parents really need to support their children to make things better” (Mohammed, age 13).

Coventry, I would like to think, will continue to invest in their children and young people and develop and nurture informed, critical, active citizens who can make a difference in this world. ▪

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‘I’m Hating it’ resource pack www.excellencegateway.org.uk/node/20799 Youth for Fair Trade resource pack www.ycareinternational.org/project/youth-for-fair-trade ‘Playing for Peace’ exhibition http://clg.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/1153/ playing _ for _ peace The Belgrade Theatre: www.belgrade.co.uk/take-part PeaceJam: www.peacejam.org

It makes being peaceful cool!

It also widens students’ interests – they become interested in the world around them and start to think seriously about world issues. teacher

Resources & Contacts

British Council Connecting Classrooms http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/programmes-and-funding/ linking-programmes-worldwide/connecting-classrooms School Linking Network: www.schoolslinkingnetwork.org.uk Coventry School of Sanctuary Award http://clg.coventry.gov.uk/info/213/equality/877/ school_of_sanctuary_award ‘Peace Through Unity’ Project Email Andy Duncan: ajd100@virginmedia.com.

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Peace Education

Andrea Mason is a Marketing and Communications Manager at the British Council and has supported international learning in schools since 2006.

Email: Andrea.Mason@britishcouncil.org.

Inspiring Global Citizens by ‘Connecting Classrooms’ Linking with a school abroad can help your students become active global citizens with a commitment to peace and cooperation, explains Andrea Mason from the British Council. ne Year 8 student at Nova Hreod Specialist College in Science, Mathematics and Computing in Swindon describes the school’s partnership with Harold Cressey High School in Cape Town as, “Lots of lessons – lots of connections”.

Active global citizenship is at the heart of all the partnership work, which is now integrated across ict, History, Science and English. Nova Hreod aims to develop in students an understanding of themselves and the world in order to enable them to become responsible, active citizens and that’s where Connecting Classrooms comes in.

Connecting Classrooms is global education programme run by the British Council and is designed to help young people learn about global issues and become responsible global citizens. We have five themes that run through our work, one of which is “Conflict and Peace”. Young people on our projects learn to recognise conflict and learn ways in which to resolve it.

Nova Hreod School and Harold Cressey High School established their partnership in 2008 there has been a lot of activity since.

In 2012, the schools applied successfully for a Connecting Classrooms grant to support their visits to develop collaborative learning.

“We think it’s important to link with other schools so that we can learn about how they do things,” explains Year 8 pupil Shannon. Her teacher agrees that it is this

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“cross pollination of ideas” and the “resulting enthusiasm for learning” that is so valuable for both schools.

One of the schools’ first projects was to make films about themselves to send to each other to explore differences and similarities.

Tayler, in Year 7 at the time, found the experience both exciting and daunting, “When I found out I was involved in making a film for Miss Broadbent to take to South Africa, I was excited. I was interviewed about what it was like to live in England and what it meant to be on the school council.

I felt nervous that they might have negative opinions about me…”

A year on, after working on an anthology of poems by both schools, Tayler describes how the joint project on identity in English shannon has affected him, “When South African year 8 student teachers visited us, Mr Frank read us some of his poems and poems by Harold Cressey students. He showed us how emotions can be portrayed through poetry and it inspired me to write. This poem portrays the emotions lots of people at Nova Hreod feel about our links with Harold Cressey.”

We think it’s important to link with other schools so that we can learn about how they do things

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Two Worlds Together Two worlds together are a lot stronger than one / Because there is always another that they can rely on / And when you are cold and alone there is another world, which you can call home / Writing back and forth like a see saw left to rock / You share information, friends tighter than a lock / And when you are cold and alone there is always another friend which you can call your own / We have links across the land / So many people like grains of sand / And when you are cold and alone there are always people you can call your own / We all have the same body, soul and mind / So let’s be together and leave the past behind / Now we are a puzzle complete, I can’t wait till we finally meet.

Partnership with Harold Cressey has certainly opened Nova students’ eyes to a world very different to one they know in Swindon. Their South African partner has few resources with average class sizes of 50 students. They face on a daily basis the challenges of poverty, high levels of crime, hiv and aids and teenage pregnancy.

During Poverty Week, students in Nova Hreod’s English classes created a PowerPoint presentation about life in townships and slums in Cape Town, which was shown in all tutor groups. Jade, a Year 8 student, says, “It really makes you empathetic. The experience has broadened our horizons.

I feel much more grateful for the education I have at Nova Hreod, because I now understand there are some children who are less privileged than me.”

A cross-curricular approach to the partnership has meant that students have benefited from exploring issues from different perspectives. History lessons have explored human rights and democracy in the context of apartheid. The relationship with Harold Cressey has provided the History department at Nova Hreod with valuable primary and secondary source material, including an interview with world renowned social activist Sedick Isaacs and the real life experiences of teachers and parent governors who lived through apartheid and the experiences of living in District 6 (an area of Cape Town from which residents were forcibly removed under the Apartheid regime).

The impact of learning about District 6 in History two years ago has left its mark on Beth, Year 10. “In the 60s, Cape Town became a victim of apartheid. It was declared a whites-only area and thousands of blacks were removed and their homes destroyed.

This was the start of townships and slums.

Although apartheid has now passed, people

are still living in slums and find it hard to escape poverty. In history we looked at photos of District 6 and discussed what was suggested or inferred in them. We also used lots of other sources like poetry, videos, and Nelson Mandela’s speeches.”

Daniel, in Year 11, is equally motivated by the lesson content, “It made us appreciate our community. It showed us that people aren’t very different from each other, but we also learned about the different cultures there. I enjoyed learning about conflict – how it begins and how it ends and what happens in between.”

Working on joint projects with Harold Cressey teachers has had a profound effect on English teacher Katie Broadbent’s professional and personal development.

“It made my desire to inspire students more solid. I am a teacher now not only of English, but much more cross-curricular. I got a real passion for History while I was in South Africa and I’ve tried to incorporate that where I can in our English curriculum, for example, in Conflict Poetry with Year 11.

Being able to teach lessons in Harold Cressey has enabled me to use my understanding of teaching styles in a different context to encourage active learning. I’ve made lifelong friends at Harold Cressey, increased my selfsufficiency and developed my confidence, but the main thing is that it’s driven me to inspire students more than ever before.”

Connecting Classrooms supports schools to help young people learn about global issues and become responsible global citizens, as well as develop skills such as conflict resolution, communication and collaboration that they need to work peacefully in a global community.

Find out more about how the teaching of Citizenship in your school can benefit from Connecting Classrooms at www.britishcouncil.org/connectingclassrooms. ▪

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It really makes you empathetic.

The experience has broadened our horizons.

I feel much more grateful for the education I have… jade year 8 student

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Pictured above: British Council work in South African Schools.

Photos by Mat Wright – see back page for more.

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Peace Education

“Helpless, but not without hope” Teaching Israel / Palestine In 2000, in response to the second Intifada and in order to protect the people of Israel from the threat of the suicide bombings of Palestinian militants, the Israeli authorities started to plan the building of a Separation Barrier which would act as a border between Israel and the West Bank, thus controlling who can enter and leave.

If the Barrier for the state of Israel is about security for their citizens, then for the Palestinians it is a different story. The wall he issue of Israel/Palestine is for them is more akin to a prison; limiting often avoided in schools. My freedom of movement, denying access to own experience of studying gcse land, separating families, and generally History was being told to answer disrupting day-to-day life. the other question should it come In July 2004 the Separation Barrier was up in the exam! In Citizenship condemned as illegal annexation by the we do well to not fall into the International Court of Justice in The Hague. same trap - yes it is complex, but the situation touches many of Teaching Israel/Palestine the key themes of Citizenship in in the classroom one case study. In the aftermath In making a particular study of this of the Second World War, amid Separation Barrier we critically examine calls for the establishment of a homeland questions of justice, rights, and identity for the Jewish people, Palestine was parwhich are at the heart of Citizenship. This titioned. 54% of the land was to form the can be done by simply asking ourselves if the new state of Israel with the remaining 46% construction of this wall will bring peace? for the Palestinian people. The Palestinian Addressing this question would lead us to reshare was further reduced when, threatened flect on the importance of the human rights by their Arab neighbours, Israel expanded of the Palestinian people living with the their border by military force in 1948. This consequences of the wall and the right of the left the Arab population with the West Bank Israeli state to protect themselves and their and Gaza – a mere 22% of the original terpeople. We might also examine what sort of ritory with the borders forming the Green peace is built when two peoples are forced to (or Armistice) Line. When the Israeli troops live apart because of the difficulty of living over-ran the Palestinian lands during the together. Furthermore, in the peoples and 1967 Six-Day War the occupation, which organisations on both sides of the conflict continues today, began. working nonviolently for justice and peace Whilst, in popular imagination, the we can see other possibilities little town of Bethlehem might conjure cute being modelled. images of primary school nativity plays, for In my work with Pax Christi I use a very a visitor today a different image will surely simple role play activity (available at www. dominate the memory – an eight metre high paxchristi.org.uk) to explore this issue. In concrete wall which looms over the town. groups students are asked to present a

Pax Christi’s Matt Jeziorski argues that the separation barrier in Israel/Palestine provides the perfect opportunity to explore many Citizenship themes and teachers should not be afraid to tackle this controversial, but important, issue. He suggests classroom activities and reports on schools that have visited the area.

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the little town of Bethlehem might conjure cute images of primary school nativity plays, for a visitor today a different image will surely dominate the memory – an eight metre high concrete wall which looms over the town

Matt Jeziorski is the schools and youth outreach worker for Pax Christi, the International Catholic Movement for Peace. Israel/Palestine is a key focus for the work of Pax Christi and the education workshops they facilitate in schools.

Email: education@paxchristi.org.uk, or follow on Twitter @paxchristiyouth.

viewpoint of the wall from the perspective of one of four groups affected and whether they feel the wall will bring peace. Then, after being given the opportunity to quiz one another a little further, they together decide whether the wall is a good means of building peace or not. This usually takes place within a workshop of about an hour but with more time over a number of lessons the activity could be made richer with a fuller picture of the situation being reflected in the research that the young people could undertake.

Teaching Israel/Palestine away from the classroom Whilst examining this situation in the classroom is a great start, little will beat the experience of witnessing the situation first hand. Taking a group of students to Israel/ Palestine might seem a daunting idea but several schools have done just that and the transformative effect on the participants has been incredible.

Amongst the many remarkable experiences that such a trip contains, a visit to the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem is a particular highlight. Meeting children and young people their own age living with the day-today consequences of conflict and the restrictions of the Separation Barrier are time and again the most powerful memory of a visit to the area. A visit to Aida Camp means meeting young footballers whose games are often interrupted by gunfire, students who so often find it impossible to get through the checkpoints to classes (or even exams) at university, children whose every move is under the shadow of the towering grey concrete wall.

What could easily be a gloomy place has a remarkable effect on the visitor. It is hard not to find hope in the joyful optimism of the young people living there. Their determination to access education, skills, and

In making a particular study of this Separation Barrier we critically examine questions of justice, rights, and identity which are at the heart of Citizenship.

This can be done by simply asking ourselves if the construction of this wall will bring peace?

a brighter, peaceful future – in spite of the many barriers is inspirational: “I left feeling helpless, but not without hope” (Year 10 student); “The experience of the camp is something I will never forget – it gives you a new appreciation for what you have and the opportunities you are given, whilst making you determined to help” (Year 13 student).

After leaving the camp, students have often been inspired to tell the story of the people who live there. By sharing the reality of life in Aida Camp and elsewhere in

Palestine, in school and in the wider community, the students are engaging in the campaigning, advocacy, and work of solidarity that are at the heart of work for peace and central to Citizenship.

Whether through classroom activities or a visit to the Israel/Palestine Separation Barrier, the situation that led to its construction, and the effect it has on the life of the people living under its shadow provides a great opportunity to explore key issues of Citizenship. In critically exploring this situation students cannot help but reflect on the rights, values, and freedoms that they take for granted. And in sharing their learning, speaking out on behalf of those suffering from the effects of the conflict, and supporting peacemakers in the region we learn the value of campaigning and advocacy as both part of Citizenship and in the work of building peace. ▪ Other Resources Pax Christi (including resource downloads): www.paxchristi.org.uk Palestine Pilgrimage – educational visits: www.palestinepilgrimage.org.uk Amos Trust – supporting local peacemakers: www.amostrust.org Twinning UK schools with Palestinian ones: www.twinningwithpalestine.net

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Peace Education

Chris Gabbett is Principal at Trinity Catholic School.

He has completed pedagogy research at Oxford University, and is currently completing a PhD at Warwick University.

Much more than ‘statutory requirement’ How peace values enrich our school Trinity Catholic School in Leamington Spa prides itself on being a community based on peace. Principal Chris Gabbett explains how teaching about peace issues provides students with a chance to be involved in genuine active citizenship, whilst year 10 student Mollie Edwards offers examples and student insight.

The Principal’s Perspective itizenship education develops knowledge, skills and understanding that pupils need to play a full part in society as active and responsible citizens. Pupils learn about politics, parliament and voting as well as human rights, justice, the law and the economy. They also learn the skills of active citizenship.

Teaching is brought to life using real issues and events in local to global contexts — act website.

How the above objectives actually manifest themselves in the classroom is genuinely important to me as a Principal. It is the final two that matter most to me though – as I am sure they do to all school leaders.

When describing the unique elements of a school’s ethos and vision, a head teacher must address destinations – where do our pupils go? Any school can produce data to create a compelling and persuasive case for their school and most do! But, as regards the types of citizens they produce – surely a harder task? When we consider the pressures facing our communities right now, as jobs evaporate, budgets are strained, ethnic and sectarian tension is bubbling in parts of the country – is there anything more important? Sadly, I have been asked much more about how many students we send to Russell

Sadly, I have been asked much more about how many students we send to Russell Group universities than I have about the nature of the people who leave our school

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Group universities than I have about the nature of the people who leave our school.

At my school, I take active citizenship very seriously. I am fortunate that the school has a very long history of this and the culture of the student body is one that embraces many organisational elements of positive youth involvement in civic activities.

This year I have sought a more aspirational and enhanced pathway for students to get involved in genuine activism.

As a school, we deliver pshce on Friday mornings – and adjust the timetable accordingly. I am confident that our students receive their statutory entitlement for Citizenship and smsc – and a recent ofsted inspection agrees with that! What does this mean though? I feel that, in educational terms, ‘statutory entitlement’ is really to damn with little praise. I think if a school leader actually believes their school has a role to play in producing outstanding citizens, then statutory entitlement will not do.

In Spring term of this year, I spoke to every assembly about the creation of a student led Pax Christi group. As a Catholic school that is seeking to consolidate and enhance its faith mission, this was an invaluable opportunity to marry active citizenship, student activism, global issues and the expression of faith through action.

The response was literally overwhelming, as about 12% of our ks 3/4 cohort came to the initial meeting. This has now pared down to about 30 committed youngsters, led extremely well by two of our current year ten students. Many of the activities the students have been involved in are reported on the following pages by Mollie – but suffice to say that they augment and enhance our ‘statutory requirement’ considerably. What they offer is a chance for my students to participate in or observe genuine political activism – delivered via an expression of our faith. ▪

Mollie Edwards is a year ten student at Trinity Catholic School.

She is also Publicity Officer for the Trinity Catholic School Pax Christi Group. She hopes to have a career as an English teacher.

The Student’s Perspective

Teachers do tell children off when they are involved in an argument, misbehaviour or hen discussing learning about a violent act, but I think that there is not peace in peaceful ways in schools, enough emphasis on how to actually resolve personally, I believe there to be arguments and learn to forgive people and not nearly enough education on be kind to one another. They may know that how important the idea of peace it is wrong to be violent but they may not and living in harmony really is know how to stop acting so violently and be – especially to children who are more peaceful in their actions. easily influenced by their environI am not suggesting that everyone must ment and what their authority learn about peace and must act that certain figures believe. Nowadays peace way according to what they have learnt. I is not thought of as something of understand that people do intend to join the great importance to educate chil- army and, although I disagree, I respect their dren about. If children are not taught about choice to do so. I just believe that people living in peaceful ways when they are young should be better educated on peaceful living and easily influenced, what will they do? and if people do intend to pursue careers in Children will see politicians on the the armed forces, then they should know news spending money on nuclear weapons, exactly what they are getting into. and with no mention from their parents or We shouldn’t in any way extinguish teachers, they will believe it is acceptable to independent thought and opinion through support acts of war and violence. I think that this peaceful learning but simply educate children should learn about peace in primary people on how to live in such a peaceful school and continue the general aspects on manner that would benefit themselves and to secondary school learning. Obviously very the people around them, leading to be a young children shouldn’t be taught about good example for others. I wish that learning all the horrible wars and gruesome details about peaceful living was more important of present news headlines -but I believe to a lot more schools. Personally I am lucky that all children should be taught and be enough to be a part of a school community aware about peace and ways to prevent that not only shows and establishes peaceful violence and resolve arguments. This I living as a good thing, but commends those think will be helpful in everyday situations who live up to such non-violent morals and disagreements. and truly promotes the significance of

If children are not taught about living in peaceful ways when they are young and easily influenced, what will they do?

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Peace Education How peace values enrich school / Chris Gabbett & Mollie Edwards

peace and non-violence- something I think should be more encouraged and praised in schools.

At Trinity, we have a busy Pax Christi group. The first event we participated in was the peace walk in London - a great experience for all the members that attended. We began outside the Ministry of Defence where we met other participants on the walk who were as concerned about peace and the government’s recent decision to spend money on nuclear weapons as we were. We brought a large flag with the image of bright flames – symbolising light and scriptural references to Christ being the ‘light of the world’, as well as signifying warmth and cleansing – which myself and the Vice Chair of our group held throughout the walk.

The leader of our group (Caitlin Knights) gave a short reading and some of our members joined others in writing ‘repent’ on the floor in ash. All our members were very glad to have been a part of such an important stand against nuclear defence.

We also held a day of remembrance in our school chapel on Anzac Day in order to commemorate all the New Zealanders and Australians that died in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. This included prayers, poems and music. This was particularly important to our Australian Principal Chris Gabbett and our Pax Christi member Caitlin Ryburn who comes from New Zealand- both great believers of peace and non-violence.

The next event we eagerly participated in was the Leamington Peace Festival. We had a place in the youth tent where we decided to do activities for children relating to peace.

We agreed on making sheets of templates with the peace symbol for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (cnd) on, and then the children who wanted to could cut the template out and colour it in.

We hope to let the concept of peace be what leads our school to be a great educational and peaceful community

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We decided to also have materials available so they could stick a background onto their symbol they made - we had tissue paper and shiny metallic paper because we thought that this would create a kind of stained glass window effect when hung up against the sun.

We hung them up back at school to show our school takes pride in a peaceful outlook and to set an example for all Trinity students. Our members worked hard, swapping shifts in the youth tent and promoting peace throughout the day.

The most recent event was a peace conference held in our school, which had three main speakers. Firstly, Bruce Kent, a well-known and admired political activist in cnd, followed by David Gee, a former Trinity student who was discussing alternatives to violence, and our last speaker Imam Abdul Ghaffar, a Muslim speaker who was a great believer in peace and non-violence.

It is a great pleasure to be a part of our school’s Pax Christi group and I think that our group truly impacts the school in a positive way. We hope to really bring the Pax Christi group to the heart of the school – letting the concept of peace be what leads our school to be a great educational and peaceful community. We want everything the school does to mirror the work of Pax Christi – to follow and celebrate a belief in goodwill and harmony and use this belief to reflect all the school’s actions.

We hope that our group provides a fresh view on Pax Christi and can lead more of the younger generation into a time of peace. In future, we hope that Pax Christi can truly be at the very core of the school community, (impacting nationally as well as perhaps internationally making a difference) and that the peaceful outlook our group is currently spreading and hopes to spread more will really impact and affect our students to lead us into a community of complete harmony, love and kindness toward one another. ▪

Feature

Gillian Hampden Thompson, Vanita Sundaram, Maria Tsouroufli, Jennifer Jeffes, Pippa Lord, Tony Thorpe, George Bramley and Ian Davies.

Creating citizenship communities Helping young people take their place in society There have been several articles about the Creating Citizenship Communities project published in Teaching Citizenship over the last 18 months. This article reports on the findings and recommendations of the study. We hope that this work will bring a range of improvements in the way schools pursue Citizenship education. he study, carried out by the Department of Education at York, uk in partnership with the National Foundation for Educational Research (nfer), resulted in the Creating Citizenship Communities report which was launched at the Palace of Westminster on 9 May 2013.

(The launch was organised by Tony Breslin of Breslin Public Policy).

The final report (and free teaching and learning resources) can be downloaded from http://www.york. ac.uk/education/research/cresj/ citizenship-communities.

The report suggests that while schools are ‘hugely active’ in promoting Citizenship education and community cohesion, more could be done to create a sense of community in schools themselves. The study also found that schools could do more to help young people engage with their local communities.

The project, which was supported by a grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, involved a

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We all want and expect young people to grow into confident adult citizens, understanding and contributing to the communities of which they are members. Schools have an important role in helping them to achieve this; yet, too often, it is a neglected area of the curriculum.

The findings of this research should both help to raise the profile of this important area and contribute to improving practice. baroness estelle morris, at the launch of the report at westminster

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range of research tools including a national survey of schools and focus groups of young people in eight schools across the uk. Young people suggest that schools should take Citizenship education more seriously and that it should be more directly relevant to their lives.

Meanwhile, the survey of school coordinators and leaders on community cohesion and citizenship found that although a wide range of activities takes place in schools to develop students’ sense of social responsibility, schools face significant challenges in helping young people to understand and become constructively engaged in society.

The study also found that, at times, relatively little attention is paid to young people’s knowledge and experience in the development of Citizenship education.

Drawing on the findings from the study and a review of literature, we recommend: • The status of Citizenship education and community should be raised in schools • Inaccurate negative stereotypical representations of young people and the ways in which they engage in communities should be challenged • There should be more explicit links made within schools to connect Citizenship education (which is often seen as almost exclusively curricular) with community (which is often principally developed through a whole school approach) • There should be more opportunities to explore the educational potential of young people’s knowledge and experience of communities. ▪

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Feature / International

Still at war?

Seven years after the end of Nepal’s civil war, its education system remains in conflict Pete Pattisson is well-known to many ACT members for his inspirational ideas and presentations at conference as well as the work he did disseminating the 2007 national curriculum. He shares some recent experiences from his other professional life, as a photojournalist.

He demonstrates why Citizenship is important in all contexts and that even where the conditions are not supportive, local teachers can champion genuine Citizenship education for young people. n 2005 I spent the spring holidays climbing high into Nepal’s Himalayas, but I was not there to admire the mountains. I had come to meet the country’s Maoist rebels. The Maoists had launched what they called, ‘The People’s War’ in 1996 to overthrow Nepal’s monarchy, but there was little in it for ‘the people.’ Trapped between the Maoists and the Royal Nepalese Army, ordinary citizens suffered abuses at the hands of both sides.

The decade long civil war cost over 14,000 lives, displaced tens of thousands and destroyed the education of a generation.

I remember meeting children barely in their teens toting rifles as tall as they were, and students who had walked for days to sit their exams under armed guard.

Since then Nepal has seen some significant changes. A peace deal was struck in 2006, the monarchy was abolished in 2007 and in 2008 a democratically elected government was formed, led by the Maoist leader, Prachanda. But the legacy of the war remains.

Nepal is the second poorest country

Only 28% of students in government schools passed this year’s School Leaving Certificate (the equivalent of GCSEs) ... in reality only around one in ten students who start school, leave with a recognised qualification

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in Asia (after Afghanistan), corruption is rampant and the country is now run by an interim government of bureaucrats after parliament was dissolved in 2012 having failed to agree a new constitution. In a recent report, Transparency International found that 70% of Nepalese believe political parties are the most corrupt institution in the country. The complete failure by the state to carry out its most basic duties is nowhere more evident than in education.

Only 28% of students in government schools passed this year’s School Leaving Certificate (the equivalent of gcses), which has a pass mark of 32%. Less than a third of children even stay in school long enough to take these exams, so in reality only around one in ten students who start school, leave with a recognised qualification.

The failure of government-funded schools to provide a decent education has led to a huge expansion of private schools, many of which cater to low and middleincome families with fees starting at around 1000 rupees (or £7) a month. These low-cost

Pete Pattisson is a photojournalist and campaigner, and was previously Head of Citizenship at Blackfen School for Girls and Deptford Green School; and National Subject Lead for Citizenship. See his blog at: www.mrpattisson.wordpress.com , his journalism site at: www.petepattisson.net , or follow on Twitter: @petepattisson.

private schools are not necessarily any better than government schools, but they offer something every parent wants – they use English as the language of teaching.

In one small private school I found a class full of students at six in the morning preparing for their exams. “Why have you chosen to come to a private school when the government school is free?” I asked. “In this school we learn in English,” the students answered. “Why is English so important?”

“So we can get a job overseas,” they told me. Forty per cent of Nepal’s youth is unemployed, and with so few prospects, over 1500 Nepalese leave the country every day in search of work.

So complete has the exodus to private schools been that many government schools, especially in towns and cities, are now desperately short of students. I visited one 10 form entry school with just 60 children.

One class had just one lonely pupil. Schools

in the countryside have the opposite problem. One school I visited had 90 students in a class. “How do you teach so many students at one time?” I asked.

“We shout,” the teachers replied.

In Nepal, there is a firm belief that talking (or shouting) equals teaching, and listening (or chanting or copying) equals learning. Like most teachers around the world, Nepali teachers need to talk less, and get students to talk more, preferably to each other.

There is an unshakable belief that there is only ever one right answer. On a visit to one school I asked students which is the odd one out, “Tractor, zebra or duck?” They all shouted in unison, “Tractor!” After I had spent a long time trying to get them to see that they could all be the odd one out given the right reason, one student still interrupted me to ask, “But which is the right answer?”

In one school, my conversation with a student went like this – Q: What are you learning today?

A: Page 15.

Q: And what are you learning for homework?

A: Page 16.

Pictured left: A sign on a Nepalese school wall Above: Armed Maoist rebels

www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Autumn 2013 / Issue 37 / Teaching Citizenship / 33

Feature / International Still at war? (Education in Nepal) / Pete Pattisson This problem is compounded by Nepali teachers’ (and students’) near total dependence on textbooks. In one school, my conversation with a student went like this: Q: What are you learning today?

A: Page 15 Q: And what are you learning for homework?

A: Page 16 So slavish is the teachers’ reliance on textbooks that in one lesson on health, I observed the teacher ask a student how many times they should have a bath a week.

“Once a day!” proclaimed the sparkling student. “No”, said the teacher, glancing down at her textbook, “Twice a week.”

One poor group of 10 year olds were memorising terms like, ‘platyhelminthes’ and ‘echinodermata’, because that is what the textbook said they should be learning.

As a result, Nepalese students know a lot, but understand very little.

Problems in the classroom seem minor compared to those in the education system as a whole. Schools are highly politicised, and teaching posts are often handed out as rewards to political party activists. While teaching itself is a low-status career (I was

told, “If you are good for nothing, you are good for teaching”), a teaching post in a government school is highly prized as it is a guaranteed job for life. Consequently, there is little incentive to teach well, or even attend school. Teacher absenteeism is rife.

Despite the pitiful performance of most government schools, groups associated with the Maoist political parties have begun a violent campaign against private schools.

They have been accused of fire-bombing private school buses, vandalising premises, padlocking schools shut and calling strikes, which have meant hundreds of thousands of students have missed out on days of education.

When I asked the Maoists how they could justify such action, they told me, “We have to be radical to change the country from top to bottom.” “So I assume you send your children to governments schools?”

I asked. “Oh no!” they exclaimed, “We send them to private schools, of course!”

In some senses Nepal is still at war.

Political parties of all persuasions call regular bandhs or strikes, which bring the country to a standstill. The bandhs are

34 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 37 / Autumn 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

In 2011 UNICEF launched the ‘Schools as Zones of Peace’ initiative to protect children and their education during times of conflict. The idea was that school buses and schools should be conflict-free zones, like ambulances and hospitals.

Selfgovernment requires more than voting in elections.

It requires citizens who are informed and thoughtful, participate in their communities, involved in the political process, and possess moral and civic virtues. enforced by mobs who physically assault those who dare to break the strike. Anyone found driving a car or motorbike will be stopped and their vehicle set on fire. And so schools, like all other institutions and businesses close during a strike, meaning students lose days of education a year. In 2011 unicef launched the ‘Schools as Zones of Peace’ initiative to protect children and their education during times of conflict and bandhs. The idea was that school buses and schools should be conflict-free zones, like ambulances and hospitals. However, the scheme as had no impact in Kathmandu, where on strike days a hush descends on the capital as schools, and every other institution, shut down.

And so, in a country which continues to be racked by corruption, conflict and political cynicism, there is an urgent need for Citizenship education. Unfortunately the curriculum only offers what might be called ‘civics’; learning about national and international political institutions and

processes, not dissimilar to Michael Gove’s vision for Citizenship in the uk. There is no recognition that you will never feel politically powerful without a powerful experience of acting politically.

There is however some hope. An organisation called Sambhawana has begun a programme of Citizenship education with schools inspired by the same vision which established Citizenship education in our national curriculum. In a message British politicians and teachers would do well to heed, Anita Thapa, the founder of Sambhawana says, “Self-government requires far more than voting in elections.

It requires citizens who are informed and thoughtful, participate in their communities, involved in the political process, and possess Pictured left and above: moral and civic virtues. Generations of Nepalese school leaders have understood that these qualities students – only 10% are not automatically transmitted to the of children in Nepal next generation – they must be passed down leave school with through schools. Ultimately, schools are the a qualification. guardians of democracy.” ▪ www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Autumn 2013 / Issue 37 / Teaching Citizenship / 35

Feature

Lee Jerome is Lecturer in Education at Queen’s University Belfast, Editor of Teaching Citizenship and former Chair of ACT Council.

Curriculum Review Update By the time this journal reaches you, the final version of the national curriculum for Citizenship may have already been published by the DfE. Lee Jerome updates readers about the lobbying activities being undertaken by ACT in the final phase of the consultation and sharing our plans for supporting teachers as they prepare to teach the new curriculum in September 2014. ct response We had already submitted a detailed response to the initial draft of the curriculum and we were understandably frustrated that so little of our advice was taken onboard in the second draft. Undeterred, Chris Waller and the Council at act have revisited our arguments to make the following recommendations: (1) Make explicit the centrality of learning about rights and responsibilities and omit the unnecessarily rhetorical and unhelpful reference to ‘precious liberties.’

(2) Broaden the definition of ‘active citizenship’ to include taking informed and responsible action to bring about positive change which includes volunteering and ensure this is addressed in both key stages.

(3) Make a clear connection between

personal financial / consumer decisions and macro-economic / societal causes and effects, including those on the global economy and environment.

(4) Include the European and global dimension in Key Stage 3.

(5) Match more closely the areas of study for Key Stages 3 and 4 to ensure coherence and progression.

In addition, at the act Conference in July we collected signatures from delegates supporting a letter calling on the dfe to ensure that some form of active citizenship is included in both key stages.

Democratic Life response Democratic Life is a coalition of individuals and organisations which is chaired by Liz Moorse, who is also Senior Manager at act. It has been working with supportive politicians, both in the Commons and the Lords, to maintain the cross-party support that has always been a feature of Citizenship education policy in the past. Its key messages to the dfe echo those of act and are: (1) The skills necessary for pupils to make progress in Citizenship must be made explicit in the revised programmes of study.

(2) Active citizenship must be made a requirement at both key stages 3 and 4.

(3) Key stage 3 is narrow and bland and does not address the breadth of the subject or provide adequate progression to key stage 4.

(4) If financial education is to be included then it should relate to the

36 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 37 / Autumn 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

subject of Citizenship rather than to pshe.

For further details of Democratic Life’s campaign actions over the summer visit the website. You can also view Liz’s evidence to the Youth Select Committee which held an evidence session in parliament relating to its Curriculum for Life proposals: www.democraticlife.org.uk.

Act plans At the act Conference one of the workshops discussed the actions the association might take to support teachers with the new curriculum.

We have published the ideas from the workshop on the act website and also taken them into account in thinking about our plans for the coming year. Act Council has established a small working group of teachers and other educationalists to start producing materials to support colleagues in schools. We will post a timeline for the group on the act website in the Autumn term once the group has met to finalise plans in September but we have already agreed that we will produce a mapping document comparing the old and new programmes of study and highlighting new areas that may not have been taught before.

For these new areas we will be producing briefing packs outlining act’s interpretation of the scope of the new recommendation and sign-posting useful resources. If you would like to contribute to the work of the group, recommend resources or simply find out more, contact Lee Jerome: l.jerome@qub.ac.uk. ▪

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Helping young people explore poverty and children’s rights in the UK: a secondary school teaching pack

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Reviews

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Seen and Heard DVD and teacher’s pack £13.50 (reduced price) + P&P Available from www.unicef.org.uk Review by Lee Jerome

Truman on Trial Teaching resources Available from CND Peace Education Email: anna.liddle@cnduk.org Review by Balbir Sohal

A group of young people in St Kentigern’s Academy in Scotland have made an insightful film about poverty in response to learning about children’s rights. The film is part of their own campaign to tackle child poverty, both to raise awareness and lobby politicians to take action. Unicef uk has produced an education pack for teachers so the film can be used as an educational resource.

In the film an interview with a young person living below the poverty line provides a powerful central theme. David talks honestly about the housing conditions he and his family endure, how he feels about living in poverty, and how others perceive people in poverty. Whilst this is clearly a common experience for many children up and down the country I found it peculiarly affecting to see a young person talk so honestly and openly about an issue that is all too frequently glossed over. The interview is also accompanied by a series of vox pops of other students talking about poverty and the school’s campaign.

The resource pack that accompanies the film helps teachers tease out issues such as: living below the poverty line; stereotypes and prejudice; peer pressure and bullying; poverty and children’s rights in the uk; as well as hidden poverty.

Importantly, the pack ends with lessons focused on positive action for change, with one lesson considering ‘tackling poverty in the uk’ and another ‘making a film for change’. There are also notes on how to use the film in an assembly.

The activities are all very practical and focus on helping children to really engage with the issue and think beyond first impressions. I would strongly recommend this as an important way to tackle poverty head on, as an under-taught area of inequality and diversity, as well as a powerful way to learn about rights. ▪

Presenting the history and impact of the atomic bombings in a balanced and accurate manner is an interesting story in its own right, and it is one that has over time generated an enormous amount of controversy.

If our young people are to develop as global citizens they should have the opportunity to engage with controversial issues, to develop critical thinking about complex global issues in the safe environment of the classroom.

This excellent new resource has dealt with the subject matter of the dropping of the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in a sensitive and thought provoking way. The resource investigates what happened before, during and after the bombings culminating in an activity where students put President Truman on trial and decide whether or not the bombings were justified.

The resource is ambitious in that it can be used either at ks3 or ks4; it is also cross curricular and sits well within the foundation subjects as well as English. The effective use of primary and secondary resource material brings the subject matter alive and the strength of the resource is that it includes a multitude of participatory and learning methodologies such as the use of discussion, debate, role play and ranking exercises. All of which develop crucial thinking skills of: Information-processing, Reasoning, Enquiry, Creative thinking and Evaluation.

Teachers may be discouraged, not so much by complexity, but by lack of familiarity with the topic. However, this is adequately addressed by accompanying PowerPoint presentations and differentiated resources which can be downloaded from www.cnduk. org/education.

I welcome this resource in that an issue as controversial and painful as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki must be fully understood and evaluated and for us to be aware that our actions have consequences. ▪

www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk / Autumn 2013 / Issue 37 / Teaching Citizenship / 37

ually ... there’s more to a curriculum than facts Lee Jerome has been trying to make sense of why he finds the draft programmes of study so offensive.

1. The substantive structure of Citizenship refers to what we have previously called ‘core concepts’ such as democracy, justice, governance, power, accountability.

2. The procedural structure of Citizenship refer to the rules of the es, the phrase ‘precious game – how we establish knowledge liberties’ is irksome, in Citizenship and this would most yes, it’s frustrating that readily relate to what we have called the political knowledge the ‘processes’ or ‘skills’ such as has been turned into critical enquiry, rational argument, civics and yes, of course debate etc. it’s also annoying that It is problematic therefore that ‘personal finance’ has the curriculum as it stands (I can just been dropped in only refer to the draft available for from nowhere, with consultation in July 2013) doesn’t absolutely no connection really take either of these categories to the public dimension seriously. of financial management and Bruner argued that the economy. But beyond these understanding this deep structure individually annoying aspects there of a subject is important for several is something deeper going on which reasons: means the curriculum as a whole 1. Placing new knowledge into a simply doesn’t hang together. This structured pattern helps to secure leaves me with the feeling that even memorisation; if my list of ‘essential knowledge’ was 2. Understanding the fundamentals included and items of ‘non-essential helps learners to identify the knowledge’ were deleted, relevance of existing knowledge it still wouldn’t work. to new situations; I returned to a couple of authors 3. Revisiting core concepts and to try to think through exactly what subject structure helps to ensure that deeper concern is really about. learning is progressive over time, Shulman argued that when we talk and minimises the risk that new about teachers’ subject knowledge learning simply replaces earlier we really mean three things: learning. subject matter content knowledge, As Bruner argues, most of what pedagogical content knowledge, we learn in schools is not directly and curricular knowledge. It seems transferable to real-life. It’s no good reasonable that we might expect a trying to teach 11 year olds how to curriculum to say something about apply for a mortgage so they know the first of these, and Shulman how to fill in the form when they categorizes this kind of knowledge have saved up their deposit (probably about the subject area in two ways: when they are about 40). Instead 38 / Teaching Citizenship / Issue 37 / Autumn 2013 / www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk

we have to see what we do as being indirectly transferable – building up a critical orientation to the news, an interest in, and understanding of, public issues and a sense of how one would go about engaging with political issues. We might teach specifics, but the purpose is for students to learn some general things, and these general things are the skills and concepts, or as Shulman would say, the substantive and syntactic structure of Citizenship.

Einstein said “education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”

He wasn’t simply being facetious.

If we structure our teaching around these concepts and principles then we build a framework for understanding and engaging with the world as citizens. The facts and case studies may have been long forgotten but the deep sense of Citizenship remains.

Gove doesn’t seem to be listening but act will continue to work on developing this fuller sense of the subject and to explore what it means for teaching. To join us in exploring these dimensions to subject knowledge and develop materials together, please send an email to me at: l.jerome@qub.ac.uk. ▪ References Bruner, J. (1960) The Process of Education, Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press Shulman, L. S. (1986) ‘Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching’ Educational Researcher , 15 (2), 4-14

The Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) is the professional membership association for primary and secondary school teachers involved in delivering Citizenship education.

Teaching Citizenship is our journal. It comes out once a term and is sent direct to all our members.

It complements our online resources, our monthly e-newsletters and our face-to-face training or in-school CPD – all these are available to members.

ACT membership provides an outstanding opportunity for professional development, whether you’re new to Citizenship or an old hand. We are a teacher-led independent charity with members across the country, whose principal charitable objective is to further the aims of Citizenship teaching and learning.

For teachers, ACT membership is only £35 for the whole year. If you’re not already a member then join now and get your own copy of this journal – together with all the other support we offer you for teaching Citizenship.

To become a member of ACT see: www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk /signup

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