The Global Dimension: Making Space for the Global Dimension on a PGCE Primary Course
| This paper describes a three year collaboration which has been taking place in Tower Hamlets between the Humanities Education Centre and St Martin’s College. The aim of the project has been to develop ways of focusing effectively on the global dimension within ITE. The paper suggests that student teachers need opportunities to build up skills and work with children in school, in addition to time for reflection on their own values and development of their knowledge and understanding of the role of the global dimension in the primary curriculum. Furthermore, given these conditions, students can work creatively within this area, to support children’s learning effectively. |
ITE programmes which are constrained by the nature of QTS and a limited time-frame such as the PGCE course tend, not surprisingly, to reflect the requirements of Ofsted, and as university programmes, generally validated for 4 or 5 years, can sometimes lag behind schools in relation to the implementation of broader approaches. Such programmes are considered effective in teaching and preparing students to teach the Core subjects (Ofsted 2005) but may have limited time given to the Foundation subjects, to ‘issues’ based curricula and to cross-curricular themes.
A number of institutions have developed imaginative programmes to broaden the curriculum, such as the themes focusing around social justice at London South Bank, and the Equality Workshop Days at Brighton. These programmes help students to reflect on the values elements of the National Curriculum and provide an effective way of enhancing students’ knowledge and understanding. Other institutions take students to contrasting locations to broaden their experience of similarity and difference within the UK. Some also work with NGOs who help run elements of their programmes as a further way of embedding the Global Dimension into PGCE courses. (NaPTEC/GTCE Conference 2006). Within subject sessions, many institutions include links to the extensive ICT based support available, such as the Oxfam Cool Planet Site for teachers, that can give students both extensive and up-to -date information when planning activities.
However there can still remain a significant ‘skills gap’ on PGCE courses. How can students be helped to develop the skills they need to work successfully with children when introducing areas of the curriculum that can be challenging? Such skills might have been worked on in a range of subject areas including PSHE, drama, history, Literacy, ICT, geography. Oxfam lists the skills that children and young people require for responsible Global Citizenship as ‘critical thinking, ability to argue effectively, ability to challenge injustice and inequalities, respect for people and things, co-operation and conflict resolution’ (Oxfam 2006 page 9) What sort of skills and attitudes do students need to develop when working with children in this area of the curriculum? What situations will enable them to do that?
St Martin’s, along with several other institutions, has had a long tradition of ‘saturation’ placements whereby a number of students go together to a school for a limited time-span, to carry out much of the teaching supported by tutors. The focus is often on developing cross-curricular themes and the students tend to work in groups of about four in the classrooms, leading the teaching in their areas of expertise / interest. Benefits to the students include the development of co-operation, the chance to learn from each other and the value of an intense experience. Children have additional adults to support their learning. Teachers gain from ‘space to breathe’. Additionally the placements tend to be formally unassessed, thus limiting anxiety and pressure.
Three years ago the St Martin’s PGCE team, co-ordinated by the PGCE Programme Leader, took the decision to build a saturation placement into the PGCE Primary across all campuses in order to help address the issues arising from Excellence and Enjoyment. It was positioned at the end of the Spring term following two earlier placements, giving students a range of prior experiences on which to draw. In Tower Hamlets we decided to highlight themes focusing on an aspect of Global Citizenship with our fifty PGCE students, as this was an area that had potential for further development on the course. Being located in Tower Hamlets PDC we were also fortunate in having easy access to the expertise of a number of advisory groups including the Humanities Education Centre with their focus on the global dimension of Education.
The two day taught input has evolved over the last three years to encompass an initial focus on what the global dimension is, followed by ways of developing the work with children. This year the first day covered unpacking the eight concepts of the global dimension: conflict resolution, social justice, values and perceptions, sustainable development, interdependence, human rights, diversity, global citizenship(DFID 2006 page 5) through asking students to look at the connections we all have to the rest of the world in our daily lives. This was done through a series of group activities based around everyday objects such as clothes. These activities are designed for use in primary classrooms in either existing or adapted versions. The afternoon focused on ways in which global issues can be introduced through different areas of the primary science curriculum, followed by discussion on ways of using picture books as starters for introducing global dimensions into the primary classroom.
The 2nd day started with a session devoted to ’Botanica’ an open ended simulation activity, which had originally been developed for use in the University of Leicester’s Botanic Garden. The students worked in role to take on the perceptions of groups of citizens within an imaginary developing country that is offered the chance to host the next Olympics. Students were required to learn about the country, look at the issues and then put their case, prior to a vote on whether to take up the offer or not. This activity was adapted and put into practice by several of the groups when on their following placement.
The afternoon session began with considering particular topics in the primary curriculum that might lend themselves particularly well to exploring the global dimension such as water, trade, food, transport and homes, waste. In groups students were required to create an initial cross curricular topic web on a chosen theme. Time was also given to trying out examples of literacy and mathematics activities based on these topics. Resources such as photopacks were introduced as suggested starting points for work in school.
Arrangements with schools have gradually taken on a particular pattern. Schools are invited to take groups of students in the knowledge that the focus for the week’s placement is on a theme related to the global dimension, which also needs to link with their own planned programme. This is important as we want the students to consider ways of embedding the global dimension into all aspects of the primary curriculum. Some schools elect to continue with Literacy and mathematics in the morning and work on the cross-curricular theme in the afternoon. Others devote much of the week to the chosen focus. We find that eight students per school in two classes, one KS1 and one KS2, works well as the students learn from each other, but do not dominate the school. However some schools offer up to six classes and others one, all of which works as long as the students are both enthusiastic and sensitive to the needs of the school.
Students are given no choice of partners or schools, the main grouping criteria being a balance of experience with previous placements, a range of subject expertise within each student group and a diversity of backgrounds. Inevitably, local knowledge of the schools is also taken into account. Students visit their school a week or two prior to the placement, get to know the class and start to work on their planning for the week. They are encouraged to split the week up so that each person leads some sessions, often focusing around their subject specialism or interest and then works with groups when others are leading sessions. In addition to the workshop input described above, the PDC Library offers a wide range of helpful material and tutors and librarians support the students’ planning.
Students are required to produce some sort of ‘output’ from their week in school, either a book or a presentation. A key element of the process has been a feedback session which was initially held after the Easter holiday, but for two years has been held on the Friday afternoon of the week’s placement. This has become a thought-provoking event for both tutors and students when sharing the range of experiences that they have just engaged in. Some of the material is then displayed and other aspects are placed on the Global Footprints website. Additionally we have asked students to engage with a small piece of research into children’s views about the world: what they like and dislike about it and how they would like to change it. About 700 children have now completed this survey and their views concur closely with those highlighted in the Hicks and Holden 1995 and Holden 2005 surveys cited in Claire 2005 (in Wilson, 2005 page 156). Tower Hamlets primary children tell us that they dislike war, fighting, unkindness, rubbish on the streets, mistreatment of people and animals, poverty and injustice.
This year the content of the themes the students described at the feedback session included Water (appropriate as the week coincided with World Water Day), Food with an emphasis on Fair Trade or Healthy Food, Recycling, Homes. The processes they worked on with the children included simulation, debate, making your voice heard effectively, research skills, investigations, handling data, co-operation, critical thinking, empathy, presentational skills. Tutors from the college or from the Humanities Education Centre visited each student group during the week. One tutor noted that the observed lesson ‘linked to the understanding of the care for the environment and how one person’s actions affect others. It also looked at being able to stand up for what you believe in and understand that different people have different points of view.’ A number of the classes presented their work, either in an assembly or to each other at the end of the week. The number of adults in each class lent itself to a group work approach. One Year Five teacher commented on how successful the theme had been for sustaining her class’ interest and learning throughout the whole week. Above all the most successful groups were clearly those in which the students had been prepared to take risks, collaborate effectively as a team and aim high – quite a challenge within a short period of time.
The process of building up understanding whilst experiencing activities, followed by collaborating to create a programme and then trying it out with children, has interesting parallels with Wallas’ 1926 model of the creative process which is sometimes quoted in texts about creativity (Davis and Howe 2005 in Wilson 2005 p173). His four stages of preparation, incubation, illumination and finally verification in which the ideas are actually tested out, are however insufficient without continued reflection on the values against which the activities need to be tested. (Claire 2005 in Wilson 2005 p156). Recently Craft has written extensively about the need to promote creativity in ‘the context of wider ethical dimensions of our existence’ (Craft 2005 page 149). Otherwise there is a danger that any project developed may not have any impact on children’s understanding of the global dimension within which we all live. It is fairly easy to produce interesting cross-curricular topics on themes such as water without any focus on the demanding key concepts of social justice, conflict resolution, sustainable development, values and perceptions, global citizenship, diversity, human rights and interdependence that underpin the global dimension. (DfID 2005 page 5) To look further at the effectiveness of our project in relation to these ideas we therefore adapted our evaluation of the project this year to ask the students to reflect on their teaching in the light of these eight key concepts .
Over the last three years students have consistently rated the project highly, citing in particular the value of learning from other students, the opportunity to develop cross-curricular themes and the value of team work. Results this year from the 33 evaluations returned (72% of the total) were very similar, with the value of collaborative work being identified most frequently. However in response to reflecting on their teaching by ‘honestly listing elements of the eight key concepts that students felt were an effective part of their group’s curriculum for the week’, it was interesting that all 52 of the statements listed under the key concepts were highlighted at least once. Those cited most frequently included: recognising that some of the earth’s resources are finite and need to be used responsibly (14 mentions), understanding that people have different values, attitudes and perceptions (13), respecting each other (11), understanding the impact of the environment on cultures, economies and societies (11), developing a sense of awe at the variety of peoples and environments around the world (11), understanding the impact of globalisation and that choices made have consequences at different levels from personal to global (11), appreciating the links between the lives of others and children’s and young people’s own lives (11). Additional comments included ‘the value of seeing issues that children find important’, ‘it was good to see children enjoying learning how to look after the environment’, ‘the opportunity to plan creative lessons’. One student noted ‘I had a brilliant week. It was amazing to work with peers and create a collaborative teaching plan. The school was great. Very supportive and provided exactly the space we needed.’
Improvements suggested included in particular, a longer placement and interestingly smaller groups – eight comments suggested that three would be a better group size as four tended to dominate the room. Further time for planning prior to commencing the week was the final comment mentioned by several students. Each year we re-visit these and the other comments to adjust our planning, so these are elements we will consider for next year.
The evaluations referred to above were completed within a few weeks of the end of the placement and no long term impact can be assumed from them. However anecdotal evidence, such as mentioned by some students of teaching an element of the global dimension on demonstration lessons given when applying for posts, suggests that at the very least students developed their confidence when using the subject matter in the classroom, in addition to recognising its importance. The opportunity to talk through plans, to justify their ideas to their peers, and to synthesise skills and understanding drawn from shared experiences and personal strengths into an effective curriculum for a class of primary children, appears to offer a strong base on which to build for the future. The evaluations also show that directly putting into practice in school what they had learnt during the college input sessions, was an effective way of embedding students’ own learning about the global dimension. We would argue that this could be because students were required to immediately engage with how they were going to make the complex issues around the global dimension accessible and enjoyable in a classroom context.
Craft, A. 2005 Creativity in Schools. Tensions and Dilemmas London: Routledge
DFID 2006 Developing the Global Dimension in the School Curriculum
London: Dept for International Development
Oxfam GB 2006 Education for Global Citizenship Oxfam Development Education Programme
Robinson, R.2001 Out of Our Minds. Learning to be Creative. Oxford: Capstone
Wilson, A ed 2005 Creativity in Primary Education. Exeter: Learning Matters
NaPTEC/GTCE Conference 2006 The Global Agenda: Where do we go from here?