Planning the global dimension across the curriculum
Throughout the year there are numerous 'days' and 'weeks' which can provide a focus for the global dimension to citizenship. These dates can provide starting or focal points for whole-school topics, events, themes, discussions or debates.
Some of these important dates can be found on the Global Dimension website. Look now at the activity on the right.
Activity Resources:
- Images
- Interactive
- Sound
- Text
- Video
Activity
- Go to the 'Global Calendar' section of the Global Dimension website: Global Dimension Reflecting and drawing upon what you have learnt through this unit, explore and examine the suggested links on the website for 'Fair trade fortnight'. Develop a week- or fortnight-long plan for your classroom, key stage or whole school.
- Select a series of teaching activities, methods and strategies which could incorporate issues of trade or fair trade into literacy, numeracy, science, information and communications technology (ICT), history, geography, citizenship, PSHE, technology, art and RE.
- Click on the Text icon and use the 'Concepts table' provided to plan the activities, identifying which of the eight key concepts of a global dimension, mentioned earlier in the unit, the activity is addressing. When planning these activities consider also the following checklist. This is based on issues raised in this unit and relates to teaching and learning with a global dimension:
- Justify the activities and approaches chosen on educational grounds, for example be able to explain 'what, how and why' to an Ofsted inspector.
- Address learning objectives of the key stage 1 and/or key stage 2 PSHE and citizenship curriculum, for example that resources can be allocated in different ways and that these economic choices will not only have an affect on individuals and communities, but also on the sustainability of the environment.
- Incorporate or extend areas of work or activities with a global dimension that have already been adopted in the school.
- Enable pupils to think critically about the issues, for example how fair is fair trade anyway when the lifestyles of fair trade producers are compared with those of people living in the UK?
- Address and discuss controversial issues, for example the role of well-known multinational companies in perpetuating unfair trading systems, social injustice and environmental degradation.
- Enable pupils to be involved in real and meaningful decision making and for decisions to be acted on, for example staff responding positively to pupils suggesting the staff room should provide fair trade hot drinks.
- Provide opportunities for pupils to take positive action that has a global dimension in the school and in their locality, for example campaigning to supply fair trade chocolate at local shops.
