Schools across the country have used travel writing, holiday brochures, poetry from other cultures and media representation to explore issues around tourism in developing countries. These materials are available in the ‘Looking Beyond the Brochure’ video pack produced by Tourism Concern (www.tourismconcern.org.uk), with support from DFID.

GCSE pupils at a school in Norwich regularly undertake a project where they compare the production of bread in the UK and India. This raises a wide range of issues including agriculture, environment, energy, transport, food preservation and storage, nutrition and economics while highlighting some of the disparities between lifestyles in less developed and more developed countries.

GCSE pupils at a girls’ school in Birmingham were set the task of producing flash cards to communicate safety issues around the use of electricity in developing countries. Pupils researched ways in which this information could be communicated, taking account of potential problems such as illiteracy. They also considered cultural issues such as the use of the colour red to communicate danger and whether this convention was understood everywhere. Through this project pupils learnt ways in which the quality of life can be improved and to consider the needs and wants of people from different cultures.

Five schools in Birmingham have set up an internet link with five schools in the South African province of Gauteng (which incorporates Soweto) aimed at encouraging young people to use the internet as a medium for learning and communication, and bridging cultural divides. The project is designed to have direct relevance to the national curriculum of both countries, with pupils and staff regularly exchanging ideas and information on a range of subjects as diverse as geography, art and design, tourism and international relations as well as ICT. It is backed by Birmingham City Council, DFID and Wits University in Johannesburg.

As part of their work on sustainable development and tropical rainforests, a range of secondary schools have used Worldaware’s ‘Global Eye’ magazine to learn about the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development in Guyana. The centre is a unique project looking at how rainforests can be developed in a sustainable way, and study of the centre offers pupils an excellent opportunity to see what a less economically developed country is doing to help manage one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems. Information about the project is available both in the magazine and via its online version, Global Eye News (www.globaleye.org.uk), which includes an ICT project for schools, based on the centre. The website also showcases students’ material and features answers from the director of the project to questions sent to him by UK schools.

Year 11 pupils at a special school in York celebrated the 50th anniversary of the declaration of human rights with an e-mail link to a school in France. Pupils in both countries studied the declaration before putting together a list of their own rights, which they then shared with each other. Incorporated in the work they did was work on the rights of street children in Kenya and Mexico. Teachers developed materials to raise awareness of the rights of other children whilst reinforcing linguistic concepts, as all the work was done through the medium of French.

Year 10 pupils at a South London secondary school visited the Horniman Museum and researched African artefacts including textiles and masks. In particular they learnt about the cultural significance of Adinkra symbols used by the Ashanti in Ghana which provide ‘a code of living’. They compared these symbols with those used in other cultures and interpreted their research in their own creative work, drawing on their own cultural background.

Schools in the Manchester area participate regularly in an Earth Summit Day organised by the Development Education Project. They role play delegates discussing issues around development and the environment. In the schools’ Earth Summit Day each class takes on roles representing the summit organisers, the international press, multinational corporations, development organisations and geographical regions. Discussions centre around questions such as ‘how can international trade become fairer for all countries?’ and ‘how can we develop sustainable use of the world’s resources?’ Pupils gain an understanding of north-south inequalities and sustainable development as well as developing their skills of debating, presentation and co-operation.

At a Junior School in Kingston-upon-Thames the Global Education Policy states that “By ensuring a global perspective to our work we can widen the horizons of our pupils, both to their own multicultural society and the world at large, fostering skills of tolerance, co-operation and understanding.” The policy outlines strategies the school adopts to support global education which include international school links, contact with students and teachers from other countries, the use of local development education agencies and multicultural weeks.

A junior school in Slough initiated a link in response to a request from a school in Delhi. Over 90% of the pupils at the Slough school are of Asian ethnic origin and the partnership was seen as one way to help children stay in touch with their cultural roots. It was also hoped that the link would enable teachers to have a closer understanding of the children’s cultural background and a better knowledge of some of their customs and practices. Through developing close links on a one to one basis, using both the Internet and mail, the participating children and teachers developed a global perspective, and an ongoing dialogue was created. The project also provided an opportunity to do focused ICT work, including use of the Internet. More recently, the links have also been useful in other areas of the curriculum, such as studying the weather, and in examining attitudes to moral issues under PSE.

The Castle Cary–Mufulira partnership was initiated in 1991, and built upon an established link between the diocese of Bath and Wells and the Anglican diocese of Northern Zambia. Over the years a number of reciprocal visits between the two schools have enabled 102 staff, students and parents to participate in reciprocal exchanges. Each exchange focuses on a specific area of the curriculum and materials and activities are developed with the staff and students involved. In this way the curriculum in almost every subject area has been enriched, from Science to Religious Education, and from Art to PE. A video and booklet has been produced which features work by a joint drama group incorporating both English and Zambian traditions, learnt from visiting local schools and drama groups. The project is managed by a working group and features strongly in the school’s development plan. The link between secondary schools has now extended to the feeder primaries and continues to spread into the community.

Over 4,000 school children took part in the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Children’s Our World Festival in Summer 2000. The performance, displays and activities for the festival day were the culmination of an extensive programme of classroom workshops, with teachers and pupils working together with local artists from other countries. The project, which was run by Norfolk Education and Action for Development and supported by Norfolk LEA, aimed to promote a greater sense of global citizenship and sustainable development amongst young people in Norfolk, and to develop practical strategies to enable schools to continue their work in the future.

“For us an important aspect of our global week is to challenge stereotypical images of other places and cultures. We aim to portray a more balanced view, seeing the positive as well as the negative, and highlighting similarity as well as difference. The potential of a global approach is just beginning to dawn on us.”

(John Caine, Teacher at Holly Lodge School, Birmingham)

“Raising global issues brings a contemporary resonance. It helps us to see the context of a situation at the time, and to develop an empathy with those involved.”

(Paul Bracey, Teacher at Park View School, Birmingham)