Fair Trade: more social justice and less charity

So Fairtrade Fortnight 2016  here in the UK has finished and at CDEC – Developing Global Learning we have been promoting Fairtrade in Cheshire schools. Through fun activities, assemblies and community events children, staff and parents have been finding out how their consumer habits impact on the producers of the products we buy. It’s been a busy but very fulfilling time because the great thing about teaching about Fairtrade is that children of all ages simply get it. They understand the key messages and look both amazed and mystified when they learn how powerful buying Fairtrade products can be and how unscrupulous many companies can be in exploiting the poorest and often hardest workers of all: the farmers, miners and producers.

When we explain to children and school communities that looking for the Fairtrade logo and choosing to purchase a Fairtrade product will have a greater impact on people’s lives than continuing with other shopping habits, they nod and agree. One counter-argument we hear occasionally – from adults – is that “it’s expensive”. This may be true in the case of some products, but the ones which children understand and can relate to most are not: coffee, tea, bananas…..and of course chocolate. It’s true that you can buy cheaper bananas for example, but this is because the retailers and suppliers have cut out the producers and farmers in order to shift more stock. So it becomes a moral stance.

We do not provide sob-stories like charity fundraisers on TV do. We provide facts in an unemotional way. The Fairtrade Premium and Co-operative systems adopted by Fairtrade producers guarantees fixed prices for produce, a steady income and stability, rather than being at the mercy of fluctuating markets, whimsical price changes from suppliers and retailers, and can even account for poor crop yields resulting from poor weather conditions.

By buying a Fairtrade product the consumer is guaranteeing that the farmer(s) at the start of the production process is/are getting a fair wage and return for their efforts, labour and costs. This makes a huge difference: better housing (ie a decent roof and floor); children released from work so that they can go to school; regular meals for the family. And the Premium and Co-operative arrangements allow groups of families and producers to pool a percentage of their regular income in order to invest in basic services such as clean water in their villages, schools and medical centres. That’s when people start to realise that Fairtrade is a life-changing and long term solution to poverty, rather than a quick, temporary fix that keeps someone alive. It becomes a matter of Human Rights: now producers have access to food, water, housing, education, health care: as the youngsters say: it’s a no-brainer.

We have used activities such as mapping where products come from, sorting and ordering photographs and captions from Bean to Bar, collage and art projects, stories and songs to provoke discussion and thought across the age ranges. We opened a free cafe with children’s activities in Grosvenor Park in Chester for a weekend and hosted a visit from a Fair Trade olive oil producer from Lebanon.

Besides chocolate and coffee, bananas and tea, there’s footballs: one town in Bangladesh  produces almost all of the world’s footballs. A small percentage of these are Fairtrade footballs and these producers and workers have been enabled so much that they have some spare income to set up other business and enterprises. Their customers have leisure time and some money to spend. Small local economies are developing and growing.Teenagers are continuing their schooling and becoming empowered through education. And no, these footballs cost no more, in fact a little less than other ‘famous’ brands.

However real change will only come when you can choose to buy these products in your local stores or online. The footballs are difficult to source in reality and are not visible on the high street. Fairtrade rugby balls during the 2015 Rugby World Cup were impossible to source. But other brands and products are much more mainstream, such as Cadbury’s (why is it only certain chocolate products, eg Dairy Milk, Buttons?), Kit Kat, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Divine chocolate, Co-Op products, etc. You can even buy Fair Trade cosmetics and beauty products, sugar, gold, wine and cotton. Only by consumer demand will the poor truly be released from the shackles of unethical purchasing and supply chains. So look out for the logo, try the products and if you like them: keep buying. We are the wealthy: we can choose what we buy. By choosing Fairtrade we are enabling the producers to have more choice  in their lives too.

Finally, imagine if every National Trust cafe, shop and food outlet across England and Wales only sold Fairtrade coffee, tea, bananas, chocolate, ice cream, sugar……………I need to look into that: watch this space.

Interfaith, into peace

In acknowledgement of World InterFaith Week I am reflecting on some work we did at CDEC recently with the Chester Interfaith Harmony Group. We were there to support their work in schools, whereby volunteer members of different faiths go into school over a week and talk to the pupils and discuss their faith, beliefs and practices across the school. It is carefully timetabled and culminates in a celebration assembly at the end of the week.

As none of these people are teachers our job was to offer advice and support in teaching techniques, presentation, activity ideas and learning styles but I was struck by so many wonderful things, not least of which their confidence and humour. They are all so comfortable in their faith, and with each other. In the same room, all day, talking and discussing and sharing and supporting, we had 2 Quakers, 2 Muslims, a Jew, a Bahai, a Buddhist….and a Humanist. One or two others could not attend, and I know that they included Christians.

They each bring a different style to the classroom, low-tech on the most part, some using more active learning techniques than others; they all differentiate their sessions for different age groups, and they are all good talkers who had me spellbound throughout the day. They only spend an hour with each group of children.

They acknowledge each other’s beliefs and the main themes of the sessions. They reinforce the commonality and celebrate their own uniqueness. They discuss common themes such as peace, love, caring, community, family, celebration, etc.

I was intrigued by their humanity, fascinated by their calmness and confidence, moved by their hope and joy. I want to find out more about Humanism and Quakerism, merely because of the comments and presentations made by these two groups. As a teacher I taught all about the six major world religions, but know very little about these two.

The UN has passed a resolution to recognize the World Interfaith Harmony Week annually during the first week of February. With all this extremism – which I suspect has always been there throughout human history only now we have more money and weaponry to take drastic and terrible action to express it – just imagine a world where we all acknowledged, appreciated, accepted and listened to each others’ beliefs. Even the government’s mantra about British Values includes the requirement for schools to ‘promote tolerance and respect for those of different faiths and religions’ (so it must be important – see earlier post). To anyone with any common sense and any kind of global outlook it obviously makes sense. Philosophy for Children is helping the next generation discuss and listen and acknowledge and even change their points of view (see earlier post). Perhaps there is a need for Philosophy for Adult sessions too. In the pub or in staffrooms and offices, parks and public buildings. Or at home.

http://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/

Finally a lovely piece of music promoting peace and harmony to all x

http://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/the-gift-of-love/

Rights through time: respect and responsibility

800 years ago King John was forced, more or less, to sign and agree to the Magna Carta. Of all the rules and laws established on that day, there are very few still used in Britain today. But these few could be described as the much debated and current Cameron/Gove favourite ‘British’ values (see earlier post entitled ‘what value(s) do you have…’), as they encompass the rule of law, individual liberty, democracy and respect. The Magna Carta also formed the basis of the United States’ Bill of Rights established following American independence, and then after the Second World War, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Interestingly, the only country in the whole world to have not agreed and signed up to this is the United States. So this historic Magna Carta document, designed to restrict the powers of the monarchy, is often regarded as the foundation on which liberty, justice, equality and human rights in the modern era were built. And it has even led to support for the Rights of the Child.

At CDEC – Developing Global Learning our main support for schools is in developing critical thinking and skills with a view to empowering teachers and pupils in interpreting the world around them, unravelling some of the complexities of the problems people face, and encouraging participation in tackling injustice, inequality, poverty and discrimination. Such global learning provides a platform for pupil voices and opportunities to stand up to oppression, homophobia and racism whilst promoting and celebrating diversity and equality.  These are themes that could also be labelled liberty, democracy and respect. And so we have been helping schools, teachers and Headteachers to promote the British Values, as required by OFSTED under the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development of pupils – for more details as to how we support schools with this contentious issue, please see the aforementioned earlier blog).

The UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) is gaining momentum in schools as well. It takes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as its underpinning values, and supports schools in moving from a Needs-driven provision to a Rights-driven approach to all aspects of school life. It includes leadership and management, ethos, values and a global approach to learning; that is, everything Development and Global Education aims to promote and develop.

One of the common problems teachers associate with a rights-driven ethos in a school is that children will become standard-bearers of their own rights, constantly proclaiming their rights and how their teachers do not have the right to do/say this or that. Teachers often then go on to say that ‘you can only teach children about their rights if you also teach them about responsibilities too’. One of the key messages from the RRSA programme however is that we, the adults, are the duty-bearers for Children’s Rights, and that we are bound by International Law to uphold and champion Children’s Rights, for all children, everywhere, all the time. And that children have no so duty. They do not have a responsibility to uphold their own rights. But to gain the Award, to become a rights-respecting school, all members of the school community – pupils, staff, governors, parents, must respect all the pupils’ rights. So that means children have to respect all the other children’s rights. It also means that every child in the UK is linked to almost every other child in the whole world by the fact that they all have the same rights.

Goal!

Ages since last post, been busy – but am back with a few thoughts on aims, goals, dreams and targets….

Since Easter 2015 my work as a Global Education Officer has focused mainly on British Values, Philosophy for Children (see earlier blogs on these two strands of global learning), Fair Trade and latterly a little on Respect & Identity, and lastly The Sustainable Development Goals. These follow on from the Millennium Development Goals which were agreed by the UN in the year 2000 as aims and targets for the world to secure by 2015. There were eight targets aimed at reducing inequality and poverty around the world. They were very ambitious targets, ie eliminating poverty. But the data and results are impressive despite not reaching the ultimate goals.

In September 2015 the UN ratified and agreed the new Sustainable Development Goals which were launched with a huge media campaign and Global Citizen concert in New York. Malala (see earlier blog), the high profile equality rights campaigner, is a strong advocate for promoting these goals.  These targets are known more widely as the Global Goals, and there are 17 of them. Again they are very ambitious, vital for the sustainability of the planet itself, and morally important. The aim is to achieve the following goals for everyone by 2030:

Global citizenship is the only way we can achieve the aims of the SDGs in my view. If everyone on the planet was aware, critical, questioning, and actively involved in securing peace, equality and prosperity for all, the people in power would be forced to listen, act and change the way the world is organised, managed and led. In all aspects. We all need to change too, but if everyone did a little bit it would add up to a huge amount.

In order for everyone to be critically aware and have a voice however, education (Goal 4), is the only way. These are complex issues and at primary school level here in the UK global learning is as much about learning how to question, discuss, listen to other points of view, examine, dig deeper into media images or headlines or parents’ views etc, as it is about developing our knowledge of the world and the issues involved in things like poverty, inequality, democracy, global warming, refugees, war and so on.

When I was a full time classroom teacher and middle manager, targets for children’s attainment and progress were constantly reviewed and then set higher. There was always a minimum target and an ambitious one, for every child in English and Maths, every phase, year, term, even half term. I found whatever they achieved was not enough. There was constant scrutiny and unpicking of everything. Although not in History lessons, or art work, or PE, for example. Just English and Maths. The narrowing of the focus onto these (vital) areas of the curriculum is not good for helping anyone become critical learners, able to question, investigate, examine, explore, discuss, think, debate; or to be motivated to actively participate and become agents of change. There are opportunities for learners to develop these skills in English and Maths, but there is always too much content to cover, knowledge to learn and pressure to get higher and higher results.

I am a sports fan. I love watching sport and I like to play games and kick a ball around. I love football, playing, watching local teams live, big games on TV. I am constantly amazed by the dedication, perseverance and sacrifices of Olympians in particular and other elite sports stars: how they work so hard, train so much, bounce back from injury and defeat, strive for success. Many of them never win. But I really admire athletes like Jessica Ennis-Hill, Frank Lampard, Tanni Grey-Thompson – they may not be controversial or celebrity-type personalities, but their dedication to achieving perfection is astounding.  I don’t know how they do it, have that drive, that determination, endlessly, for years and years. Talent it seems to me will only get you so far. Other values, attitudes and attributes are also needed to get you to your next target, goal, place. And these are harder to measure but just as important in any walk of life and therefore in schools and children – and for us all as global citizens.

Every January I like to list things I want to achieve that year, including people and places to visit, events, work ambitions, health targets and jobs at home. I’ve always done it. I never manage to achieve it all – time runs away, things happen unexpectedly, resources are limited and there’s always the need to compromise – but I like to know what I’m trying to do, what I can aim for in all aspects of my life in terms of family, home, health, travel, social, learning, work. My aim for next year is to maintain a variety of roles within education supporting children to learn about our amazing world, global citizenship and history – to inspire people.  And to be able to do this whilst still paying the bills….

Who do we think we are? Migration, heritage and identity

Where do you come from? I like to ask people I am getting to know this question. It’s ambiguous because you could literally answer where you came from that day to get to wherever we’ve just met – “straight from school in Chester,” for example.

Or you could state where you live – in my case Wirral, or to anyone from another country or down south, Merseyside, or near Liverpool, or between Liverpool and Chester.

Or you might say where you were born and raised – in my case I say Hertfordshire, because most people have never heard of Hertford. Occasionally one might say “oh, I know, whereabouts exactly?” and I then say Hertford itself.

Rarely do I get the chance to explain who I really am and where I come from through time. My father was Australian, born in Melbourne. He met my mum, who was born in Hertford to a Welsh father and whose mother was from Cambridge, in the 1950s in Queensland when she was working out there. My father’s family originate from Essex. And were not convicts (I have to explain when people ask). So I am a quarter Welsh, half Australian and a bit English. When it comes to sport I am English, then British. I have dual nationality, two passports,and feel very close to my Aussie family and friends; I am very proud of that heritage. But I am definitely more British – I guess simply because of my upbringing here in the UK. But this is only the starting point of my blog this week because as much as I love sport, human rights are far more important.

All the press and publicity over the summer regarding refugees, asylum seekers, migration, immigrants, Calais, Hungary, Germany, Syria, Turkey, etc etc really upset me. The perception was that the UK does not want any more immigrants; that we are full and overcrowded; that our welfare and health systems are overworked and under-resourced as it is; that terrorists are flooding in, etc. Where’s the balanced reporting? Does everyone think this? Charitable organisations are collecting lorry loads of supplies to take to Calais; Jeremy Corbyn, the new Labour party leader, has emphasised that the UK is a wealthy country: which it is. He has a quiet, unflustered, almost unconventional manner in terms of party politics in this country, which is refreshing. He appears to be honest and principled, talking about social justice, equality, peace,  listening, discussing, solving problems and getting on with each other.  His policies of course may or not be either popular or even practical, but he speaks a language of hope, and peace and care. He’s not preaching a selfish code. The statistics on immigration across Europe are revealing too – how few asylum seekers the UK takes compared to other EU nations, for example. Look at the figures for asylum seeker applications last year:

• UK 31,400
• Italy 56,300
• France 63,100
• Sweden 81.300
• Germany 166,800

It is well known that the UK government (Conservative) has said it will support 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next 5 years. Germany took that many in one weekend. More than half the world’s asylum seekers (52%) in 2014 came from 5 countries – Syria, Afghnaistan, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. [All facts from The British Redcross]

At CDEC – Developing Global Learning we explore these issues and facts with teachers so that they can open up discussions and dismantle preconceptions and stereotypes. Many of the Syrian refugees are highly educated, wealthy people who have left home with nothing, just their children. Perhaps left some of their family behind, for now. We explore these issues through the Global Teacher’s Award course, and through stories and discussing images with children. My question to children, teachers. Headteachers, friends, acquaintances, the British press, joe public, David Cameron is: who do you think you are? Where did and do you come from? WE ARE ALL MIGRANTS. Even if you were born here and your parents were, etc. you could be from Ireland (1850s), France (Normans), Scandinavia (Viking), Germany (Angles), or Italy (Roman)! In fact you could be from all of the above. Or you could be descended from the 20th century immigration policies that encouraged workers from the Commonwealth – South Asia, Uganda, the Caribbean – to help drive our buses and trains, work in our mills, or run our world-renowned Health Service. Your mother or grandmother might be one of the thousands who married American servicemen during the war….

How would you feel if ….. there was a war on in your city/town? If soldiers or militia-types were raping your wife or forcing you to fight a war you didn’t want? If your family were in imminent danger? What would it take for you to spend hundreds of pounds taking a highly perilous journey, risking your own and your children’s lives? What would you take with you if you left in a hurry? Your phone? Some clothes? Some cash? How would you feel? Who do you think you are, talking about people just like you in that way when they’ve gone  through all that?

“Music is the universal language of mankind.” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

I have been inspired to write this entry after hearing two songs on the radio as I drove to work the other day. They summed up the power of creativity, the human spirit, and above all sounds created by people for the enjoyment of others, or to celebrate something, or to say something about the world we live in. I love watching musicians play live, to watch the technical ability and see the pleasure and rewards of their efforts. I am fortunate to be able to play a bit and enjoy bringing joy to others by performing live myself.

The songs I heard were firstly ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen, which never fails to make me move about and smile. I’m having such a good time –  which is true. The next song was Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’……when played loud the hairs stand up on my neck and goose pimples flow down my arms. Tears prickle the eyes. But why? And why does this affect me like that at the moment and not you? And not me on another day in another place with the same music?

That is the power of music. So many of our favourite songs form the soundtrack of our lives. I like to list favourite songs/gigs/albums/bands etc. The lists change and evolve but many stay the same because they are bound up with people, places, memories and of course emotions. This is not like films or books I find.  with these art forms I watch or read them once and am often incredibly moved and find them thought-provoking – but I rarely return to them again as there’s too many new ones to see or read. But with music we all turn to our old favourites and relax or enjoy listening to them again and again.

I have a few friends who keep up with the times and go and see lots of new up and coming bands with young audiences, where the kids’ parents are waiting at the back of the hall. I’ve tried this but cannot get into the music. Some of it’s ok, but none of it or the performers are particularly memorable. And I think that’s because neither they nor the lyrics or music mean anything to me.

So music has to mean something to the listener if they are going to enjoy it. The music I play with my mates and at parties etc on the guitar is stuff people know. I’ve tried writing my own material but it doesn’t really work because first it isn’t very good but also it doesn’t mean anything to anyone else, only me. I really enjoy making people smile, sing and dance. It’s a great feeling to see that. And this is where the universal language comes in. I remember strumming a few songs years ago in a remote Thai village somewhere near Chang Mai on one of those treks you can go on. These little kids had no idea what I was singing about, but they knew it sounded jolly and was a funny song. They were jigging around and joining in when they heard the refrain and so on, smiles all round. And when on a Barrier Reef expedition with about 50 other backpackers the leaders on a big sailing brig asked me to ‘keep the party atmosphere going’ as they waved goodbye, the camp-fire singsong with the guitar was what they were looking to me for. At my wedding, my speech revolved around this theme, of the power of music to inspire and uplift us all. Our song was The Voyage by Christy Moore – look it up. At my father’s funeral I wrote new lyrics about him set to Waltzing Matilda (he was Australian) and got everyone to join in. At Dave’s wedding, and Paul’s, I changed the words to well-known pop songs to suit the bride and groom as part of my best man speeches.Music and entertainment; messages and meaning.

“Music speaks of platonic truth – the ideal river rather than the polluted reality, love as we dream it rather than we experience it, grief noble and uplifting rather than our distracted weeping. It is necessary to our survival and our sanity.” (Pam Brown)

The bands I come back to most for inspiration and motivation are The Beatles and U2.  With the Beatles I am fascinated by their story, how good they were, the energy and originality and how they got out of Liverpool and took the world by storm. How they influenced everyone afterwards. Who they were, how they did it, where they came from, how they developed. With U2 it is more about the sound and the feel of the band, the sum of all the parts, and power of the music. For all his haters, Bono knows what he is and how he is reviled by many, but he and Bill Gates have worked tirelessly to end Aids in Africa. The Edge is not a great guitarist, but he is techy geek who has worked tirelessly with electronic gadgets to refine and develop and change his sound over the years. I like they way they try to move on all the time. Bono likes to improvise and interact and and create a bond with his audience.

For me the power of music lies in the sound and the emotions it provokes. I like lots of genres and eras, from the 50s, Elvis, rockabilly, ska, reggae, rock, new wave, punk and folk. My father was a jazz musician and a little Louis Armstrong or some classic pre-war jazz standards always move me with a tinge of sadness and pleasure mixed together.  I enjoy finding traditional music when I go abroad, and love the drone of the didgerido, it mesmerises me.

In summary music is the most powerful, interactive and creative art form of them all to me.  Music can make you feel invincible, that you can do anything.

“When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.” (Henry David Thoreau)

Why support learning from History, Heritage and the Past?

During the summer of 2015 I focussed my energies on the past. Specifically on showing visitors round The Apprentice House at Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire, and on developing a school visit package for the World Heritage Castles of North Wales. I have also been reading around these subjects and Waterloo. Finally I have enjoyed reminiscing with an old friend who lives overseas about our time together in Coventry in the early 90s, half a lifetime ago (or 25 years anyway).

I have always found learning about the lives of people in the past fascinating. I like to compare how they did things and what they did and achieved and ate and lived and believed with my own life. These comparisons never cease to amaze me: I think of ordinary people who lived in earlier eras as amazing and incredible. Maybe they were, or weren’t – we may never know – but to survive, let alone thrive intellectually, financially, personally, emotionally, physically, spiritually seems remarkable to me given the conditions and harsh realities of everyday life and work in previous centuries.

Some of the visitors on the tours at Quarry Bank tell me of their experiences as Apprentices at Mills. A few tell me they remember receiving the same remedies as I have described. Others like me try to put into words the images they have in their mind following a detailed guided tour of the House, as they try and fit the elements of those children’s lives together – food, rest, work, punishment, education, health, clothes etc.

To me it doesn’t matter which era you are learning from, the main thing to try and find out is what it was like living in those times, in that place. I do this all the time. I love the fact that history has Story within it’s very name. Stories bring the past to life. Stories of people. I am really enjoying reading about the lives of two fictional Roman soldiers and their adventures around Europe and North Africa, set in actual places and events from that time (author Simon Scarrow). I like the My Story diary series written for children, where fictional, ordinary youngsters describe their role and what they witnessed at well-known historical events. Most of my educational heritage work involves bringing the documented and archeological evidence alive for children, communities and adults. It becomes storytelling, telling the stories of ordinary people using the documentary and artefactual evidence to support the narrative. An ex-teaching colleague of mine was a fantastic musician who wrote a song about the 100 year-old walls and bricks of the school building telling their story, what they’d lived through in the tumultuous and ever-changing 20th century. Of course there is always a danger in the creation of that story: it is my interpretation of that evidence, my version of events. So just as in the Dangers of a Single Story (see earlier blog) regarding a place, so the same goes for a time.

I am always bowled over by the concept of time travel. This is since the rebooting of Doctor Who in 2005 by Russell T Davies who wrote such narrative, personal and emotional stories. It was the characters we sympathised and empathised with, fell in love with or wanted to hate. They weren’t always human, but as me and my young family watched the stories unfold through the Doctor’s human companions’ eyes and through our tears and laughter, the same question came to mind every time: if you could change one thing in the past, what would you do? This is also the premise of Ben Elton‘s latest book, Time and Time Again. I literally find it mind-blowing to think that if one thing, just ONE thing happened a few seconds earlier (or later) than it did, the knock on effects to everything else happening would be huge: nothing would be exactly as it is right now: imagine not meeting her at that time and place; imagine crossing that road too late….

We all know how lucky we are, how privileged our lives are, how lazy we’ve become and how fast everything is changing; but I am continually intrigued by how people dealt with ordinary and extraordinary tasks, events and ideas in the past. Within living memory is another intriguing aspect too – my wife’s parents did not have a telephone at home at all when she was young; some children today do not know what a telephone box or a vinyl record is for. I used to watch snooker (Pot Black) in black and white – or should I say I knew which ball was black and which was white, but all the others were shades of grey! Which also intrigues me about the past – love, relationships and attitudes to sex, including homosexuality, marriage and unmarried mothers etc.

This all leads up to those fundemental questions of being, of human existence: How did we get here? What has changed? Why has it changed? Where did I come from? I enjoy programmes on TV like Who Do You Think You Are? and Long Lost Family. They show us through real stories what life was like for people like you and me, and put into context why certain decisions were made by those people. I would love to be able to ask my mum about the war or my dad about life in Australia in the 1930s. Knowing who you are and where you come from helps provide a secure sense of belonging and confidence. The people who made me and who made them etc did this, or that. And survived.

This is the essence of history, and the purpose of researching, preserving and exploring heritage and the past. We interpret the past in order to explain the present and place ourselves and our lives in context so that we can influence the future. The next fundemental questions of human existence are Where are we going, and Where am I going? And the future is ours to shape in the knowledge of what has been before.

Reconnecting

Been away this week reconnecting with the natural world……….camping on the beach in Pembrokeshire with my two boys. We try and do something simple and cheap like this at the start of the school holidays most years, without their mum and with no access to electricity, phones, TV etc. We spend most of the time in the sea or on the beach, this time we went for some nice walks too and watched the sunset with a beer in our hands. They had their first surfing lesson and we cooked on the little camping stove. Sausages sizzling, canned food, plenty of tea. Reading too (future post maybe on this). Our activities are governed by the weather and how tired we are.

I like being outdoors, rising early and having a stroll along the beach, thinking about the relentlessness of the waves, the zillions of grains of sand just there on this one beach and all the beaches in Wales, the UK, Europe, the world….the rain, the clouds, the sunshine. The wind, the sunsets, the sheep; wild horses on the hill. Farmers, farming, farmland. Cliffs, rocks, boulders, caves. Fantastic images are conjured up – of smugglers and dragons and tribesmen and fishermen.

We have a particularly favourite spot and we have probably been there half a dozen times over the years. We roll out of the tent walk across the car park, perhaps grabbing a bacon roll from the cafe as we get to the beach, just a minute’s stroll from the campsite. It’s only 180 miles from home but takes five hours to get there because of the roads, it forces you to slow down from the moment you leave the house. We love it. And i love to have a more basic, simple, natural existence for a little while, take stock of how small I am in the scheme of things and to reconnect with both nature and my proudest achievement: my two fantastic boys, now young men.

Half Time Analysis July 2015: What Have I learnt And How Are We Doing So Far?

It’s hard to believe I am already half way through my temporary contract with CDEC – Developing Global Learning in Chester; yet the days of class teaching and micro-managing in a school seem a distant memory. I feel that I have learned a lot over the past 3 months and for your benefit and mine I thought I’d summarise this learning here:

1. Global learning is real learning about real people in real places, real problems and real solutions and on our doorstep as well as far, far away. It is current and relevant to us all, and especially to young people who will be the global citizens of tomorrow and can be (and are) the campaigners and activists for change today.
We have seen hundreds of local schoolchildren give mini cardboard models of world leaders to their local MPs explaining what they would do if they were in charge. These were then handed in to Downing Street in their thousands (Send My Friend campaign) with a view to influencing the resetting of the Millennium Development Goals from 2000-2015 in the summer by the world leaders. These will become the new Sustainable Development Goals for 2015-2030.
We have seen migrants attempting to enter Europe and the UK by the most dangerous means: an ideal opportunity to critically examine migration, poverty, war, injustice, human rights and culture. Our Global Teachers Award course helps teachers to understand these issues and how to approach them and open them up in school.
We have seen extremists attacking tourists and schools have been instructed to do more to tackle the risks of extremism. Schools have also been told to use their Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development policy to promote the four ‘British’ values. Several of our courses and staff training this term have focussed on understanding values and analysing school values (and in some cases Church values) with the British values alongside, finding commonality and providing examples of good practice in promoting these with children.
We have seen a General Election where one party got 12% of the vote but only 2% of the seats, another dip by around 5% but lose tens of seats and another rise a little in terms of share of the vote and take the majority of the seats. Plus the SNP taking complete control of Scotland and reopening the debate for Home Rule. All these also provided real life contexts for staff and their children to open up learning about democracy and culture in the UK today.
We have seen children engaging with the world and enjoying sharing their learning. We have seen schools sharing their global outlook and participation in displays and classrooms. We have shared learning activities designed to develop global knowledge and values with many teachers.

2. Philosophy in schools has been all over the news this week as research is showing that it helps develop pupils’ skills in many areas including academic achievement –especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We have encouraged teachers to support their children in developing critical and thinking skills through training and staff meetings and CPD in the SAPERE approach known as Philosophy for Children (P4C). Please refer to my earlier blog if you are interested in this fascinating area. I have been lucky enough to trial some sessions in two schools and am about to apply for my Level 1 Teachers Certificate. I think it is the most inclusive, fair and interesting way to open up discussion and debate about global issues and philosophical concepts. I need a school to let me take a club every week!

3. Charitable Organisations and businesses need funding! DFID bids and grants dried up on the election of the Coalition in 2010. Oxfam have scrapped their education department completely and UNICEF UK now charge for everything. CDEC is one of about 23 surviving Development Education Centres across the UK – over 40 have disappeared in the last 5 years or so. We rely mainly on schools buying our services, and to a lesser extent than previously, Local Authorities. To stay afloat, with a team of just three part time staff, we need a minimum income. This is the part I find hardest: selling our services. Yet the work is so important. We are sure there are pots of money here and there, and we only need a few £10K projects, but it is how to access them and the time to do so that is hard. We believe that you have to build relationships with people, build up their trust. Our services are high quality, and well regarded by those who engage with them. We have worked tirelessly over the last few months to continue to build relationships with schools and teachers and Heads. We are sure that we can find a way of not only surviving but also of reaching even more schools, Headteachers, teachers and ultimately children. Every single one reached is another global citizen in the making. And every global citizen takes us all a step closer to equality, fairness and justice across the world. For example, as Malala Yousafzai (see earlier blog) said on her 18th birthday this weekend: if the world’s governments stopped spending on arms and weapons for just 8 days, every child in the world would be educated for the next 15 years. No-one’s asking them to do that, she was just saying how little it would cost in global terms. And just going to school equates to not smoking: it adds at least 10 years to your life expectancy.

So here’s to the next 3 months. I’ve a chance to recharge my batteries and reflect on my new life out of the classroom over the summer and do some other work, and then it’s back to changing the world (well Wirral and Cheshire) in September. I am really enjoying my new role and don’t want it to end anytime soon!

She Is Malala!

I read the remarkable story of Malala Yousafzai last year and could not put it down. It moved me to tears. You might recall that she was the girl shot at close range in the head in a targeted attack by the Taliban in Pakistan in October 2012, aged 15, all because she refused to NOT go to school. She had been blogging under a pseudonym (at their insistence) for BBC Urdu for several years and tirelessly campaigning for the right for girls to go to school in her home valley of Swat. Her illiterate mother was due to start to learn to read and write on that very day.

Malala is bright, ambitious, determined. She is brave, strong-willed and stubborn. She loves to read. Malala studies hard. She is also fiercely competitive, with classmates, siblings, even her father. She upholds her Islamic beliefs with dignity and steadfastness – she was initially embarrassed when recovering in England by films such as Bend it like Beckham which kind nurses assumed would be appropriate for her to watch.

Malala meets world leaders and harangues them to lobby for equality in education. She goes to school. Malala speaks out against injustice and inequality. She has facts and figures to back up her arguments, and of course she has experience and the scars to support her stance. And she goes to school in Birmingham.

There is so much we all could learn from Malala Yousafzai. She is Malala, yes, but she is also a passionate, intense and proud. She is a 17 year old girl who laughs a lot, who adores cricket, both playing and watching, and who misses her home.

This is what Malala told a reporter about her would-be assassin: “He was young, in his 20s … he was quite young, we may call him a boy. And it’s hard to have a gun and kill people. Maybe that’s why his hand was shaking [her friends in the bus have since told her this, as Malala herself has no recollection of being shot]. Maybe he didn’t know if he could do it. But people are brainwashed. That’s why they do things like suicide attacks and killing people. I can’t imagine it – that boy who shot me, I can’t imagine hurting him even with a needle. I believe in peace. I believe in mercy.” Now if that isn’t a message for today, this week of all weeks after the attacks in Tunisia, France and Kuwait, what is?

Less well-known but in my eyes equally exceptional is Malala’s father, Ziauddin. He literally built the school for Malala and the other girls in the town. He ran it, was the Headteacher and teacher and secretary and bursar all in one to start with. He risked everything to do so – all his money and livelihood, and his life. He taught his and others’ children, boys and girls, to learn, to fly, to stand up and do something with their lives. A truly remarkable family.

Malala is the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. She says she didn’t aim to win a prize, she is aiming for peace. Her book, I Am Malala, is a best-seller and has been adapted for younger readers. I have introduced her story to schools through assemblies but there is much more global learning we can promote using Malala, her story, her campaigning and her character as a stimulus; social injustice is caused partly by the lack of educational opportunities, for example. Global citizenship means campaigning for human rights and children’s rights – did you know that all but the USA and Somalia have signed up for the Convention of the Rights of the Child, and that Article 28 is ‘you have the right to education’? It means learning about inequality and injustice, and how we cannot tolerate it. Global learning is concerned with learning to respect others’ cultures and religions. It’s purpose is to challenge values and perceptions. It promotes peace and conflict resolution. All of these key principles apply to Malala and her life.

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot By The Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb, is published by Wiedenfeld & Nicolson at £18.99.