LEARNING ABOUT OTHERS, LEARNING ABOUT OURSELVES

 

Global Education Derby, MUNDI and The Centre for Citizenship Studies in Leicester have been successful in a DFID (Department for International Development) bid for an educational project to develop and pilot a learning methodology based on critical educational approaches to citizenship education.

 

LEARNING METHODOLOGY

The methodology is based on the concept of ‘communities of enquiry’ and aims to create spaces where participants (teachers and students) can feel safe to explore different perspectives/worldviews on global and local issues and become aware of their own perspectives/worldviews, without being told what to think or what to do (click here to learn more about the methodology).

 

INTERNATIONAL INVOLVEMENT

The project will run pilot groups of teachers and students worldwide and invite members of the educational and academic community to look into the learning outcomes of the methodology in a major international research project.

 

The co-ordinators and moderators in each context will have access to a database of materials on 13 themes that should be customised to meet the needs of their contexts. The methodology will be piloted for a minimum of ten hours and participants will fill in a reflective diary (which is the same for all contexts) and take part in a recorded focus group. In addition, the organisers will be invited to develop a case-study about their contexts with the lessons learned from the process. The data collected will be part of an international comparative research project (click here to see information for secondary schools and sixth-forms in the UK).

 

INTERNATIONAL LINKING AND COMMUNICATION

There will also be opportunities for linking with project partners (teachers and students) in other contexts (online, through video-conferencing or face-to-face). The team of international partners is inter-disciplinary and currently involves academics, teacher-trainers and educators in universities, schools and organisations in 8 countries: UK, Brazil, Canada, USA, Singapore, France, the Caribbean and Israel.

 

WHAT TO DO NEXT?

If you would like to take part in this initiative, send an e-mail to taxvoa@nottingham.ac.uk. Please include your contact details, the description of the context you would like to pilot the methodology in, and a few words about your reasons for deciding to contact us and expectations in relation to your participation in the project.