Scottish secondary schools and their links with developing countries: study

7. Recommendations

To make partnerships reach their goal of educational improvement and global learning, some suggestions can be made to make sure school partnerships and visits have a positive, holistic impact. The first recommendation would be to not take partnerships as a starting point, but global learning. This is a general recommendation for both schools and organisations supporting school links with developing countries. If the aim is to raise awareness about global issues, partnerships can be a vehicle to start the conversation on these issues, but this will need more than just ‘coming in contact with other cultures’ and asks for the developing of a critical understanding. The partnership guides (Chapter 3) and literature review (Chapter 2) point out that some elements are essential to put into place to ensure global learning is reached through a partnership.

That is not to say that partnerships cannot be a valuable and positive influence on good global citizenship. Making personal connections with other pupils from other countries and discussing each other’s life can open up conversations that allow to discuss issues such as social justice, poverty, immigration and climate change. However, there is a need to make sure these discussions will happen. At the moment, a lot of visits still seem to make short-term connections and evolve around supplying resources or building schools, instead of being embedded in a wider global learning focus of both schools. A way to show the local-global connections and promote critical thinking is for example to link partnerships to other initiatives such as Black History Month in Scotland or the Climate Change conferences (COP).

The literature review also points out that organisations and schools should be aware of and take into account issues of inequality, dependency and reinforcing stereotypes. The research showed that teachers seem to be very aware of issues of inequality and dependency and try to navigate having a relationship based on mutual learning with providing support for their partner school. This support is often thought through and based on the requests and recommendations of the partner school. However, there can be unintended impacts as well as a feeling of powerlessness in partner schools or organisations that will need to be considered and discussed beforehand. A potential danger lies in reinforcing narratives and practices that are so common that they are not necessarily questioned. The way visits for example were portrayed in pictures and blogs can paint a narrative of the Scottish pupils “helping” the poor and reinforce certain stereotypes of the African continent. The drive to improve education in the partner country could obscure the necessity for a critical reflection on development, power and poverty.

These recommendations can be strengthened through supporting initiatives that work towards increasing people’s critical global awareness and linking volunteer and partnership experiences with discussing social justice. Schools and organisations can be supported in reflecting on the impact of their practices by:

1. Encouraging cooperation between organisations.

Several organisations have mentioned that they would like to link up or work together with other organisations to make sure positive partnerships, global citizenship and in general educational improvement (in both Scotland and partner countries) are achieved. Supporting this cooperation can help discuss the impact of different practices and exchange ideas on good global citizenship and development education. This support could specifically focus on:

a. Bringing organisations with different backgrounds together, to improve impact and make sure partnerships (and school visits) and global learning are connected.

All organisations spoken to were reflecting on how global learning is impacted and agreed there is a need to tackle stereotypes and narratives and think about power imbalances. Some organisations did question the activity of other organisation, but the conversations part of this study suggest that even though organisations might have a different focus they were all aware and reflected on the impact partnerships, volunteer activities and fundraising can have on both Scottish and partner schools. It might be that this awareness has developed in the recent years, and some organisations have had different experiences in the past, which makes it valuable to bring them together to help and learn from each other. For example organisations such as STEKA skills, that are specifically focusing on setting up peer-to-peer dialogues between Scottish pupils and pupils in developing countries. Experiences from these organisations will be valuable in helping schools develop a pupil visit that has impact on global learning. Moreover, organisations tend to be small and cooperation could help to increase their impact.

b. Encouraging to (continue) research on the impact of partnership and school trips, and sharing this research with schools and other organisations. During meetings with different organisations, several pointed out that they are currently conducting research on the impact of their own practice, or in general on the impact of partnerships and visits on pupils, both in Scotland and in partner countries. Organisations that have mentioned they are conducting research are the McConnell International foundation, Classrooms for Malawi and SMP. STEKA skills has received funding for feasibility study on their dialogue approach. Sharing outcomes and discussing the impact on both global learning and development outcomes will be important, not only with each other but also with teachers.

2. Creating spaces for discussion and information exchange for school staff

Some teachers were well connected, for example to the Connecting Classrooms Programme, DECs or the SMP. However, others did not have this network. These teachers often question what the best strategy is to a partnership or global learning in general, or how to evaluate the impact of their trips. The literature review also points out that training of teachers on development perspectives, stereotypes and social justice is important in order to promote global learning. What the interviews with the teachers showed was that there is a real interest in discussing global issues with pupils, however, as some organisations also pointed out, teachers not always have the time and resources to do so. The schools focus can often be for example on their attainment result, and global learning can still be seen as ‘a bit of an add-on’. Support for teachers to think about global learning and partnerships can therefore be helpful.

a. Encouraging discussions on the impact of visits, partnerships and fundraising and the integration of global learning into the curriculum. It is important for schools to ask questions such as “what is the image that you portray of your partner country” and “how do you communicate about the fundraiser/visit/partnership”, to make sure they have a good understanding of both positive and potential negative impacts. To help them with these questions it will be helpful to include information on issues of international development when discussing global learning, for example on the Learners International webpage of Education Scotland. This information could include guidance on fundraising, school visits and critical reflection as well as link to some of the partnership guides discussed in chapter three. When setting up monetary and material support for partner schools it will be important that schools are aware of good practice principles in providing international development aid. Furthermore, to the teachers can be encouraged to make sure there are pre-and post-session for pupil visits that focus on issues of e social justice, colonial history and pupils’ own impact on the world. Organisations, such as the Development Education Centres but also volunteer organisations, can play a role in brokering these discussions.

Where possible advice programmes that support teacher visits (such as the Connecting Classrooms programme) to include compulsory pre- and post-sessions that focus on issues of power, stereotypes, dependency etc.

b. Encouraging exchanges between schools and between schools and organisations. Some of the interviewed teachers knew about other schools that also had a partnership or organised pupil visits. Most of them knew about each other either through the SMP or through events organised about partnerships of global citizenship. However, organisations also admitted that it was not always easy to keep in contact with teachers who for example had taken part in an exchange programme or global learning course. To make sure these teachers can keep in touch and know how to find each other and useful organisations, it is important to gain a better understanding of the information channels teachers use and need. This can also include gaining understanding in how contacts are made with partner schools, as the survey showed that often contacts are made by personal connection or through a variety of organisations.

3. Developing thinking around the opportunities to use digital technologies, as well as the potential negative (environmental) impacts visits might have.

Visits, both of teachers and students, seem to be an important aspect of a partnership, although not one that is necessary or provides the best options for global learning. It would be good to open a conversation about alternatives to visits and understand better why at the moment this option seems preferred by both Scottish and Malawian schools. Both the issue of digital technology use and environmental impact have not been fully explored in this report. However, both can have an impact on school practices. Digital technologies offer opportunities for partnership, for example to make it easier to have peer-to-peer contact and to design joint lessons. At the moment both Scottish schools and partner school face difficulties in using these new opportunities. The partner school often has limited access, certainly for sending regular emails between pupils. The Scottish school runs into problems with IT policies as these restrict the way they can contact the partner school.

Environmental issues were only mentioned in the margins by the interviewees and organisations. It is therefore not further explored in this report. However, that is not to say that there are not important questions to ask. Concerns can for example arise around flying and its environmental impact. There is a need for a discussion on whether the positive impact of a visit outweigh potential negative impacts, and whether alternatives are available that can offer a similar experience for pupils.

While this research was conducted before the Coronavirus outbreak, this global pandemic adds another dimension to the need to re-think global travel and its potential impact. While understanding local-global connections becomes and global learning become ever more important, this might not necessarily be able, or need to, include traveling to each other’s country.