Contribution to international development report: 2018-2019

Chapter Ten: Education

10.1 Introduction

Scotland is increasingly linked to people and places across the world: socially, culturally, environmentally, economically and politically. It is more important than ever that Scotland’s people take a critical, informed look at global issues, and their roles and responsibilities as active, engaged citizens. Global citizenship education addresses this need, offering an overarching approach to engaging people of all ages with the global social justice issues at the heart of international development.

This report gives details of two approaches which are discussed in this chapter.

10.2 Global Citizenship Education

1 No Poverty

4 Quality Education

6 Clean Water and Sanitation

7 Affordable and Clean Energy

8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

10 Reduced Inequalities

12 Responsible Consumption and Production

13 Climate Action

14 Life Below Water

16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

10.2.1. Background

Global Citizenship Education is embedded within Scottish Education. It is explicitly referenced, along with sustainable development education and outdoor learning, as a constituent part of the cross-curricular theme of Learning for Sustainability. Children and young people in Scotland can therefore gain the skills, knowledge and values to lead sustainable lifestyles through the exploration of Learning for Sustainability within all curriculum areas.

In Scotland, we have already taken significant steps to enhance Learning for Sustainability and therefore global citizenship education. For example, the General Teaching Council for Scotland requires that all registered teachers to have a knowledge and understanding of Learning for Sustainability. Furthermore, Learning for Sustainability is cited as a feature of effective educational practice in How Good is Our School [4th Edition], the quality assurance framework used by every state school in Scotland.

We are committed to further ensuring that all of Scotland’s children and young people can benefit from Learning for Sustainability and an understanding of what it means to be a global citizen. That is why we have developed an Action Plan to give effect to the concluding report of the Learning for Sustainability National Implementation Group – Vision 2030+. Our 2019 Learning for Sustainability Action Plan frames our approach over the next 3-5 years and will focus action around:

• curriculum design and delivery;
• practitioner skills and confidence;
• engaging leadership and decision-makers; and
• influencing the design and policies of learning estates.

The implementation of our Learning for Sustainability Action Plan will see the Scottish Government and Education Scotland continue to work with a number of partners across education. Scotland is home to a wealth of knowledge and expertise relating to Learning for Sustainability, and partnership working is at the heart of supporting and embedding global citizenship across education. Education Scotland and Scottish Government liaise with key partners and networks to provide support and guidance. This will include the establishment of a new Learning for Sustainability Policy and Stakeholder network which will guide the delivery of the new action plan. The new network will bring together key stakeholders and delivery partners including Learning for Sustainability Scotland, Scotland’s UN recognised Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable development.

10.2.2. Examples of global citizenship education in action

International Development Education Association Scotland (IDEAS)

• IDEAS is a network of organisations and individuals across Scotland that actively support and promote development education and education for global citizenship. The network brings together large NGOs, smaller organisations and the Development Education Centres in Scotland to influence those in all sectors of formal and informal education and lifelong learning including teachers, policymakers, youth and adult education workers and a range of voluntary and statutory organisations. While not directly funded by the Scottish Government, IDEAS provides a valued source of guidance and advice for current and future policy developments in the area of global citizenship education.

Development Education Centres Scotland (DECS)

• Scotland has six regional Development Education Centres that offer practical support for educators, professional development opportunities and innovative learning and teaching projects for global citizenship education. The six centres work both individually and collaboratively with other members of IDEAS, the third sector Global Citizenship Education network, to provide: locally accessible and face-to-face support for education practitioners; and training to early years practitioners and college lecturers.
• In carrying out their work, the Development Education Centres provide a core offering across all six centres focusing on:
  • global citizenship within Learning for Sustainability;
  • The Sustainable Development Goals;
  • children’s rights; and
  • improving literacy through Learning for Sustainability.
• In addition to the above, each centre also work with local councils and schools to develop bespoke offerings to meet local needs and educational priorities. This work supports educators across Scotland to incorporate digital citizenship education into their curriculum delivery. The Scottish Government provides core funding (£300k in 2018/19) to enable the DECS to undertake this valuable work. This has seen over 1,800 educators undertake professional learning focusing on global citizenship education in the last year alone.

The Eco-Schools Scotland Programme

• The Eco-Schools programme is the world’s largest network of practitioners and pupils. Over 60 countries now participate in this global initiative, and Scotland’s Eco-Schools programme, delivered by Keep Scotland Beautiful, has one of the highest levels of engagement; with 98% of Scottish educational settings now participating. The programme comprises a whole-setting management framework of seven elements which support schools to plan and embed action on issues relating to sustainability across their setting and wider community. This is done through a menu of ten topics: and in 2017, the Scottish Eco-Schools programme became the first in the world to align these topics with the Sustainable Development Goals. This allows schools to combine environmental sustainability education with global citizenship education in an effort to deliver engaging and relevant learning experiences.
• The Scottish Government funds the Eco-Schools Scotland programme (£300k in 2018/19). As of January 2019, Keep Scotland Beautiful have awarded over 2,125 Scottish schools with their first Green Flag. Over the 25 years of the programme over 4,800 Green Flags have been awarded and at any given time there are more than 3,700 schools registered with the programme, involving more than 843,000 young people and 64,500 teachers. Out of the current cohort of Green Flag holding schools, 84% of them have renewed their status at least once.

Support from Education Scotland

• Education Scotland also undertakes their own additional activity to make a wider contribution to International Development and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as work with NGOs to assist them to engage with teachers on programmes with a Global Citizenship education purpose, and it hosts study visits by education policymakers from overseas to share expertise which can contribute to improvement in their education systems.
• Education Scotland has worked with the Malawi Ministry of Education for a number of years, underpinned by a partnership working agreement, to support the further development of inspection and improvement capacity in the Malawian education system.

10.3 Scottish Government Curriculum Team, Education Scotland & Civil Society

As a result of the Scottish Government commitment to policy coherence for development, as set out in the Introduction, the Scottish Government invited civil society organisations to comment and assist in key areas and their connection to international development; global citizenship education through education policy is one of the first areas agreed for collaboration.

For example, co-creation between the Scottish Government and iNGOs in the policy area of education will see the inclusion of global citizenship (including aspects relating to international development) in a new Learning for Sustainability action plan. The Scottish Government and iNGOs will work together to ensure:

• the action plan contains a clear narrative of how global citizenship education contributes to educational attainment in Scotland;
• that the views of learners are considered in the delivery of global citizenship education; and
• that Scotland is outwardly facing in its approach to citizenship education, not just learning about other countries but also considering how they promote global citizenship within education.

The ultimate aim of this work will be to help ensure that Scotland’s learners understand what makes a sustainable society and that citizenship on a local, national and global scale is central to this.