News
Schools urged to reach out to
classrooms across the globe
by Chris Parr
dents to interact and share ideas At the conference, the two
between the two countries – despite teachers joined educationalists
the 4,000 miles between them. from around the world to take part
Headteachers, ministers, and Ms Moiz told SecEd: “We start- in a series of workshops cover-
education specialists from the ed initially by asking our students ing themes such as faith, identity,
UK, Afghanistan, Bangladesh to come up with their impressions school leadership, community
and Pakistan, came together in of Scotland, and to think about any cohesion, and global citizenship.
London last week to look at school questions they would want to ask if Olga Stanojlovic, the British
leadership in the community and they were able to talk with a pupil Council’s schools director, said it
explore how cultural identity can be in Glasgow. was impossible to underestimate
shared and celebrated. “By focusing on an international what a central role schools play in
The conference was organised cultural dialogue, we’ve found that driving community cohesion and
by the British Council, and focused the students have such a lot in developing young people as active
on its Connecting Classrooms pro- common, and by showing them global citizens.
gramme, which encourages schools this, we’ve been able to make them She added: “We hope the
to forge links with their counter- realise how important some issues Connecting Classrooms conference
parts across the globe. really are.” will lay the foundations for greater
Two countries already working The two heads have found that levels of exchange, increased dia-
closely with each other as part of the the key issues of concern for stu- logue and understanding with our
project are Scotland and Pakistan. dents at both schools are energy partners to improve community
Zahabiya Juzer Moiz, resources, protecting the environ- Global links: Heads Ian Anderson, from Glasgow, and Zahabiya Juzer Moiz, from Pakistan cohesion in the UK and countries
headteacher at Grammar School in ment, and respecting diversity. such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh
Rawalpindi, just outside Islamabad, Mr Anderson told SecEd that he off with fairly low-level projects “However, our school is always to liaise with schools in Pakistan, and Pakistan.”
and Ian Anderson, headteacher at was looking forward to taking the – getting to know each other by looking for ways to take our eco- and really push the message home For more information, visit
Glasgow’s Bellahouston Academy, project further in the coming years. exchanging letters and photographs, projects to another level, and to our students that these are inter- www.britishcouncil.org/learning-
have been encouraging their stu- He said: “We’ve kicked things discussing where we live and so on. Connecting Classrooms allows us national issues.” connecting-classrooms
Number taking Irish GCSE falls
Children asked to
The number of secondary pupils dents to pick Irish as one of their One school in west Belfast, where He says parents are reporting
in Northern Ireland taking Irish at options. the “urban gaeltacht” is located, does that their children are being frus-
GCSE is falling with more choosing Indigenous languages are not even offer it as an exam subject. trated by unrealistic subject choice
dabble in politics
Spanish than their native language. increasing in popularity overall, However, it does remain the combinations making it difficult to
Whereas five years ago the with more school children in the third most popular GCSE language choose Irish at GCSE.
numbers entering Spanish and Irish UK being taught in Welsh, Scottish option across all the North’s sec- At a time of globalisation with School children across Wales role as an independent champion
exams were similar, the gap is now Gaelic and Irish. ondary schools, behind French and many people rediscovering their can directly impact political for the children of Wales.
widening. Less than one in every In the North, the number of Irish Spanish and ahead of German. In own distinct identity through lan- policy at the click of a mouse. He continued: “In the years
10 pupils are now opting for Irish learners grew from just 484 in 1992 2007/08, 2,147 pupils sat Irish at guage, he says, schools need to Children’s commissioner ahead I want to work towards
at GCSE. to more than 3,000 in 2008. This is GCSE compared to 2,446 the previ- provide realistic opportunities to Keith Towler is celebrating a reducing the gap between pol-
The decline is being partly partly due to the expansion of the ous year. In the same period Spanish continue Irish. year as the nation’s second com- icy intent and practice on the
blamed on the requirement for sec- Irish-medium schools sector. entries rose from 3,046 to 3,232. He added: “Falling numbers at missioner by launching a new ground. This has to be about
ondary schools to offer access to at Figures provided by the North’s Dominic Bradley, deputy GCSE level eventually leads to fall- website. creating positive outcomes for
least 24 GCSE subjects. education minister, Caitriona chairman of the Northern Ireland ing numbers at AS and A level and And his anniversary coin- our children and young peo-
It is said that some schools’ Ruane, however, reveal that Irish Assembly’s education committee, will in turn have a knock-on effect cided with preparations for a ple. It’s my job to remind peo-
timetables make it difficult for stu- exam entries are in decline. says the drop alarms him. into higher education.” new Welsh law to tackle child ple of that and to contribute
poverty – a major concern for ideas about how that can be
CyberMentors will keep pupils safe
the commissioner’s office. achieved.”
He explained: “One of the Tackling child poverty is an
biggest challenges I face is mak- issue Mr Towler has taken to
ing sure children and young peo- the United Nations Committee
Social networking websites like Mr Brown said: “CyberMentors ple in Wales realise they have on the Rights of the Child in
Facebook and Twitter are helping is an exciting new initiative to keep a children’s commissioner. In Geneva. He also hosted a return
to fuel an online bullying epidemic, Britain’s children and young people October, I embarked on a Wales- visit to Wales by UN rapporteur
it has been claimed. safe online. Just as we wouldn’t wide tour which saw me visiting Lucy Smith.
New research carried out let them go unsupervised in play- children and young people in As he celebrated his anniver-
by bullying prevention charity grounds or in youth clubs, so we every local authority. sary, the Welsh Assembly gov-
Beatbullying found that one in three must put in place the measures that “My staff and I drew so ernment announced new plans
of today’s youngsters has been the we need to keep our children and much inspiration from the great to tackle child poverty.
victim of cyber-bullying. The poll of young people safe online.” work we saw in schools and These would include a
more than 2,000 11 to 18-year-olds Meanwhile, Emma Jane Cross, community groups. We also legal requirement for pub-
also revealed that teenage girls are Beatbullying’s chief executive, got a good grasp of the issues lic bodies in Wales who deal
up to four times more likely to expe- said: “Cyber-bullying is a grow- children, young people and the with children to take action
rience online bullying than boys ing problem affecting millions of adults who work for them, face to reduce child poverty, the
– most commonly through content children across the UK and to date on a daily basis – information creation of new support teams
posted on websites, text messages, efforts to tackle the epidemic have which I can now use to drive for children and families with
or prank mobile phone calls. Children, Schools and Families, school pupils and a further 100 in fallen short.” for systemic change to improve problems such as domestic
To help combat the problem, offers advice and support to victims further education. Thousands more Another recent survey, by the the lives of children and young violence and substance mis-
Beatbullying has launched a new of cyber-bullying. are planned by 2012. Teacher Support Network, showed people.” use, and ministerial powers to
anti-cyber-bullying initiative. Beatbullying’s research found In severe cases, where some- that one in seven teachers has been The new website includes insist local councils provide
The CyberMentors scheme, that more than 44 per cent of young one could be in immediate danger, the victim of cyber-bullying by a “Backchat” section where free “targeted childcare” in
backed by prime minister Gordon people would be open to taking youngsters will be referred to a pupils. contributors can discuss issues certain areas.
Brown and children, schools and advice online from their peers, and Beatbullying cyber counsellor, who For more information which matter to them. The feed- Visit the new website at
families minister Ed Balls, and there are currently 700 fully-trained will take appropriate action to pro- about CyberMentors, visit back will help Mr Towler in his www.childcom.org.uk
part-funded by the Department for CyberMentors – 600 secondary tect them. www.cybermentors.org.uk
UNICEF launches young people’s G8 summit
Budding politicians are being given The aim is to send a message ning a place at J8, teams comprising have relished the opportunity to able. Meeting so many interesting in April. The winning team of four
the opportunity to represent the UK to world leaders that children the four young people must produce a advocate and speak out in such an and inspiring young people from will then travel to the J8 Summit,
at a young people’s version of the world over are equally affected by video, or a piece of written work, influential setting.” all over the globe, coupled with joining teams of young people
G8 summit, to be held in Italy later G8 decisions. which focuses on HIV/AIDS, cli- Last year’s UK J8 representa- the opportunity to be listened to from other G8 nations as well as
this year. J8 participants will discuss the mate change, and a third topic to be tives were Vision from Hope, a team by the world’s leaders, made the representatives from the develop-
The Junior 8 summit (J8), run topics that are on the G8 agenda, selected by the team. of 6th form students from Howell’s experience an unparalleled one in ing world. J8 will take place just
by international children’s organi- which include climate change, Laura France, head of youth School in Llandaff, Cardiff. Their my life.” before the G8 summit, with dates
sation UNICEF, will bring together HIV/AIDS, and poverty and devel- at UNICEF UK, said: “J8 is an entry looked at establishing tighter This year’s entries will be short- and the location to be confirmed
teams of youngsters aged 14 to 17 opment. The students will then take excellent opportunity for young rules on carbon emissions. listed by UNICEF, and the success- soon.
from the G8 nations, along with their recommendations to the G8 people to speak out about what Rose Stuart, one of the team ful teams will be invited to present The deadline for applications
representatives from eight non-G8 leaders. matters to them. Each year the J8 members, told SecEd: “The 2008 and discuss their entries with a is April 8 and for details, visit
countries. To be in with a chance of win- delegates tell us how much they J8 summit in Japan was unbeliev- judging panel of experts in London www.unicef.org.uk/youthvoice/j8
 SecEd • March 12 2009
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