- Education Guardian,
- Tuesday April 29 2008
A number of factors led us to include the global dimension in our course. It was partly to do with the changes in the curriculum in Northern Ireland - the global dimension became statutory this year at preparatory level and appears at a secondary level through global citizenship - but a key factor is the changing population in Northern Ireland. So many more people are coming into the country, global issues are becoming more important. There is also an economic benefit. We currently have three years of funding from DfID and it makes a tremendous difference.
We encourage staff to include global issues and social justice in as many ways and in as many subjects as possible. They fit into geography but also literature, science, religion and music. We look at recycling but use it to address how what we do here affects other countries.
We work very closely with NGOs like Save the Children, the Red Cross and Oxfam, as well as smaller local organisations. They provide a fantastic resource base, designed for use in schools, and also personnel to assist in doing workshops with students.
Every year we invite the 180 new students for a global breakfast. They think they're coming for lovely food from around the world. When they come to the canteen, we give 20% a wonderful cooked breakfast while the other 80% get dry toast and water coloured with tea to make it not look right. We don't give them any explanation and watch their discomfort at the injustice.
We then give a presentation on injustice and imbalance in the world. It's a bit of a shock tactic but it gets them to appreciate our position on the world.
