Looking Outwards
Vision
Have You thought about…
1. Including your international engagement in all plans e.g. teachers’ forward
plans, school improvement plan etc?
2. How you will, over time, enlarge the scope of the project to include more
people and curricular areas/departments?
3. Planning this work within associated learning communities e.g. using the work
to enhance transitions?
4. Writing a policy for international engagement?
5. Choosing a country to link with that is already important to your local
community perhaps because of twin town links or because you have pupils
from that country already in your school?
6. What support the senior leadership team will give this work and how you will
keep them involved and informed of the benefits?
7. Establishing a committee of staff, learners and parents to co-ordinate the
work?
8. Evaluating the impact of the work on attainment, achievement, values and
attitudes on an annual basis?
9. Applying for funding to take forward a partnership?
What Supports Are Available?
Cook, A.,(2012) The Values of a Comenius School Partnership. Cambridge.
Cambridge Education
Bourn, D. and Cara, O. (2012) Evaluating partners in development: Contribution of
international school partnerships to education and development. Development
Education research Centre. London, Institute of Education, University of London.
www.schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org
https://erasmusplus.org.uk
www.ideas-forum.org.uk
www.risc.org.uk
www.gtcs.org.uk/standards
The “Benefits of International Engagement” section of this website
The “What is International Engagement” section of this website
Curriculum
Have You Thought About…
1. Involving other members of staff, perhaps as part of a committee to share the
workload?
2. Using International Engagement as a vehicle to take forward the learning in all
curricular areas?
3. Using International Engagement to take forward language teaching in your
school?
4. Choosing partners in countries that you have pupils from and teach the
indigenous language of that country?
5. Changing your routines, pedagogy, or ways of working to match good practice
you have seen in a partner school?
6. Involving pupils in other International projects such The Da Vinci Decathlon
Challenge?
7. Being involved in The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, Fairtrade, Learning
for Sustainability or the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative?
8. Applying for an International School Award from British Council?
9. Employing a British Council language assistant to take forward language
learning in your school?
What Supports Are Available?
www.davincidecathlon.co.uk
www.schools.fairtrade.org.uk
https://dofe.org
www.thewoodfoundation.org.uk
https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/accreditation-and-awards/
www.britishcouncil.org/language-assistants
www.scotland-malawipartnership.org
www.ideas-forum.org.uk
www.scotdec.org.uk
www.dfid.gov.uk
www.risc.org.uk
www.seet.org.uk
The “International Engagement and Curriculum for Excellence” section of this
website
Global Citizenship and learning for Sustainability
Have You Thought About….
1. Allowing learners to plan events to take forward International Engagement
e.g. Fairtrade events or visits from other schools?
2. Forming parental groups so that parents can learn other languages?
3. How the International dimension can support work on The International
Convention on The Rights of the Child?
4. How lessons about equality can be enhanced by linking with schools in other
countries especially countries where equality of opportunity is an issue?
5. Celebrating diversity following contact with pupils from other countries?
6. Organising fundraising events for charities such as Oxfam, save the Children
etc. then using this work to study the lives of others and the reasons why the
charity is necessary?
7. Linking with partner schools abroad to improve the wildlife habitat around your
school by making bird boxes, creating garden areas with insect friendly plants
or studying other ways to manage the grounds to protect the environment?
8. Growing vegetables in a school garden then cooking the produce with pupils
using recipes from partner schools?
9. Linking with community partnership activities both in this country and abroad
to help transform local environments and allow everyone to have contact with
nature?
10. How higher order thinking skills can be used to critically explore the
complexities and different levels at which issues can play out in your local and
global communities?
What Supports Are Available?
www.fairtrade.org.uk
www.learningforsustainabilityscotland.org
www.britishcouncil.org
The “Benefits of International Engagement” section of this website
The “What is International Engagement” section of this website
Supporting professional learning
Have You Thought About….
1. Creating a committee of staff, pupils, parents to lead your international
engagement work?
2. Applying for continued professional development courses organised by British
Council abroad?
3. Applying for a British Council International School Award?
4. Linking with another school in Britain or abroad to form a learning community
to take forward pedagogy? This could be supported financially by British
Council. Erasmus+ or Connecting Classrooms programmes.
5. Presenting evidence about the benefits of international engagement to
schools in your own learning community or local authority?
6. How the international engagement you are involved in meets the
requirements of The General Teaching Council for Scotland’s professional
standards?
7. How you will inform parents and the wider community of the successes you
have achieved in this area? Is there someone with responsibility for informing
the press, arranging press photographs etc.?
8. Involving local businesses for expertise or support with your work? Do any of
your parents have experiences and expertise that could be useful to your
pupils?
9. Allowing staff to travel abroad to visit schools and learn from different ideas
about pedagogy and to increase the self-esteem of staff?
What Supports are Available?
www.britishcouncil.org
www.gtcs.org.uk
https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org
https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/acreditation-and-awards/Internatioanl-SchoolAward
www.scotdec.org.uk
www.dfid.gov.uk
The “Self-evaluation for improvement” section of this website
Partnerships
Have You Thought About…
1. What roles and responsibilities each establishment in your partnership has?
Who makes the decisions? How are misunderstandings or disagreements
dealt with?
2. Writing a partnership plan or agreement that will detail roles, responsibilities,
timescales and deadlines, budget, visits to each other’s establishment and
what the aims are for these visits and the expected outcomes for the whole
partnership project? Have you shared calendars to establish common dates
when your establishments are open and not closed for holidays? Have you
considered the safety of children, young people and staff on the internet and
how they will be protected?
3. What way learners voices are heard in your partnership and how your plans
are relevant to them?
4. Asking for advice from an officer in your local authority who has responsibility
for international partnerships?
5. How you involve parents and the wider community? Do any parents have
experiences or skills that could enhance the partnership?
6. How the partnership with others will enrich learning and improve
achievement?
7. Asking another school if you can see partnership plans they have completed
perhaps when they applied for British Council funding for projects?
8. How your partnership can involve more than one school in your learning
community to support transition from one establishment to another?
9. Sharing your partnership plans with your Parent Council in order to elicit
support for the plan and to encourage enthusiasm for the project?
10. Being involved simultaneously with a variety of different partnership projects
e.g. language learning by Skyping a school, eTwinning with another school
and being involved with an Erasmus+ project with a different group of
schools?
What Supports are available?
www.britishcouncil.org
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org
The “Start your international engagement” section of this website.
(PDF) International partnership statement by Christine Boyle
Scotland/ Malawi Partnership Video
The Journey Planner section of this website