Commissioned Research Article
Title: School Linking
Author: Kate Brown
Produced by citizED
(supported by the Training and
Development Agency for Schools)
WINTER 2006
More information about the series of
Commissioned Research Articles can be
found at www.citized.info
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School linking and Teaching and Learning Global Citizenship
Summary
As a student studying for a MA in Development and Education at the
University of East Anglia, I became interested in the many links found
between schools in this country and schools in the South. The Department for
Education
and
Skills
(DfES)
and
the
Department
for
International
Development (DfID) encourage such links, one of the reasons being to
address the learning outcomes of the global dimension of the Citizenship
Curriculum. However, I found that there had been little investigation into the
relationship between school linking and the knowledge, understanding and
attitudes which the Citizenship Curriculum is looking to develop.
Using case studies of three U.K. schools I investigated the extent to which
Year 7 and 8 students’ perceptions of, and attitudes towards, their link school
reflected core elements of Global Citizenship. My case study schools were all
state secondary schools that had established sustainable and active links with
schools in South Africa. To gather data on students’ attitudes and perceptions,
I developed a tool for use in a classroom setting which also reinforced
students’ skills.
I found that whilst their school links provided students with some
understanding of a different locality, concern for others and a desire to help,
these learning outcomes reflected only a limited interpretation of Global
Citizenship. It seemed to me that further investigation was needed into the
learning outcomes of school links, before they are championed as a way of
teaching Global Citizenship.
Since starting work as a Citizenship teacher, I have been faced with similar
attitudes and perceptions of students towards their link school. Now in a
practical rather than purely academic role, I wanted to do what I could to
develop my students’ sense of Global Citizenship. I conclude this article by
2
suggesting resources and sources of advice that I have found useful and
effective for use in conjunction with a school link.
1. Background
What is a school link?
The British Council defines a school link as:
An ongoing relationship between two schools in different parts of
the world, established to deliver mutually agreed learning
objectives (The Central Bureau, 2001:6).
According to the literature on school linking, there are multiple benefits.
Linking has the capacity to excite and personalise (Smith, 1996:21). It can
help to engage students through real and accessible personal contacts and
meaningful activities and materials. Learning on this basis, in terms of both
knowledge and skills, may be much more motivating than responding to a
textbook or a teacher’s input (Hirst, 2003:5, and Rennebohm Franz, 2000). As
such, the school link can enhance teaching and learning across a range of
subject areas, including maths, science, English, design and technology, ICT,
history, geography, art and design, music and drama and physical education
(The Central Bureau, 2001:38).
As well as contributing to Curriculum delivery, school links may also:

assist the school in achieving its individual mission statement and in
developing its specific ethos.

contribute to the development and enrichment of the wider school
community.

contribute to the professional development of all staff within the school.
(The Central Bureau, 2001:7).
More recently, various bodies have been pushing another benefit of school
linking. The DfES (previously the Department for Education and Employment
or DfEE) states that a school link can “incorporate wider global input and
perspectives” and “contribute to education in values and attitudes in a
3
multicultural global society” (DfEE, 2000:14). Such a link allows students to
“begin to consider their own roles and responsibilities as global citizens”
(www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/citizenship/cit17, accessed 10/11/06).
DfID claims that such links “serve as effective vehicles for the delivery of the
global dimension across the school curriculum” (DfID, 2003:10). The British
Council, too, makes the claim that a school link can help support teaching and
learning about Global Citizenship (The Central Bureau, 2001:6), and Link
Community Development (LCD) believes that school linking is an ideal way to
meet government objectives to enhance understanding of “global citizenship”
(LCD, 2003:1). In 1999, the then Minister for International Development, Clare
Short, stated that she wanted “every school in the country to have the
opportunity to develop a link with a school in the South” (Short, 1999:6).
What is a Global Citizenship?
The Crick Report states that students should learn “not only about the United
Kingdom – including all four of its component parts – but also about the
European, Commonwealth and global dimensions of citizenship” (Citizenship
Advisory Group, 1998:18). This translates in the National Curriculum as a
statement that students at Key Stage 3 should:
Understand the world as a global community, the political,
economic, environmental and social implications of this, and the
role of the European Union, the Commonwealth and the United
Nations (DfEE and QCA, 1999).
This is the only mandatory knowledge requirement for schools. However, in its
advisory document ‘Developing a global dimension in the school curriculum’,
the DfEE (2000:3) more specifically outlines the learning outcomes for Global
Citizenship:
At Key Stage 3 students develop their understanding of their role
as global citizens and extend their knowledge of the wider world.
Their understanding of issues such as poverty, social justice and
sustainable development increases and they realise the
4
importance of taking action to improve the world for future
generations. They critically assess information available to them
and challenge cases of discrimination and injustice”.
2. Researching the question ‘Do school links teach Global Citizenship’?
Learning more about school linking and Citizenship during my MA in
Development and Education, I became increasingly interested in the repeated
assertion in literature produced by the government and linking organisations,
that school linking is a good way to support learning of Global Citizenship. I
could certainly see lots of benefits to school linking. However, it seemed to me
that it was simply assumed that linking with a school in another country would
deliver not just a global dimension, but the Global Dimension outlined in the
Citizenship curriculum. In fact, I could find little evidence that this was the
case.
Evaluation (“the assessment of the value of an activity or project”, McCollum
and Bourn, 2001:8) is key to finding out the extent to which an activity
achieves its long-term goals. Some linking organisations have carried out
evaluations of their work, but I found that they have tended to be largely
descriptive and focus on the logistical success of the link rather than the
learning outcomes1.
It is likely that such evaluations have not occurred, in part, because they are
very difficult to do. The relationship between teaching and learning is very
complex (Clayden et al, 1996). Changes in awareness do not necessarily lead
to changes in attitudes and values (Heater, 1999:150), and it is difficult to
assess longer-term impacts such as changes in behaviour and impact on
practice. In addition, evaluations can only ever partially explore networks of
meaning that students construct, so it is always possible that they have made
connections which have not been detected (Coll and Martin, 1996:139).
1 For example Link Community Development (2002) and Global Connections (2002) have both produced case
studies that outline the background to a school’s link, the form it takes, and the practical benefits to both schools.
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However, if claims are to be made about the educational outcomes of linking,
it seems important that these outcomes be assessed. Although only on a
small scale, and over a short period of time, I decided to use my MA research
time to investigate how one would go about assessing the learning outcomes
of school linking and the relationship of school linking to Global Citizenship.
What did I do?
I carried out research in three case study state secondary schools where
active and sustainable links had been established (all with schools in South
Africa) and which were willing to let me carry out my research with their
students. All three schools had formed their links through Link Community
Development (LCD), a UK based development NGO, with a school linking
programme.
Appendix A contains descriptions of the school link of each school, a picture
built up through non-participant observation.
The short time-scale of my research and the fact that the links studied were
already well-established, meant that I could not carry out a baseline study of
students’
understanding
of
Global
Citizenship
to
compare
to
their
understanding after being involved in a school link. I therefore decided to try to
directly explore students’ attitudes towards, and perceptions of, their link
school, and to then examine how these related to the Global Citizenship
curriculum.
There is limited literature on how best to go about collecting data on children’s
attitudes and perceptions, because traditionally in social research children
have been seen as untrustworthy sources of information. This view has
increasingly been challenged, though, in both scientific and political
communities and there is an increasing awareness that only children can tell
us what their understanding is (Nasman and von Gerber, 2002:33).
6
There is also an increasing recognition of the need to develop “innovative and
participatory approaches which increase our understanding of children and
how they see the world” (Pridmore and Bendelow, 1995:473). To carry out my
research I developed a flexible, inclusive, and stimulating tool with a range of
evaluatory outcomes, which I hoped might contribute towards meeting this
need.
My evaluatory tool took the form of a lesson plan, which could run during
normal lesson time, minimizing disruption to the school. The lesson was made
up of three different group activities, each drawing on different skills in order to
hold the classes’ interest and ensure inclusion. To avoid loss of learning time
for students, the activities selected also aimed to draw on a number of
transferable skills, both general teaching requirements (writing, speaking,
reading, listening (www.nc.uk.net, accessed 12/10/06)), and more specifically
elements of the Key Stage 3 Citizenship Curriculum (justifying orally and in
writing a personal opinion, contributing to group and exploratory class
discussions, using imagination to consider other people’s experience (ibid)).
Appendix 2 contains a typical lesson plan (Table 1), and a description and
explanation of the three main activities (Table 2).
A number of sources were drawn on in the development of the lesson plan.
Work by Cameron (1995) provides an interesting example of the way in which
participatory educational and evaluatory activities can be integrated in work in
schools, in this case around issues of multicultural, antiracist education.
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is having an important influence on social
research. The participatory methods involved lend themselves to research
with children, for example drawings, diagrams and maps, role-play, drama
and songs, photo appraisals and video making, and children’s writing.
Wilkinson (2000), Johnson, Hill and Ivan-Smith (1995), Johnson et al (1998)
have all used such techniques in research with children. Another important
development is the draw-and-write technique, initially used for a Health
Education Authority study of primary school children (Williams et al, 1989),
and increasingly being used in health research (Pridmore and Bendelow,
1995).
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What did students say?
Of course, there were many problems with my research tool, relating to issues
such as limited rapport with students, peer pressure, students’ focus, and the
tension between teacher and facilitator. However, it did produce prolifically
annotated flip-charts and posters with both drawings and words.
When I analysed the results, I found that the statements of the students could
be interpreted to reflect a number of elements of Global Citizenship as laid out
by the DfES. The analysis was extensive, but I give here a taste of students’
attitudes and perceptions.
“Students should extend their knowledge of the wider world” (DfEE,
2000:3)
A number of groups certainly felt that this was one of the benefits of the link,
for example:
They make us understand what other schools are like in other
parts of the world.
You can have opportunities to try new things and widen your
knowledge. Learn about different cultures and ways of life.
You can find out you have similarities and big differences.
..we’ll know about people doing things in different ways.
You get to be socially aware about what its like on the other side
of the world
“Their understanding of issues such as poverty, social justice
and sustainable development increases” (DFEE, 2000:3)
8
Students were certainly aware of the poverty of their link schools, for
example:
They are quite poor, some of them have to walk miles to get to
school, some of them have adequate houses but some of them
don’t.
(These people are) not very hygienic. Their lives are very hard,
they have to travel over two miles sometimes just to get to
school. They work hard for an education.
They have very difficult lives because they have to get up really
early to get water for the day – poor things!
There’s a man in Africa with 400 kids. They have nits, they don’t have
hair dressers. Do they have telephones?
They have very little stuff. The school has very little equipment
and have to share one work book between 60 children.
With an awareness of the relative poverty of their link school came a strong
appreciation of their own circumstances, for example:
I feel lucky that I don’t walk miles to school. It has made me feel
how privileged we are compared to the other school.
(The link) helps English schools realise how much they should
appreciate what they have.
It’s made me think that England is a decent country to live in,
yeah.
9
“(Students) realise the importance of taking action to improve
the world for future generations” (DFEE, 2000:3)
The majority of groups expressed a desire to help their link school, for
example:
Before we think ‘they’ll be alright’, but now we think ‘I really want
to help them’.
If you link with Africa you can help a lot of students who don’t
have the same chance as we do here! Help please!
One group suggested that “our twin school in South Africa can share our
knowledge”.
However, the majority focused explicitly on fundraising:
Raising money is a good idea, you can help a school all over the
world. It makes you feel better about your self because your
making a difference in the world.
We want to help them! We feel sorry for them! I feel I want to
help them out, by raising money etc.
We have chosen to make links in South Africa ‘cos we believe
they can use our help and support. We help them also by doing
link walks and silly things just to raise money.
There was some variation found between the schools, though this mostly
related to the profile of the link and the nature of the groups.
Did learning outcomes reflect Global Citizenship?
The extracts above demonstrate that school linking could be claimed to have
helped at least some students gain an understanding of a different locality,
10
concern for others and a desire to help. However, I think that these outcomes
reflect a narrow interpretation of Global Citizenship.
Students have only learnt about one location in the wider world, and only
about the poverty there. Firstly this is a problem because, in the absence of a
broader view of the ‘wider world’, this image of poverty will influence students’
perceptions of all areas of all countries of the South. Certainly, when one
group was asked “Why do you think your school raises money for the school
in South Africa”, they responded:
Because they are a lot of poorer in the third world and it needs
more money for cures of diseases
There is almost no mention among students of cultural, social and spiritual
wealth and diversity. If the link school is defined in terms of what it lacks in
relation to ‘developed’ countries, a ‘problem orientated’ image of people in
less affluent countries is portrayed. This runs contrary to the claim by the
DfES that school linking will allow students to “challenge stereotypical views”
(www.standards.dfes.gov.uk, 14/10/06), or that by:
…exchanging ideas with teachers and students on an equal
basis, whether it is about science, environmental issues, the
arts, or culture, can challenge the stereotyped, ‘problem
orientated’ image of people in less affluent countries (DfEE,
2000:14).
The emphasis on material inequality presents a further tension. Whilst
students showed concern for their link school’s poverty, and saw the
importance of taking action, the only route of action they envisaged was
through charitable donation. Such an approach can be seen as a facet of a
neo-colonial relationship (Farnworth and Magombe, 1996:52), reinforcing the
portrayal of the South as needy and passive. The following statements
particularly demonstrate the potential for a patronising and negative approach
that can come with fundraising:
11
It’s about give and take. We give: money. We take: ? We give
them money, they take it.
We can help them -they don’t have anything better to do (than
learn about us).
The former Secretary of State for International Development, Claire Short
(1999:5) stated that she was not interested in links that are “based simply on
charity because they do not create mutual respect and learning”. However, is
it possible that this is the case even where the link has other dimensions?
Even in the case study school where no fund raising had taken place, the
focus remained on the material inequalities between the schools and that the
link school was in need of help.
None of the student’s comments indicate any other way of “taking action to
improve the lives of future generations” (DfEE, 2000:3) other than fundraising.
Their perception of poverty and ways it might be tackled did not include any
understanding of the international or historical causes of inequality, the nature
or impact of globalisation, or the link between local and global issues.
Despite assertions by the government and linking organisations that a school
link is a good way to deliver Global Citizenship, my small investigation into the
learning outcomes of school linking in three schools indicates that such
assumptions cannot be made. This is not to say that school linking isn’t
beneficial in many ways, but that the learning outcomes of such links need to
be further investigated before they are championed as a key, and sometimes
in reality, sole way, of teaching Global Citizenship.
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3. How can I make Global Citizenship teaching and learning more
effective in my school?
Throughout my MA research and the taught part of the course, I became
increasingly interested in the, then new, Citizenship curriculum, and after
finishing, decided to train as a Citizenship teacher. I gained a place on the
PGCE at the Institute of Education in London, and after my NQT year in an
11-16 Humanities Specialist Status state school, became Teacher in Charge
of Citizenship.
In this role, I came across the issue of school linking again. One of the
challenges I faced was to improve the teaching and learning of Global
Citizenship in a rural, largely white, state comprehensive.
When I arrived as an NQT, two different members of staff were independently
interested in setting up links. Some letters were exchanged with a school in
Ghana. However, when the member of staff who had instigated this link left,
the second member of staff decided that a link, through an organisation that
they knew, to a school in Malawi, would be preferable. However, this link was
largely nominal and most of the activity was around fundraising for the linking
organisation.
I was concerned about the Global Citizenship learning outcomes, and started
to explore how I could make the teaching and learning more effective. I came
across a huge range of material and advice. I have listed the most helpful and
interesting below, though this is by no means a fully comprehensive list.
Depending on the situation at your school and the way Citizenship is tackled,
there are a number of ways in which you can improve Global Citizenship
teaching and learning.
13
Think about your link:
There are a growing number of sources of information and support for schools
wishing to link, and a lot of advice on how to establish an effective link.

The British Council: The Central Bureau, part of the Education and Training group of the British
Council has produced a pack called Partners In Learning (2001), a guide to school linking. The
British
Council managed
website
www.globalgateway.org.uk
provides quick access to
Organisations
supporting
school
linking
comprehensive information on how to develop an international dimension to education. From this
site you can also access information about the DfES International School Award, an accreditation
scheme for curriculum-based international work in schools.

The UK One World Linking Association (UKOWLA): was set up in 1985 to provide support to
schools, community groups and other organisations in making and maintaining links
(www.ukowla.org.uk).

DFID Global School Partnerships (www.britishcouncil.org/globalschools.htm): This programme
offers advice and guidance, grants and professional development opportunities, for schools
committed to using their link as a means of developing a global dimension within their curriculum.
Links must be to schools in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. This programme is run
by a consortium, including The British Council and UKOWLA, as well as Cambridge Education
Foundation, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), and is funded by DfID.

Development non-governmental organisation: A number of charities are involved in school
linking in addition to the development work they do. For example, CAMFED International, a charity
working to improve female education in Africa, has set up some links between primary schools in
Ghana and Cambridgeshire (www.camfed.org). Link Community Development (LCD) is an
international development agency that works with schools, teachers and district departments to
improve education. LCD has a Link School programme which involves over 300 schools in Ghana,
Uganda and South Africa and over 235 schools in the UK (www.lcd.org.uk).

The Development Education Association (DEA) (www.dea.org.uk): The DEA has produced a
booklet called South:North, Partnerships in Development Education (Farnworth and Magombe,
1996), which offers advice on setting up and running effective links and addresses some of the
potential problems

Development Education Centres (DECs): For example three DECs in the north of England have
together run a programme called the Partnerships in School Linking Project (PISL Project)
(Cumbria Development Education Centre, et al 2003). These DECs set up new links, and provided
locally tailored and delivered support to old and new links. Contact the DEA for information on your
nearest DEC.
From the range of advice available, I’d like to pick out two points particularly.
The first is that effective partnerships are fully reciprocal, providing
opportunities for both partners to make an equal contribution (Partners In
Learning, 2001:8). With access to money, resources and multiple
opportunities for linking, and often in the position of donor, schools in the UK
have more power to control the link and influence how it develops, mirroring
power relations between the North and South.
14
It’s really important to acknowledge that the school in the South has its own
reasons for wanting to link with your school. They are likely to have material
needs, so fundraising clearly does have a place, despite the problem of
reinforcing students’ stereotypical images of a ‘needy South’. Farnworth and
Magombe (1996) question whether a partnership can ever truly be equal in
these circumstances. Whether this is true or not, an important start is a
commitment to understanding the needs and ideas of your partner school, so
that you can develop the agenda of your link together.
Secondly, school linking should go beyond exchange of letters (which anyway
can be misleading in the initial stages, and is not always the easiest logistical
start). Students should be exposed to the link throughout their whole school
experience. There are many suggestions in the sources above for embedding
the link in the curriculum. In any curriculum subject partners may agree on a
topic on which they collect and exchange information with the partner school,
or a project the schools can work on together. Alternatively, students may
learn more about the partner school’s locality in different subjects, such as
reading typical folk tales from the country of the link school in English, or
analysing, interpreting and presenting data on the country of the link school in
Maths.
Think beyond your link:
A school link provides a starting point and a focus for the development of a
global dimension, rather than a global dimension being an automatic outcome
of having a link. Increasingly, good partnerships are seen as ones which use
their link as a spring-board to learn about places all over the world, the
complex relationships between them and the global issues which link and
affect them.
As with work specifically on the link school or country, looking for opportunities
across the curriculum for such global teaching and learning is key. There are
resources available for virtually every curriculum subject and all stages of
school. Good places to start for advice as well as resources are the DfID
15
website Global Dimension (www.globaldimension.org.uk), the Global Gateway
(www.globalgateway.org.uk) and your local Development Education Centre
(contact the Development Education Association for your nearest DEC, see
www.dea.org.uk). All of these list, or in the case of many DECs, have
available, materials from a range of different sources. From this starting point
you may find organisations that produce a number of resources you like using,
for example I have found Oxfam (www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/index.htm),
the British Red Cross (www.redcross.org.uk/minisite.asp?id=43218), and
Bananalink (www.bananalink.org.uk) particularly helpful. I have had
recommended the ActionAid 'Get Global !' resource, a range of participatory
activities promoting a skills-based approach to Global Citizenship
(www.actionaid.org.uk/schoolsandyouth/getglobal/), and pack called ‘Young
Lives, Global Goals’ available from Save the Children
(www.savethechildren.org.uk).
As well as using the resources of these organisations, it is also possible to
benefit from their expertise in person, and visiting educators can really engage
and enthuse students. Again, your local DEC is a good place to start, as they
often offer workshops and speakers on different places and issues. VSO
(www.vso.org.uk) has a Global Educators Register, a national online register
of professionals with international experience who have a willingness to assist
teachers and schools.
In addition to developing the global dimension in the curriculum, I have found
the non-taught time of registration a useful slot. I often use resources I like but
which didn’t fit into a particular topic I am teaching, and also use it as an
opportunity to look at international news events. The British Red Cross has a
news bulletin on their website called Newsthink, which summarises four
breaking news stories and provides points for discussion with young people.
They also have a series of ‘Ten minute briefings’ on topical issues, designed
to give teachers the background they need to feel comfortable discussing
them in the classroom. The BBC Newsround website also has Global
Citizenship lesson plans that relate to topical events and issues
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/).
16
After investigating the learning outcomes of school linking, I came into
teaching skeptical about their use in the teaching and learning of Global
Citizenship. As in development education more generally, there clearly are
issues surrounding perceptions of countries of the South developed through a
focus on material inequality and fundraising. However, through looking for
resources to develop my own school link over the last couple of years I’ve
been impressed by the range of materials and focus of the advice available to
support school linking, both from government departments and linking
organisations. There is an increasing emphasis on links as a spring-board for
the development of a broader global dimension in schools, students learning
about a range of localities and key development issues, rather than an
assumption that having a school link will automatically bring such a global
dimension to teaching and learning. In schools that are developing broad and
embedded global dimensions, I would be interested to read about the Global
Citizenship learning outcomes among students - I hope such evaluations are
being carried out.
17
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Websites:
www.actionaid.org.uk/schoolsandyouth/getglobal/
www.bananalink.org.uk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews
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www.britishcouncil.org/globalschools.htm
www.redcross.org.uk/minisite.asp?id=43218
www.camfed.org
www.dea.org.uk
www.globalgateway.org.uk
www.globaldimension.org.uk
www.lcd.org.uk
www.nc.uk.net
www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/index.htm
www.savethechildren.org.uk
www.standards.dfes/gov.uk
www.ukowla.org.uk
www.vso.org.uk
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Appendix 1
School A
The link was established in 2001, but the senior member of staff responsible for it didn’t have sufficient time to
commit to it. Last year, it was handed over to another member of staff and re-launched. Assemblies were given to
several age groups, and a non-school uniform day raised £600. However, this year a campaign to raise money for
a sports hall means that fund raising beyond the fee for LCD has to be put on hold. However, a fund-raising nonschool uniform day was held again this year with different African based activities in lessons, for example, bingo
in Swahili in Maths and township wire toy making in CDT. Display boards emphasised the lack of facilities at the
link school and how privileged School A is in contrast, but how proud of their school students and staff in both
schools are. The display stated that the aims of the link include exchange of information about lives and cultures,
to help children and teachers in other countries develop their schools and education, to learn from children and
schools in other countries, and to have fun.
The teacher involved was keen to emphasise that the link is in its early stages.
School B
The link was set up in 1998. The Principal states that it was seen as an answer to the narrow horizons of many
students. The link has involved exchanges of senior staff from both schools, regular phone conversations
between the Principals, and a group of young people from the South African school spending nine weeks at
School B. Letters have been exchanged both ways, but the return has been slow. The link is fairly integrated into
the curriculum; material is used in history, religious studies, and geography. The Principal states that it is
something that the students can really get hold of; it provides excitement and fun.
School B has raised a total of £26, 000 for their link school. One student alone has raised £3000 through various
sponsored activities, and was recently presented with a Diana, Princess of Wales award by the South African
High Commissioner. This fundraising features prominently on the two web pages on the South African school on
the School B website.
School display boards stress the poverty of townships and the fundraising efforts of the school. The next project
planned jointly by School B and its link is the building of a new technology centre at the South African school. The
school website states that this will be:
..built with the help of students at (the link school) who will be making the bricks during their
technology lessons. The completion of the project will depend on fundraising from (School B) to
fill the building with the right technical equipment and furniture.. (school B website).
However, the Principal believes that a paternalistic fund raising approach is wrong. The website states that school
life at school B has been greatly enriched by the partnerships, “particularly with the setting up of the student
council” (school B website). The Principal states that he has tried to ensure that School B receives things back,
but this can be difficult because of cultural differences and slowness of communication.
School C
The teacher involved was on LCD’s Global Teacher scheme in 2002, which meant that she spent the summer at
a school in South Africa. A link with this school has been running since her return, and she says it has provided
enjoyment and fascination to the students. Assemblies have been run with several year groups, and link material
used in maths lessons. A collapsed timetable day was run for Year 8 students, with various activities, some of
which were on an African theme, including a session on the link, a session of basic Xhosa and one on storytelling.
A Year 12 committee has been set up which will eventually run the link, coordinating fundraising and
communicating. At present it is looking at raising awareness of HIV and AIDS in both schools. The school
magazine states that funding from the DfES for a post-16 Citizenship project means that next year the teacher
involved with the link and a Youth Worker will have timetabled time to support the Year 12 Committee.
The link coordinator believes that what is important about the link is its immediate, person to person nature, which
enables students to form an image of what life is like at the South African school and to form their own opinions.
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Appendix 2
Table 1. Typical lesson plan
Time
Activity
0-5 mins
Introduction
5-20 mins Globingo: Game explained
Students play game
Debrief – students read out and explain their answers
20-45
Visual stimulus exercise:
mins
Exercise explained
Students carry out exercise
Students present their answers
45-60
mins
Poster exercise:
Exercise explained
Students work on exercise until end of lesson
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Table 2: Description and explanation of the three main lesson activities
Activity
Description
Explanation/sources
Globingo
Each student was given a sheet with nine boxes, each containing a
Globingo was used to open the lesson with a fun and easy activity, and to get the
question on the link, their link school or South Africa, and a space to write
students thinking about the link. It is an ice-breaker exercise used regularly in
an answer and to sign. The aim was to fill in the boxes as quickly as
development education, although in this case the questions were more learning
possible (with a prize for the winner), but finding a different person in the
outcomes orientated, drawing on the idea of a learning outcomes quiz used by the
room to answer each question.
Fair Wear project (McCollum and Bourn, 2001:16).
Visual
The class was divided into 4 or 5 groups, and each group was given an A1
Students were divided into groups to try to reduce the extent to which the work was
Stimulus
sheet with a piece of visual stimulus at the centre. In most cases this was
dominated by a few voices (as found in the baseline assessments by Cumbria
exercise
a photograph of the link school building or students. Four or five questions
Development Education Centre et al, 2001:6), and Nasman and von Gerber,
were written on the sheet encouraging the students to write down their
2002:32). Photographs were used to stimulate the student’s thoughts on the school,
views on the link and the link school and its students. After ten minutes
and the questions were initially specific and related to the photograph and became
each group was asked to present their chart, and their responses were
more abstract. This exercise drew on questions used in the follow-up assessments of
used to stimulate class discussion.
the PISL project (Cumbria Development Education Centre et al, 2003), in which
students were asked if they thought they could be friends with people on the other
side of the world, what they had personally learned and if this had made them do or
see things any differently at school or home.
Poster
The class was divided into groups of 4 or 5 and each group was given a
This exercise allowed students to explore some of the issues raised in the visual
exercise
piece of A1 paper and asked to design a poster to advertise school linking.
stimulus exercise. Pridmore and Bendelow (1995:88) observe that the process of
Half of the groups were asked to design posters to advertise linking to UK
drawing encourages students to relax and concentrate their thoughts. However,
schools, and half to South African schools. Students were provided with
students were encouraged to use words as well due to the difficulty in interpreting the
markers pens and told that they could use both words and pictures.
drawings (Scott, 1997:335, Pridmore and Bendelow, 1995:88, Wilkinson, 2000:23).
This exercise draws on the draw-and-write technique (Pridmore and Bendelow,
1995).
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