Developing an international perspective into
the curriculum at Moordown St John’s.
Gina Angiolini and Sophie Bennett
Our aims...
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To establish if misconceptions existed regarding other
cultures.
To challenge stereotypes.
To develop an international learning approach.
To develop a system of peer coaching.
To support an open minded approach to cross cultural
studies.
Previous learning
Our Year 6 children had:
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Participated in a topic about Uganda
Made links with Uganda through a business enterprise
project
Participated in a whole school Africa project
Participated in European day
What we did
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We wanted to establish if misconceptions existed and give the
children an opportunity to realise this for themselves.
We developed a sequence of lessons focussing on developing
an understanding of the typical day of a 10 year old in another
culture.
We highlighted reflective practice, particularly on
acknowledging similarities as well as differences.
We used collaborative learning methods.
We promoted independent research / child initiated research
using different mediums (internet, books, personal life
experiences, video clips).
Encouraged children and staff with a first hand knowledge of
other cultures to share their experiences.
Initial assessment
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We chose 5 countries for the children to research as part
of our topic - national, European, African and Asian
countries.
The countries were Spain, Scotland, Ghana, Italy and
Korea.
The children added to a mindmap of each country, writing
down what they knew about each one.
They were then asked to summarise the comments from
each country with a single sentence.
The results were very interesting!
Ghana
In Ghana they have to work long hours and they are very poor.
Spain
In Spain it is very hot and they use swimming pools to cool down.
Italy
Italy is famous for its food (pizza) and car companies
(Ferrari, Lamborghini and Alfa Romeos).
Korea
Korea is a very polluted country.
Scotland
In Scotland they wear kilts and play the bag pipes for entertainment.
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The children were then shown some pictures of each
country.
They gave some unexpected responses.
From a slide about
Scotland
Is that Australia?
Did the Scottish discover that place?
Did the Scottish supply the building materials?
From a slide about Ghana
That could be England.
Look at all of the cars.
Are their houses made out of wood or brick?
Finding similarities
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We then talked about finding similarities.
Children initially found this difficult.
In a picture of a Ghana a man is waiting for his house to be built. A builder
is seen working on the roof.
The children could spot some similarities –
He has a house
He is a builder
He is waiting for his house to be built.
However when asked what he may be thinking, the children found it
difficult to relate and said “He is thinking how lucky he is to have a house”
rather than how he wishes his house would hurry up and be ready.
Another child then spotted some blue plastic building materials and
assumed that it must be a mosquito net.
Stereotypes.
We then asked the children what
a stereotype was.
 They responded well to a game which enabled them to
recognise that stereotypes may also be made about us eg
if we like reading or wear a hoody.
 During the topic, children began to realise about the role
of the media and how misconceptions can be assumed.
They reflected about charity adverts and discussed shock
tactics which enabled them to see how they had easily
assumed these stereotypes.
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Before the topic
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The children found it difficult to find similarities between
cultures.
They made generalisations about other cultures based on
narrow media portrayal.
They found it difficult to relate to the everyday lives of
children in the other cultures e.g assuming everyone in
Spain is on holiday all the time.
They assumed that they were very knowledgeable about
the cultures that we looked at.
They judged everything by appearance.
During the topic
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As the topic progressed the children developed an open
minded approach to other cultures.
They realised that there were many similarities as well as
differences.
They understood the term stereotype.
They recognised that the media manipulates us all.
They stopped making sweeping generalisations.
After the project
What we learned
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We may have contributed to some of the children’s
stereotypes through fundraising days such as Red Nose Day.
We have learned to remember to put things into perspective
when talking about countries / cultures.
To always focus on similarities as well as differences.
We enjoyed taking part in Peer Coaching. It enabled us to feel
confident in what we were doing and helped us to share good
practice between colleagues.
Observing each other’s good practice in a supportive way.
Even though the children have participated in topic learning
about other cultures, they still held inaccurate existing ideas
about them ( had we promoted cultural misunderstanding and
stereotypes?)
There is a need to develop international learning across the
school.
What we have done
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The concept of international learning has been discussed
at SLT level and they have reviewed the findings of our
pilot work.
Governors have been made aware of the findings of the
case study.
We plan to spend an INSET session introducing
international learning and integrating it into our
curriculum.