Global Messengers
A NEAD Project
We all know that teachers are busy. We also know that many are keen to develop a greater global dimension to their teaching, but NEAD schools staff cannot hope to support all these teachers.
The Global Messengers project aims to exploit the multiplier effect by making contact with and providing practical support (resources, contacts, information, and so on) to education professionals with an interest in local/global issues who visit schools. As a result of this 3-year project we anticipate that thousands more teachers and hundreds more schools (many, many more than NEAD could hope to support) will have the necessary knowledge and new skills to equip their students to actively participate in our increasingly globalised world and culturally diverse society.
The key target groups for Global Messengers (GMs) are:
- Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs): experienced teachers who spend one day a week supporting other teachers to develop their skills and experience through the sharing of best practice ideas and methodologies;
- Local Education Authority (LEA) Advisers: generally former teachers or headteachers who provide advice and support to schools;
- Initial Teacher Education (ITE) tutors: experienced educators (many former teachers) who support trainee teachers at their institutions and in their school placements;
- Local and regional NGO staff: people who work in and with schools as part of their work.
Global Messengers is a three-year project which runs from May 2006 to March 2009. In the first year (to March 2007) the project plan is to trial approaches and methods within Norfolk (UK). In year 2 (April 2007 to March 2008) the project remit extends to Suffolk and in year 3 (April 2008 to March 2009) across East Anglia.
Update
By the end of Year 2 (March 2008) GM project staff had, as a result of presentations at conferences, meetings and personal contacts recruited a total of 71 GMs from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire. The initial action plan had envisaged a target of 48 GMs to be recruited in year 1 & 2, clearly there is more support for the Global Messengers project than was originally anticipated.
In order to support the GM project staff and the GM Steering Group have developed a new tool - the Global Messengers Pen Drive. We sourced these 0.5 GB pen drives from a reputable company who assured us they were ethically produced.
This simple tool enables GMs to easily provide up to date information about resources, initiatives, campaigns, etc to teachers they meet in the course of their work. Each pen drive has been loaded with a ‘mini website’ of the most useful weblinks that we could find under a number of key headings including, Sustainability, Global Issues, Images & Perceptions, Cultural Diversity, Student sites, Global Citizenship, and so on.
The GM Pen Drive was launched at the Norfolk Professional Development Centre on October 18th. Here are some quotes from the launch.
We have had a fruitful partnership with NEAD and we like the work they do. The reason we have supported them is that cohesion is central to our values… Thanks for the opportunity to be involved with Global Messengers - it is very clever and we are glad to support it. Being a Global Messenger is hugely important to us. Being active in this is key to what we have been trying to achieve with Every Child Matters - educating people to make good and responsible decisions, to engage and interact as global citizens in our multi-racial wider world… The Pen Drive, is a fabulous idea… this use of technology is fantastic, it shows new ways to communicate, to teach and how to find new ways so that we can engage with local/global issues… now Global Messengers, take it out and do something with it!
Fred Corbett (Deputy Director of Early Years, Schools, Communities for Norfolk Children’s Services)
The Pen Drive is a great example of forward-looking ‘pull-technology’. This is how kids work and understand the world today. NEAD has been very innovative here, moving beyond books, whiteboards and traditional teaching methods.
Alex Savage, AST Lead Practitioner in IT, at Notre Dame High School, Norwich
Since then, the pen drives were distributed to already recruited GMs and, subsequently, to all newly recruited GMs and Guest GM’s. The response to the pen drive from GMs was overwhelmingly positive. It was seen as a simple, innovative and important tool which enabled GMs to highlight and easily access information and resources for the promotion of the global dimension in schools, classrooms and so on.
Other means of support for the ever-busy GMs came from a regular Global Messenger e bulletin, and information exchanged between GMs on the NEAD website or via project staff.
The Future
The 3-year funding for the Global Messengers project from the DfID (Department for International Development) Development Awareness Fund ends on March 31st 2009. During the next 9 months we aim to extend the remit of the project out of Norfolk and Suffolk (The Year 1 & 2 target areas) and into Cambridgeshire and Essex. The initial application aimed to recruit 78 GMs over the 3 years. We now anticipate that we will recruit and support over 90 GMs in East Anglia by March 31st.
Also during the next few months we aim to develop version 2 of the GM pen drives as well as continuing other support mechanisms, work with our independent evaluators (Cambridge Policy Consultants) to produce the final project evaluation report and to disseminate the key outcomes of this project via national networks, conferences, meetings etc. and via ‘Guest GMs’ (representatives of national bodies/ organisations, NGO’s etc - who can help us promote the project.
Global Messengers and you…
Please get in touch if you:
- would like to apply to be a Global Messenger and you are an AST, LA Adviser, ITT tutor or NGO representative who in the course of your work meets teachers, visits schools etc. and work in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk or Suffolk;
- have ideas as to new websites we can link to for version 2 of the GM Pen Drive;
- can help us as a Guest GM;
- have ideas for how this project could develop;
- would like more information.
Contact Sandy Betlem.
Global Messengers Resources
Some of the resources, activities, and information developed or found by this project are listed below. Your web browser requires JavaScript and Adobe's Flash Player to access some of this content.
- A great lesson starter:
The wombat speaks, and he's smarter than you, so listen up! in less than a minute, this rapid-fire animation tells you everything you need to know about how to get along on earth for the next million years
… - Weaving words: descriptive writing skills for GCSE, a DVD/teaching pack also available for loan from NEAD
- Shift Happens, a short video on the increasing pace of change in our world, what does this mean and how are we preparing?
The list of activities is as follows:
- A large-scale assembly or conference activity. If there were just… 100 People in the World (DOC file, 53 KB)
- A range of activities and ideas to use to promote local/global awareness: Development Education Toolbox (DOC file, 178 KB)
- Some Facts about World Poverty (DOC file, 26 KB)
- An icebreaker or classroom activity for you to amend: Globingo (DOC file, 47 KB)
- An activity: Greed Nuts Game (DOC file, 27 KB)
- Some additional ideas for Running the Trading Game (DOC file, 48 KB)
Some ASTs and LEA advisers have been developing lesson plans for events like Black History Month (October each year), Fair Trade Fortnight (March) and Refugee Week (June). These and other NEAD projects can be found on the Projects page.
Lastly some useful documents for Global Messengers:
- School visit log (DOC file, 61 KB)
- GM job description (DOC file, 51 KB)
- Risk Assessment example (DOC file, 76 KB)
- Healthy Schools Quality Standards (DOC file, 66 KB)
Links to more resources can be found in our Resources section.
This project is funded by the Department For International Development’s Development Awareness Fund with support from Norfolk Children’s Services, Suffolk Children’s and Young People’s Services, Norwich City Council and Oxfam.
