About WorldWise Global Schools

In October 2021, WWGS engaged in a knowledge sharing meeting about Global Education in teacher-training institutions with NGO Mondo (https://mondo.org.ee/),

Mondo are one of the biggest civil society actors in the Global Education space in Estonia, with over 10 years of experience in the field, and just started a new large-scale project with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

One of the goals of this project is to integrate GCE topics into school curricula at all levels and across the country - from kindergartens to high schools. 

WWGS were delighted to hear more about their programme and share our thoughts and experience about collaborating towards this goal in Ireland.

Mondo have since adapted some WWGS tools for their programme, such as that below from our WWGS Teacher Handbook.

GENE is the European Network of Ministries and Agencies with national responsibility for Global Education (funding, policymaking, support, coordination).

WWGS provided a workshop at the GENE Roundtable 44  in April 2021. The workshop was delivered in partnership with Valerie Duffy from the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI).

Please find more details on the event and workshop here.

WWGS Eduction Office Lizzy Noone participated in Bridge 47’s Transformative Learning Journey. Please find some of her reflections here.

The journey invited participants to reflect upon their own educational practices and underpinning theories of change and expand them by learning from each other. After having completed this journey,  participants and their organisations have an increased ability to use new and innovative approaches to GCE and are better equipped to integrate GCE messages and methodologies into their work.

The journey consisted of three physical workshops, webinars, online mentoring and exchange, individual research and an action experiment.

Art work by Lizzy Noone, WWGS Education Officer

Taking place from 2 to 4 May 2019, the Festival – the largest ever – brought together over 1,700 participants from more than 150 countries, ranging from activists to high-level representatives. It offered a dynamic space where participants shared different perspectives, accelerated new ideas, and positioned the SDGs as the framework for political engagement and democratic participation.

WWGS attended the conference and we presented the work we are doing in Ireland on the SDG’s and Global Citizenship Education, and how we are working to achieve target 4.7 in particular.

Conference participants, including Lizzy, Aoife and Aishling from the WWGS team

WWGS hosted teachers from Slovenia who were visiting Ireland in October 2018. This was arranged by ETBI. WWGS discussed GCE in Ireland and the work of the WWGS programme.

Workshop: Global Education in changing school ethos and culture 

Speakers

• Mr. Jan Verschueren, Kleur Bekennen, Belgium
• Ms. Aishling McGrath, WWGS Global Passport Award, WorldWise Global Schools, Ireland
• Mr . Simon Laffineur, Magasins du Monde, Belgium (video presentation)

Facilitators

Mr. Nuno da Silva, Ripples of the New Expertiment, Portugal

Rapporteur

Mr. Vic Klabbers, The Network Universtiy, The Netherlands

The conference “Building a World of Justice and Solidarity: Global Education in the School System” held in Lisbon on 23 November, gathered 160 participants from 30 countries to reflect on how to place Global Education at the heart of formal education systems. An impressive line-up of more than 30 speakers contributed valuable input to plenaries and workshops, followed by discussion and reflection by all participants.

In the words of one participant: “The critical discussion led participants to reflect collaboratively on pathways for significant change in pursuit of the ideal of GE”. The conference was also an opportunity to launch, in the presence of the Minister of Education, Mr. Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, the Portuguese Strategy on Development Education 2018-2022.

The strategy’s Plan of Action was signed by 16 public and civil society organisations. The Minister was quoted in the news saying that "Global Citizenship Education is the true engine for social transformation”.

Minister of Education, Mr. Tiago Brandão Rodrigues

Conference speakers and participants, including WWGS Director, Aishling McGrath who facilitated a workshop.

On March 21st 2019 WWGS delivered an input for educators in Belgium in collaboration with Kruit, on the WWGS approach to GCE.

Kruit is a programme financed by the Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation. The programme was founded in 1997 by former State Secretary Reginald Moreels under the name Kleur Bekennen / Annoncer la Couleur and has been part of the Belgian Development Agency Enabel since 1999.

On 1 September 2019 Kleur Bekennen became Kruit, the knowledge centre for global citizenship education in Dutch-speaking Belgium. Whereas Kleur Bekennen previously mainly focused on educational offerings and services to schools, Kruit is positioning itself as a supporting expertise centre for the sector.

Within Enabel, Kruit works closely with its counterpart Annoncer la Couleur, which aims to promote global education in French-speaking Belgium. The Kruit / Annoncer la Couleur programme is made possible with the financial support of the Belgian Development Cooperation.

A tweet by Jan Verschueren, Coordinator Kruit/Kleur Bekennen, Belgian Development Agency

WWGS has engaged in peer learning with various educators in the UK. Here are a few examples below:

Jen Simpson input at WWGS Symposium for School Management 2018

Jen Simpson (University College London Institute of Education) presented a session: 'Learning to Unlearn the Charity Mentality within Schools'. Her research found that teachers hold a potentially pivotal role in promoting a just and sustainable world. However, in many schools, global learning begins with charity and fundraising and does not reach beyond this 'charity mentality'. Jen made the point that while charity is a starting point for many schools and that it should be valued, it should not be the end point. The ideal is to move from a 'charity mentality' which can distort people's perceptions of other countries or peoples, towards a 'social justice mentality'.

Jen Simpson speaking at the WWGS Symposium for School Management in May 2018

Dr. Philip Bamber input at WWGS Symposium for School Management November 2018

WWGS invited Associate Professor Philip Bamber to deliver the keynote address at the 2018 Symposium on Why Global Citizenship Education is important in the Irish Post-Primary School.

The Head of Education Studies shared his research on the role of global citizenship education in formal schooling at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Dublin.

School principals and representatives from Civil Society Organisations heard how Dr Bamber’s research focuses on transformative pedagogy, global citizenship and values education.

Dr Bamber was recently commissioned to co-author an international review of Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Teacher Education, for the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring report.

He is a member of the International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning board, and Associate-Director of the UK Teacher Education for Equity and Sustainability Network (TEESnet).

Aishling McGrath, WWGS Director, with Dr. Philip Bamber

Dr. Karen Pashby, 2020

In July 2020, WWGS worked with Dr. Karen Pashby as part of the development of the WWGS 6-step programme for GCE.  Dr. Karen Pashby is a Reader of Education Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research draws on postcolonial and decolonial theoretical resources. Dr. Pashby examines productive pedagogical tensions that promote critically reflexive classroom practices in education for global citizenship in Global North contexts. WWGS have adapted some of her work for inclusion in the Teacher Handbook on GCE.

WWGS hopes to work more closely with Dr. Pashby over the coming years.

Here we shared information with an international audience on our work. You can read the article here.

The WWGS Self Assessment Tool (SAT)  was referenced in Chapter 4 Methods for assessing competences for democratic culture, with concrete examples , as a casestudy. Please find the publication here.

The casestudy begins on page 78.

Aidan Clifford, from the WWGS Consortium was involved in the development of this publication, through his work with the Council of Europe.

Please see report here.

Please see link here.

This training can be found here. 

WWGS welcomed teachers from Uganda who were visiting Ireland in partnership with Trocaire.

These teachers had the opportunity to engage in peer learning in the area of GCE with their Irish counterparts during the WWGS National Teacher Conference in Dublin on January 31st 2019.