FAQs on the Global Passport Award

The Global Passport Award is a Global Citizenship Education (GCE) quality mark, which offers schools a framework to integrate GCE into their teaching and learning. It is a self-assessed and externally audited accreditation for GCE that is open to all post-primary schools in Ireland.

The Global Passport Award therefore recognises and rewards schools for their commitment to GCE and the work they undertake. The framework assists the integration of GCE into the whole-school, across a broad range of areas.

Schools can apply for three different types of Awards and their total score will be determined by the school’s level of engagement with GCE:

• The Citizens Passport Award (for emerging engagement in GCE)
• The Diplomatic Passport Award (for established engagement in GCE)
• The Special Passport Award (for exceptional engagement in GCE)

The 6 Global Passport Stamps (or areas) represent a different aspect of school life and they include the following:

• The Curricular Stamp
• The Extra-Curricular Stamp
• The Teacher Capacity & Engagement Stamp
• The Student Capacity & Engagement Stamp
• The School Leadership & Policies Stamp
• The Community Engagement Stamp.

The Passport Stamps provide scaffolding for schools and provide a pathway for the integration of GCE across all aspects of school life.

The 6 stamps are further broken down into categories that allow the school to plan and integrate GCE into each area of school life on a step-by-step basis. When applying for the award, schools rate their level of GCE activity across the 6 Global Passport Stamps, illustrating what is happening in their schools. They do this by:

1. Scoring each category on a range of 0-5 (see scale below)
2. Using the text box provided on the application to provide definite examples or concrete evidence for what they are doing in each of the Stamps.

The total amount of points you receive (after WWGS has assessed the application) determines the Global Passport Award the school will receive.

Please fill out this form to register your interest.

Please note: You will be set up with a global passport award application by the WWGS team. This is not an automated process so please bear with us.

The applications open on 27th November 2023.

1. Firstly, you must register your school’s interest in applying for the award here and filling out your school details.

2. You will then be set up with a Global Passport Award application form which will appear under the ‘Global Passport’ tab on your WWGS online school account (please access here).

3. If you are new to WWGS and not receiving funding from us, you will be set up with a school account under your name and sent an email to create a password in order to activate your online school account and access your Global Passport Award Application.

4. Once your final application has been submitted, it will be appraised by a member of the WWGS team. Once completed, you will receive an email to say your application has been appraised. Then you can view the outcome of your application online along with feedback which will be provided by WWGS.

In Section D, you must attach:

• Your school Crest (this will appear on your Global Passport Award)
• Photos – as evidence of your GCE activities (3 photos will be displayed at the Annual Student Conference & Award Ceremony, when you are presented with your award)

For each of above items, use the Attachment tool to attach the file and then tick the box to confirm that it is uploaded

If you are eligible for the Special Passport Award (following the appraisal of your application), we will request a 'Dossier of Evidence' to support the exceptional level of GCE activity in your school. The dossier would include supporting evidence for the examples you have provided in your Global Passport Application.

WWGS have three additional Awards for schools who have shown excellent, innovative GCE practice in three key areas. These categories include:

• Best practice Student Capacity award
• Best practice Teacher Capacity award
• Best Practice Community Engagement award

Schools can apply for one or more of these three categories. To apply for this award, you must outline in a maximum of 500 words what the exemplary GCE practice was, and why it should be considered for an award.

Either you have not attached the required documents or you have not completed all sections of the application. Please provide a score of 0 if you are not doing anything in any of the categories.

GCE...

• provides structure for schools to review and build their GCE
• offers a pathway for students to explore and take action on local to global issues
• empowers and engages all school stakeholders to engage areas such as ‘Policy & Ethos’ and ‘School Leadership’ which may otherwise be overlooked
• encourages schools to coordinate and collaborate the strands of the GCE activities within their school
• provides recognition and validation for the GCE work being done in schools
• provides an opportunity for schools to raise their profile by showcasing and celebrating their commitment to GCE, which can be shared with schools around the country.

• The Global Passport Award Framework - A step-by-step planning tool
• Online resources for each of the 6 Stamps including case studies, videos, templates, resources and written examples of what other schools have done.
• Global Passport Information Session (watch back)
• Individual support meetings with our team of education officers and also email and phone support.

1. When completing your application, you must review the criteria in the score criteria box to determine your score or rate your engagement (0-5). Make sure to use concrete examples and evidence to illustrate your work, relative to the criteria when completing each category.
2. Remember to keep clicking the SAVE button on your online application, preferably every 5 minutes. If you are inactive the online account will log you out and you will lose your information. There are multiple Save buttons on the application page. Clicking on any of the Save buttons will save the entire application which can then be accessed and completed at a later stage.
3. There is no need to add up your score as they will automatically calculate at the bottom of Section B.
4. Attach your school crest and photos (at least 3 pictures) of your school’s quality GCE work. To upload files to your application, click on ‘Attach File’. Then tick the box for ‘School photo/crest’ to confirm the file(s) has been uploaded and then press SAVE. We will need these to create your award plaque and for the award ceremony
5. Finally, submit your application by clicking the relevant tick boxes to confirm your agreement with the use of data. Once the Submission tick box has been clicked and you click Save you will no longer be able to edit the application.
6. Scores can only be awarded for GCE activities & initiatives that have already been carried out (in the past) and not future intentions.

Watch the instructional video on how to apply here.