Voices blog

The Citizen ship sailed into the TeachFirst harbour to discuss all things citizenship, including assessment and social action for a really inspiring session.

Last week I met with nine citizenship specialists at the TeachFirst London HQ for a subject development day. Having completed their first four weeks in school, this day was an opportunity for these newly trained teachers to escape the sea of young people to reflect on their collective experiences and to hear from a variety of authoritative and interesting speakers - including me from the Citizenship Foundation!

I had a little over an hour with some bright, engaging and enthusiastic professionals, who without exception seem to be making a positive impact in their school settings and upon their students. It was really refreshing to hear the understanding and passion that they have for citizenship education, but also pleasing to learn how central citizenship values are to their host schools. During uncertain times when many subject bodies are looking over their shoulder at any impending outcomes of the curriculum review, I feel assured that many academic institutions will continue to see the value of preparing young people with the knowledge, tools and understanding to make an effective contribution to wider society.

During our limited time together we were able to look at some great, free citizenship resources and discuss some assessment issues with the font of citizenship knowledge that is Julie Gibbings our Manager, Curriculum and Publication. I was also able to introduce the Giving Nation Challenge which supports cross-curricular delivery of charitable and social action initiatives to KS3 &4. With free lesson plans and teaching resources, and a new web-based project planner (currently being developed!) coupled with start-up grants of £50/class to develop charity and social enterprise projects I am sure we should be seeing many more young social activists joining our community of 600 secondary schools in the coming months.

On the day, I was also especially delighted to hear from the excellent Cathy Fallon, Senior Lecturer and Citizenship Lead, that TeachFirst has already committed to continuing to place more citizenship students next year. Naturally, I will look forward to meeting these exceptional teachers next year!

For any information on the Giving Nation programme, including free school training or telephone guidance, please get in touch on 020 7566 4141.

Get inspired. Get Active. Get involved. info@g-nation.org.uk

Having just returned from a fruitful trip to the Gambia with students from Queen Elizabeth II High School from Isle of Man, my eyes have been opened to the role that intercultural communication can play a vital role in developing student’s global views.

Working with the students & teacher from this Giving Nation Award winning school, it was great to observe the crucial and dynamic work that Concern Universal plays in the Gambia. Concern Universal provided an enriched and dynamic trip for six QEII students and their teacher to learn about the life changing work that they do in one of Africa’s poorest countries

During our week in the Gambia, it was observed how the pupils were able to leave aside preconceptions and be able to see how SMILE (Smallholder Irrigation for Livelihood Enhancement) agricultural technology is building women’s livelihoods and improving their capacity to generate an income for their families.

Observing Concern Universal’s work in the Gambia solidified the core aims of the trip on understanding international development organizations and working with local communities to address key issues of health, agriculture and education.

Moira Pain, 15, said, “Something that’s really struck me while I’ve been here is the difference between aid and development; it wasn’t something I’d really considered before and I think it’s had a really profound effect on me and the rest of the group.”

To read more about Giving Nation trip to the Gambia, click here

As government hands power over to its citizens urging them to take greater ownership of their local community, there has been little guidance available as to how young people can contribute.

As the ’Big Society’ is dependent on many factors, one key way to build ‘tomorrow’s citizens’ as recently put by  Tim Loughton, Junior Children‘s Minister, is that you “get more bang for your buck” when consulting with youth on their local communities.

This is a view that Giving Nation has voiced for the last six years as we‘ve been supporting secondary schools across the UK in contributing to their communities through volunteering, campaigning and social action projects. Thousands of young people have chosen to give their time, energy and voice through charitable giving to benefit others.

In developing employability skills such as  advocacy, team building, self-confidence, business and social understanding, our younger citizens are providing a positive impact to causes that matter to them. In aims of providing opportunities and empowerment of young people, the ‘Big Society’ encourages a spirit of volunteerism and deeper community engagement. The Giving Nation programme achieves these results by building active and social engaged citizens.

Using the social enterprise model, students from the ages of 11-16 are encouraged in their classrooms to build social action projects that provide a product or service for the benefit of their local community.

With a start-up fund of up to £450 per school, classes are tasked with developing a campaign and activity to raise awareness and money for their chosen charitable causes. With over 550 schools, 100 000 students engaged and £30 000 in school grants waiting to be claimed Giving Nation is continuing to grow and promote young people‘s contribution to a big society vision.

Want to get involved?

Giving Nation offers bespoke local authority and school training opportunities as well as direct delivery through assembly launches and school‘s competition judging.

Watch out for our new web launch on 3rd November which includes new resources and tools.

Visit  www.g-nation.org.uk or contact us at info@g-nation.org.uk for more information.

Bex (16), a student from Rushcliffe Comprehensive School, winners of the 2008 Giving Nation national award, reports on her experience of the Giving Nation Awards day in Westminster.

This is Bex‘s report on her and her charity team‘s experience of the Giving Nation Awards day in London and winning a trip to the Cameroon to support the Rainforest Foundation. (more…)

The worst thing about poverty is how deeply and unexpectedly it affects lives. When we begin to list that indicate poverty we think of a lack of food, a safe place to live, work, education, maybe at a most basic level of description: money. But, for me, it is the way that poverty deeply erodes some of the less obvious and yet fundamental aspects of life, that is the hardest and saddest thing to accept. (more…)