Digital Storytelling Project
The Education team is participating in a digital storytelling project funded by the Young Foundation Community Knowledge Fund for Environment and Sustainability
In partnership with Cobra Collective & Talking Tree the project will train Youth Digital Eco Warriors to tell their intergenerational food growing stories. This is part of a bigger digital storytelling project which gives little heard voices a platform to shape their communities.
Thames Festival Film making
Manju & KIrsty have scripted and filmed 3 short films for the Thames Festival Trust. Based on active Global Citizenship the topics covered are ‘Rivers of the World’, Climate Change and international School Partnerships. Currently being edited, the films will soon be available for teachers to view & get inspired by lesson ideas.
Global Histories Project for Schools
Developing teaching and learning of shared histories
Increasing a sense of belonging and community cohesion
Challenging assumptions, prejudice and discrimination.
Across academic year 2021/22 RISC’s education team collaborated with teachers, trainees and the University of Reading to deliver teacher training and develop up-to-date and relevant resources with local primary and secondary schools. These resources are now live on our website. We’re repeating the CPD units of this project during academic year 2022/23 due to the interest we’ve had.
| Global Histories Module 1: Colonial History |
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| Developing knowledge of colonial history and its application in the curriculum. |
| Global Histories Module 2: Climate History |
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| What’s history got to do with Climate Change? Gearing up for COP 26 through understanding of the histories that led to our current climate crisis. |
| Global Histories Module 3: Challenging Histories |
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| Teaching challenging and sensitive issues in multi racial classrooms. |
| Global Histories Module 4: Local Histories |
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| Engaging with knowledge and experiences in the local community and youth led research projects. |
download the resources associated with this project from our resources page
Book your place or find out more by emailing kirsty@risc.org.uk
Youth Environment education Congress
– Erasmus funded Trip
Risc was delighted to facilitate students from Barking Abbey School to attend the Youth Environmental Education Congress held in Prague, March 2022 https://weec2022.org/programme/youth-congress/.
This was funded by Erasmus and co-ordinated by fantastic partners in the Czech Republic. Our huge thanks go to Silvie & her team from Sever, Erasmus for funding the project and the staff & students from Barking Abbey who participated and made this possible.
Here’s a report from one of our environmental ambassadors who attended
Reading's Slave Links Guide
RISC has teamed up with Aspire CIC, a Reading-based organisation representing the Caribbean and people of Black heritage, to explore the town’s links to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. To celebrate Black History Month we have built on the exhibition we produced to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the end of Britain’s involvement in the slave trade (though not slavery itself which did not end in Britain’s colonies until 1838). We have discovered more information on local families who owned slaves and benefited from £20 million paid in compensation by the British government when they lost their ‘property’.
Back in 2007 RISC produced an exhibition about Reading’s Links to the trans-Atlantic slave trade to acknowledge the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery Act (though not of slavery itself which continued until 1838 in the British empire). After further research we have uncovered further fascinating connections between some notable families in the area and the trade and created a guide you can use to explore this hidden history. Download the guide and the quiz to dig into the past and find out who built a fine town house in London Rd shortly after receiving £2019 4s 3d from the British government in compensation for the loss of 122 slaves on his plantation in Antigua. Then download the answers and see more information and illustrations You can see an online version of the exhibition or borrow it to display in a school or community venue by contacting admin@risc.org.uk.
The free guide is available from the World Shop or you can download it here
Click here to download the quiz
and click here for the answers
quality or quantity
tracking changes in pupils’ attitudes
Teachers are used to measuring their impact on knowledge, understanding and skills, but values and attitudes can sometimes be left unmonitored. Good Global Education balances knowledge, skills, values and attitudes, to produce a well rounded education.
Expanding on previous research into values and attitudes in Global Education, we have worked with teachers, student teachers and their tutors to develop ways of finding out how pupils’ attitudes and actions can change.
The 3-year project, funded by the European Commission saw us working with partner organisations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ireland, Ethiopia and the South East of England, the project involved 16 universities, hundreds of schools and thousands of pupils in this exciting and ground-breaking work.
This innovative methodology for measuring attitudinal change enables teachers to take a more systematic approach to discovering attitudes and values, and to measure the impact of their teaching.
Understanding Islam: Challenging Islamophobia is a project run by RISC in partnership with the Centre for World Education (CMO) in Nijmegen, Netherlands.
In 2010 the Exploring Islam Foundation commissioned YouGov to survey public perceptions of Islam, Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad. A majority (60%) of the 2152 respondents said they didn’t know very much about Islam and obtained most of their information about Islam from the TV news (57%) or newspapers (41%) rather than directly from Muslim organisations. Perceptions were generally negative:
- 50% associate Islam with terrorism
- 13% associate Islam with peace and 6% with justice
- 16% think that Islam promotes fairness and equality
- 41% disagree or strongly disagree that Muslims have a positive impact on British society
- 69% believe that Islam encourages the repression of women.
Many organisations are trying to challenge these misconceptions by raising awareness of the belief, practice, history and cultures of Islam, and highlighting the contribution of Muslims to society.
challenging islamophobia web portal
RISC has created a web portal for teachers and facilitators who want to challenge Islamophobia. The materials are suitable for Key Stage 3-4+ as well as youth and community groups.
The portal brings together resources that offer innovative and creative approaches for dealing with controversial issues that will engage young people. It shows how every area of the curriculum offers possibilities to explore alternative perspectives on the role of Islam in Britain and the wider world.
click here to visit the challenging islamophobia web portal
"I increasingly feel that ignorance of both Muslim culture and the faith of Islam is in danger of radicalising many sections of society. Ignorance is reinforced by a general lack of interaction between mono-ethnic communities that often results in many children growing up in parallel societies. Prejudice, rather than informed understanding, is then shaping many attitudes." Muhammad Imran, Islamic Relief
The Understanding Islam: Challenging Islamophobia project has received funding from the European Union's Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme, although the views expressed within do not necessarily reflect its official policy.
from the margins to the mainstream
This DfID funded project began in 2008 and built on RISC’s successful work in partnership with schools across Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Over the three years the project worked with 5 Local Authorities (Reading, Bracknell Forest, Windsor & Maidenhead, Wokingham and West Berkshire) and the Diocese of Oxford to raise the profile of Global Citizenship and embed it in their training programmes for teachers, teaching assistants and governors.
Extensive work took place and many primary and secondary schools were involved, sharing best practice and developing new Global Education lessons and schemes of work.
download a report of the project that showcases some of the work
To inspire the development of further work and ensure schools were making progress in quantity and quality across the whole school, a Self-Evaluation Framework was created. This innovative document was designed for schools to evaluate their own progress towards embedding Global Citizenship education of the highest quality across a wide range of school areas, exploring the potential for Global Citizenship to influence beyond teaching and learning into policies.
fair trade in your school
This project enabled teachers and trainee teachers to deliver high quality fair trade work, which included working towards achieving the Fair Trade Schools Award Through teacher training and the creation of new resources, the project supported schools in embedding fair trade in the curriculum and ethos of their schools while ensuring that it has a positive impact on pupils’ attitudes towards trade justice and fair trade.
RISC worked with Primary and Secondary schools, and two Initial Teacher Training Institutions, running workshops that encouraged participants to share their learning within their clusters and subject networks.
The successes of the project and new teaching resources have been shared through RISC's Resource Bank where teachers and trainee teachers can access schemes of work and inspirational ideas from the project.
pARTicipate: art and global activism
In 2004 RISC began working in partnership with the Art Department at the University of Reading Institute of Education and in 2006 with the October Gallery. The aim of these partnerships was to develop and disseminate ways of delivering Global Citizenship through art and design in primary and secondary schools.
The starting point was our own research in local schools, which showed that many pupils hold narrow and stereotypical views of people and places around the world. These ideas are reinforced within many curriculum areas, including art and design.
The partnership with Reading University involved student teachers researching the work of contemporary artists from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Pupils from local primary schools visited the University studios, worked with the students and created artwork inspired by these contemporary artists – sculptors, painters, mixed media and performance artists. The artists chosen challenge stereotyped ideas about art, and also raise Global Citizenship issues through their work, for example issues about identity and belonging, sustainability, peace and conflict, media and representation, and community.
The partnership with the October Gallery focused on the work of contemporary artists exhibiting at the gallery and provided teachers at KS2 & 3 with online resources to support them in embedding Global Citizenship through the art curriculum and through cross-curriculum projects.
Download the resources here:
Julien Sinzogan, a painter from Benin
Romuald Hazoume, a mask-maker from Benin
Nnenna Okore, a sculptor from Nigeria