East Midlands network reviews
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Review of:
East Midlands Post-16 Citizenship regional meeting
Available from: See East Midlands post-16 citizenship regional network page for details of previous network meeting programmes or contact Jan Relf,
Lincoln college
on 01522 876 000 for further information.
Reviewed by: Jan Relf
Review: Attending the East Midlands regional meetings for Post 16 Citizenship quickly became an integral part of my professional development this academic year (06/07). I had been co-ordinating and delivering AS Citizenship through tutorial with a team of eight since September 2004 and so it was refreshing to meet with other practitioners in the East Midlands area, many of whom had been involved in citizenship for a number of years. Every meeting allowed the opportunity to share ideas and expertise with new members who were attending for the first time and fairly new to citizenship. This changing group needed an adept co-ordinator, and Alan Wilkins, managed to keep the agenda focused and pertinent: his enthusiasm for citizenship was tireless.
Rating: 5/5
Review of: ‘Comparing learning systems: the good, the bad, the ugly and the counterproductive’ Roland Meighan
Available from: Educational Heretics Press, edheretics@gn.apc.org (ISBN: 1-900219-28-x)
Reviewed by: Alan Wilkins
Review: ‘Schools are part of the problem, not the solution’.
Roland Meighan chose to conclude his publication ‘Comparing learning systems: the good, the bad, the ugly and the counter-productive’ with the comment above. Helping you and I make sense of the complex British education systems is what this slim volume seeks to do. We cannot comment on, or challenge, entrenched monolithic educational structures, unless we understand how these state learning systems compare with others and what are the alternatives. More details.
Rating: 4/5
Review of: “Taking Liberties” post- 16 conference for sixth form students from across our four school consortium
Available from: Elaine Brooker c/o Rushden Community College Hayway Rushden Northants NN10 6AG, tel: 01933 350391, email: e.brooker@rushden.northants.sch.uk
Reviewed by:
Elaine Brooker
Review: We took the theme of “Taking Liberties” as we felt is was hugely topical and was an all encompassing theme, lending itself to a wide variety of workshops.
Workshop 1: Mistaken Identity led by Phil Booth the national coordinator for No2ID, looked at how citizens are asked to disclose information which might then be used to restrict people’s everyday lives e.g ID cards/Health records/DNA databases etc. Students were asked to come up with a range of criteria against which these initiatives should be assessed and discussed the positive and negative impact of these initiatives. Provoked thoughtful discussion and raised many questions.
Workshop 2: Power to the people focussed on people’s right to protest using media footage of the 5 major protests of the 20th Century as stimuli.
Workshop 3: Know place like home explored the students’ concepts of Britishness. They looked at images of what they felt best and least epitomised britishness, highlighting the disparities in its definition. Students then attempted a “life in the UK” citizenship test, the results provoked much heated debate!
Workshop 4: Food Police led by Waitrose dieticians. Looked at the topic of healthy eating and the responsibility of the state to ensure that people ate a healthy diet, particularly tackling the issue of school dinners. The group tasted a range of healthy food, provided by Waitrose followed by the opportunity to make smoothies. Big areas of debate centred on issues like “Why does the government add calcium to bread without telling us?” and “Why tax junk food?”
The afternoon session of the conference took the format of a Question Time panel using the questions that had arisen from the morning workshops. The panel was made up of the No2ID rep/UKIP rep/two opposing local politicians and a district council rep. It was a most successful format and students asked lots of challenging and searching questions of the panel.
Rating: 5/5
Review of: Opening Activities at citizenship events – Citizenship cornered
Available from: See worksheet or contact Alan Wilkins,
alan@alanwilkinsconsulting.co.uk 0845 345 1438 or 01949 81711
Reviewed by: Alan Wilkins
Review: Getting the opening activity at any staff development event is always a challenge.
This activity encourages participants to form new groups at each stage therefore enabling all delegates to work with new members at the outset of an event. Working relationships are formed whilst the theme of the conference/workshop is also introduced setting a basis for further exploration.
The topics can be changed to those that will be associated with the theme of the event. The attached example introduces ideas related to learning style theory, citizenship coordination responsibilities, delivery methods, staff development and use of resources.
The facilitator is able to explore issues as they arise as participants describe each dimension.
This was very effective at a recent East Midlands regional network event that had many new attendees with a cohort of established citizenship coordinators also present.
Rating: 5/5