A World-Class School

- A vision of a dimension

The EVAM - network (Danish abbreviation for A World of Opportunities) consists of 14 folkeskoler, 5 teacher training colleges, 5 resource centres, and Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke , IBIS , Red Barnet and The National Innovative Centre of General Education (SPF). On the basis of two years of development work in this network, we have interviewed the participating schools, while teacher training colleges, resource centres and town councils have answered questionnaires. A status report has been made which contains many intentions and conclusions. The article below is based on the results of the report. It has come about in a work group consisting of Ellen Farr, Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke, Anja Mortensen, Carsten Skjoldborg and Torben Ulrik Nissen. The latter has been doing the actual writing of the article.
We have wanted to create a vision of a school, which has implemented the global dimension in the everyday teaching. It is a futuristic vision, but many of its elements are active here and now - and more may come. We will probably be able to take the following pictures during a visit to a future global school.

Picture 1
We are moving through the green area on our way up to the school. On one side of the road, a large variety of Danish trees and bushes have been planted at a slope. On the opposite side, the slope has been planted with foreign imported plants. There are little name tags like the ones in a botanical garden. We are hearing pupils from the 3rd grade exploring the foreign side. They have small maps of the world and are putting down a mark whenever they have found the country from which a certain plant has its origin. They started out in the Danish section in order to get an insight into the Danish nature. It might be just as astonishingly strange to many pupils as are exotic plants. It is quite symbolic for the way in which the global dimension is included here: Start out with what is found locally and nationally before viewing what is global.

Picture 2
We are greeted by signs in many languages. Some we shall have to guess, but it is certain that they say "Welcome". In the lobby of the school, we enter directly into the whole world. A vast map of the world covers the wall directly opposite the main entrance. We approach, and we are able to see flags from other countries to which the pupils of the school have family relations. A multi-coloured calendar with lots of symbols, shows the different holidays and festive days, which the school's many cultures have. The argument why all cultures are to be greeted in their own language is that in a multicultural society, the school must also reflect multiculturalism.

Picture 3
The Principal also welcomes us. She has recently attended a meeting with the school management dealing with the use of the municipal twin towns. They are being used in connection with the school's camp schools and exchange journeys. The school has now networked with other foreign schools, so that all classes have a twin class outside the borders of Denmark. It also creates the opportunity of having continuing communication via the internet. The municipal council is going to consider getting a few twin towns in the third world. The school strongly approves of this, since it will open the possibility of creating the direct cultural meeting. This type of meeting is given top priority both by teachers and pupils whenever the talk falls on what exactly makes things move.
The Principal has been involved since the beginning, when the school was offered to join the network of schools, teacher training colleges, resource centres and NGOs in order to promote the implementation of the global dimension in teaching. "I believe it is an obvious opportunity to focus on internationality and round of many of the spread initiatives within the area. There should be a joined effort since it is a shared matter. It has been an important signal that I as Principal have been visible and active from the beginning of the organization of this development work. We have incorporated the global dimension in the schools corporate values, and we have composed a local curriculum and plan of action."
It has become a must for all teachers to include the global dimension in their everyday teaching.

Picture 4
We are meeting a representative from the international committee of the school: "We have organized ourselves in an international committee in which we endeavour to cover as many areas as possible. There are representatives from the pedagogical service centre, from all sections of the school stretching from management to members of the pupil council. We try to consider that different democratic groups are represented. It creates a large variety of ideas and a better awareness of the global dimension, and it ensures that global and intercultural aspects are integrated in all subjects.
But resources must be canalized into such a development work. Without support, it will become too hard. It may simply be perceived as if another task is being given. Therefore, we have made an effort out of producing a curriculum combined with a catalogue of ideas.This gives inspiration by using specific tools for all class levels and all subjects. We have made goals for each class level and subject. Many places the text reads may, but some places it reads must. We argue that development cannot take place without recycling. That is why we have twisted some of the things we are already doing into containing a global dimension. We are creating a new context of old and new elements. It has been done together with other schools in our network. Curricula for the subjects, ideas and experiences are all uploaded to the network's home page. We have created supplementary training programs in cooperation with the local teacher training college and resource centre. One of the most important points of our in service courses is to show how the global dimension can be a part of all subjects in the every day teaching - and create coherence. It has opened many teachers' eyes. "We have come to a point, where had we not had the global dimension as one of the main threads in the education, we would have had to invent it."

Picture 5
We pop our heads in to class 9.B (9th grade of the elementary school in Denmark, pupils' age is 15). The whole class is listening to the morning news on the radio. This happens every morning. It has become customary that the teachers prepare themselves by listening to the news on the radio one hour earlier. It just might be, that one would have to get a grasp of a historical event or something of the like, which may throw light on some news. The pupils take turn in noting headlines on the blackboard. A map of the world is hanging next to it.
The pupils are very quiet. Some give the morning itself more importance than the morning news, but as the news is over, the pupils turn their attention to the teacher.
The teachers ask the pupils which of the news are follow-ups on earlier days news, and which are new subjects. The map of the world is being pointed at in order to place the events geographically. The pupils are given the opportunity to ask questions whenever they are marveled by something, or when they cannot quite see the greater whole. The events may become the starting point for the day's lessons and include the previous questions in the subjects, since one teacher cannot cover all global questions and problems. The pupils can also go on the internet in order to research. In English, German and French, following up is done by listening to or showing news broadcastings from these countries.

Picture 6
3. c. (3rd grade of the elementary school in Denmark, pupils' age is 9) are talking about their visit to the neighbouring school, where they have very few pupils with another cultural background. There are many words urging to get out of their keen mouths. Fingers are pointing up into the air in the battle of the right to speak. We are noting questions such as: "It was odd that they didn't have a map of the world in their class room." Why didn't it say "Welcome" in Urdu as it does here?". "Don't they have a party at their school once the Ramadan is over?" "I would feel very left outside if I was in that class." "It must be dull having so many pupils that look the same." "It was a lot of fun to meet somebody from another school." "It was also fun to be visited by another teacher."
We ask if there are no problems in being so many different people together. Of course there are, but judging from the pupils' answers and examples, we can conclude that the pros are heavier than the cons.
The school has a basic stand when it comes to conflicts, in which it says that a conflict might also be viewed upon as an opportunity for progressing. Therefore, they practise in dealing with conflicts during many of the seminars that deal with intercultural competence. It is an area which all classes deal with during a school year. It is part of the curriculum and exercises can be obtained in the catalogue of ideas - e.g. ideas for dilemmas, Forum Theatre with intercultural angels and ideas for parents' meetings.

Picture 7
In 5.b (5th grade of the elementary school in Denmark, pupils' age is 11) the class is ending a sequence dealing with children's' rights. It has become an incorporated part of the evaluation to look at the map of the world, which hangs on the rear wall. The map is not factory made. It has been drawn on the basis of a map of the world shown on an overhead projector. Originally it only had lines showing the silhouettes of the different continents, oceans and frontiers. The class has had it since the 1st grade. It is also used in other classes at the school. Every time the class has dealt with a subject or had a project, they look at the map in order to find out whether they have been outside the boarders of Denmark. Have they talked a little about a country and found it on the map, they put a yellow pin on the country. If they have worked more thoroughly with a country, they put a red pin on it. There are still white spots on the map, but if you ask the pupils what the names of those countries are, they know the answer. As Casper says "I get curious from seeing the white spots every day. I have looked in an atlas in order to find the names. It is like being an explorer in the old days where they didn't know the countries. Last year, we had the subject about expeditions. You can see for yourselves on the map that we have the routes of Vasco Da Gama, Magellan and Columbus. The dotted red line is Marco Polo's route to China. You can see that they have numbers. On the shelves are the portfolios from last year. If you look at the numbers there, you can find out what we have been working with dealing with the different explorers."

Picture 8
7th grade has been doing some research in the local area. The heading was: "Which global traces can we find in the local area?" The logo of the city has been put onto all the countries to which a trace has been linked. Pupils and parents were surprised how many countries that were actually on the local map, the many strings which go out from a normal Danish city and how much the global enters everywhere.
As a part of the school guidance of the class, the pupils have been visited by representatives from various occupations who told them which qualifications are required when working with international relations. It is a way of involving the surrounding world. Here the pupils get the perception that it is all about understanding between people, but also about international qualifications where intercultural and linguistic competences are important.
The school is trying to ride both these horses.

Picture 9
4. B (4th grade of the elementary school in Denmark, pupils' age is 10) is working with family trees. All the family trees are on the wall in the shape of a frieze. The global roots all end in a shared map of the world. Strings are going out from the same countries to a series of laminated sheets. All the pupils have written down small stories from the lives of their families. Every country has a collection of stories from the school's pupils. Some countries have many sheets, including Denmark, while from other countries, there is only one. The stories are linked with the history of the individual countries.
There are examples of how pupils in the older classes return to their family trees and stories of their lives, when they are working with issues from other countries from the shared map of the world. Should new pupils come to the class, they are invited to present their own family tree so that they can become a part of the class community in this way.

Picture 10
During the initial schooling, the pupils have been working with the old days. Their grandparents have been invited to the school in order to tell about the old days. It has resulted in many stories about both school and everyday life when granny was a child. The school has succeeded in getting grandparents from many different cultures to attend and narrate. The pupils have drawn and written little stories based on the narratives of the elderly. Some of the stories have been taped. The children have been surprised by the many resemblances between the stories of the Danish grandparents and grandparents from other cultures. The pupils are keen to test us. We receive a story about a boy from the old days. He got up at sunrise and went in the field with the cows after they had been milked. He did not even have socks in his clogs and he only went to school every second day. The family was really poor. Which country do you think he came from? Hesitatingly we say Denmark. That is right, but it would also have been true if we had said Turkey, because Ali's grandfather had actually told almost the same story as Katrine's grandfather. The pupils think it is a really good point. So do we.

Picture 11
The domestic areas at the school have names after a part of the world. Signs show that South America is down the second corridor on the left. We are walking along it with images of the Pampas, indians from the highlands and spitting llamas on our retina. Some of the inner images become outer. The corridor down to South America is full of pictures and maps, but also the pupils' works. They are placed around a map of South America. Some pupils' works have an arrow pointing at a South American country because the pupil has worked with questions relating to it. Other pupils' works relate to several countries and are more based on general questions such as poverty, environment or trade.
There are three classes in the domestic area. They shift continents throughout the schooling period. They take part in arranging the common room. But classes from other domestic areas may also leave their stamp on the South American domestic area if they should be working with South American angles. In this way, the classes come to each others domestic areas and obtain an affiliation to the whole school. We are noticing that there are no signs of vandalism.

Picture 12
The pedagogical service centre is in many ways a centre for the activities of the school. The fact that the school has a focus on the global dimension is obvious when you walk around here. A part of the centre is called "The World Corner". It is a permanent exhibition of pictures from all over the world. The pupils can also borrow this collection in a laminated version. In connection with the exhibition, there are examples of how the pupils have been working with the pictures. In the "World Corner", there are more examples of the pupils' works from whenever a class has been working with the global dimension in a subject. It seems very inspiring to both pupils and teachers. There is a total review of all the school's materials relating to the global dimension. This makes it easy for teachers and pupils to find relevant material. Next to a row of computers, laminated sheets hang from the ceiling with good global links.
At every meeting in the Pedagogical Council, the teachers are updated with news by the librarian. The Pedagogical Service Centre also takes care of editing "The World Corner"" on the school's home page in cooperation with the international committee. News about courses and pupils' works are published here. Since the school's home page is included as a link on the EVAM home page, other schools can easily obtain access to the school's updates of the work with the global dimension. Many parents are also making use of the opportunity to keep updated.
Parents can also get an insight into the school's work with the global dimension when they are invited to presentation of projects and evenings of debate, where the parents may give their views and opinions.

Picture 13
The teaching team for the 6th grade are having a meeting, discussing next week's schedule, which is being made jointly. The whole school has a flexible planning of the teaching and this team has come to value that. Among other things, the school's global curriculum and the annual plan of the class level, is lying on the table. The EVAM home page is checked regularly to see if colleagues from other schools should have uploaded ideas for courses or exercises. The 6th level's last course was on endangered species, which they worked with in English, Art and Science and it has all been uploaded to the EVAM home page.
The team is going over the many ideas, which the pupils have come up with, in order to see how they might fit in with a new project.
It is generally agreed to make use of the offer from the NGOs to send guest teachers to the school. Good experiences have been made with this in the past. The teachers have become aware of how important resource guest teachers are in the work with the global dimension.

Picture 14
In connection with the teachers' supplementary training, a study circle has been planned in order to produce teaching materials and ideas. This takes place in cooperation with the teacher training college, the resource centre, different NGOs and other schools from the local network. There has proven to be a great synergism in this work. The sharing of knowledge has become a natural part of the coorporation.
The schools in the network are continuously receiving materials from the NGOs for testing. The teachers report back and discuss the usefulness of the materials. Besides that, the NGOs have an interest in getting a feeling of which materials the teachers are in want of in the work with chosen topics. On the basis of this, the NGOs are more capable of pushing the making of new materials in the direction which the teachers and pupils need. Experiences from the testing of materials can also motivate the subject teachers to create materials themselves. As a part of the work of the study circle, subject teachers meet in order to create own ideas for courses. These are spread out via the EVAM home page, but some also make their way to the NGO publishing houses.

Picture 15
A parents' meeting for the 9th level has been called. The pupils have been on an exchange visit which included work experience and they are now to prepare a return visit. One of the teachers has been to the foreign school on a job-swop in the period before and during the pupils' visit.
On the parents' meeting it is, among other things, to be discussed what it takes on behalf of the parents, and what they are to gain. A briefing will also be given about education abroad and about an alternative school year in another country.
Since there have been difficulties with pupils' cultural meetings previously, a tradition has been made of creating cultural meetings in several intervals. The smallest levels meet pupils from other local schools, which have a different mix of pupils than the school has. They go on trip to a cottage in Denmark and meet local pupils there. The first trip abroad goes to Norway or Sweden. The oldest levels get the opportunity to get work experience in a European country or to go on an exchange visit. And the school board is behind it.

Picture 16
The school board has been positive with regard to the school's desire to obtain a clear international profile. This also shows in the school's budget which has allocated funds for camps, supplementary teacher training, feature arrangements, materials etc. The fact that all pupils must experience an exchange visit to a school, is also supported by the school board. Besides that, the school board has been a part of the decision to have each class adopt a child from a third world country. The pupils have to raise the money themselves, but the school guarantee the necessary amount.
It has been important to the school board that there are many ways in which the parents can follow the work with the global dimension. Therefore, it is important to have the school's home page, "The World Corner", parents' meetings where there is an opportunity to hear about the pupils' work and feature weeks with a global perspective. Besides that, parents can come to visit, but also get involved as guest teachers.

Picture 17
Even though it is characteristic for the school to have succeeded in integrating the global dimension into the daily teaching, time is still made for a feature week. Teachers, pupils and parents believe it is good to have a period where everybody works with the same topic at the same time. It works as mutual inspiration because the many activities are engaged by others and new ideas are born.
Outwardly, it becomes a clear indication of the fact that the school is focusing on the global dimension. The local press is involved along with parents, local organisations and local business life with international connections.
This year, the overall topic is human rights. The classes work in their own classes in some lessons while in others they are split vertically across class levels. The school is full of life. The workshops are busy, there is hammering and painting, the world is being fetched via the internet, drama groups are practising, parents and guest teachers give presentations and material is being collected for the daily newspaper.
The feature week is also one of the times where the school takes trainee teachers. The school has an interest in getting extra teachers to help doing the job of bringing a grand scale feature week to life with the preparation and evaluation that comes with it. The students have an interest in coming to the school as trainees. In this way, they are given a chance to combine theory and practice. The teacher training college has focused on integrating intercultural and global perspectives into all subjects. The practical experience is arranged between supervisors from the teacher training college, the students and trainee teachers at the school in due time, so that a prudent coherence is created between the school's wishes and the possibilities which the teacher training college has to integrate them in the daily teaching of the students.

Picture 18
During the closing conversation with the Principal and the international committee, they outline the development towards the global school. We notice that the coffee is marked with Max Havelar. The attitude is that there has to be a connection between what we say and do. "We have to think of ourselves as rolemodels."
"It is important that the Department of Education decided to specify the frames of the global dimension. It was formally and practically given the same status as the other three dimensions (creative, environmental and ICT). It is natural to include creative activities in the global dimension, give projects an environmental touch and moreover, computers are a given for both pupils and teachers.
There has been created a good coherence between the dimensions. We have worked like this for a while, but it is worth pointing out that the framework has now been set.
It gave the municipal council motivation to get shared curricula and plans of action in the area. At the same time it became easier to obtain resources for this work. Since all schools were to include the global dimension, our local network grew stronger. The interest for getting ideas for global topics had simply gone up.
As a logical consequence, it influenced the teacher training colleges in a manner so that the global dimension became a part of the education. This is a great joy to us. Partly because we get trainees which have a better background for looking at the subjects with global eyes, and partly because the teacher training college have created good opportunities for supplementary teacher training for the teachers in cooperation with resource centres and pedagogical centres.
Many of the teachers express great satisfaction with these workshops in which they have a lot of influence on what the heading is to be. The many regional offers of supplementary courses are making the spread of the work with the global dimension very efficient along with the catalogue of ideas which the network has.
There is no doubt that the management has to play an active part with regards to the implementation of the global dimension at the school. Examples clearly show this. The distinct organisation of an international committee at the school means that everybody is given the information necessary and everybody is being heard.
When the teacher and the team see the global dimension as one of the main threads of the teaching on all levels and in all subjects, the implementation in the school's everyday life is secured. The school becomes the place where you teach locally and think globally.