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We have added these news & update pages following feedback from members.
Please send us anything you'd like to add whether it be celebrating a success, sharing a challenge, voicing an opinion or announcing an idea - all are welcome.
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Scroll down for content or click title to jump to the relevant item.
Items added 28-30 September 2011
Festival update - bigger, better and braver!
Dept of Education - timetable for change
Michael Gove triumphs Nottingham Academy
Climate of Change in Education - Chris Southwood inTES
Items added 7 June 2011
Festival update - last chance to book a place!
UN Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development
MELA to feature in journal on co-operative education and learning
Items added 20 May 2011
2011 Festival of Learning Update
Global Learning Update - DfID review, Building a Sustainable Funding Base, DEEEP European funding
Sustainable Schools Update - Sustainble Schools Alliance, East Midlands website, PG Cert in ESD
Community Cohesion Update - SLN classroom resources, Cumbria cluster, Time 2 Think
National Literacy Trust Leaders Network
Study Visit Project: What is Learning For?
Festival update - bigger, better and braver!
As we head into the dark nights and colder days of autumn and winter we encourage you to think ahead to the barmy heat and sunshine of mid-summer 2012. MELA and its friends will again be coming together for an exciting day of debate, exchange and showcasing with teachers, providers, local authorities and independents all present. Following the feedback from the 2011 event, this year will be bigger and better with the addition of a market place and more workshops. It will also be braver, building on the robust conversations and challenging agenda of this years event.
The festival will again be co-ordinated for MELA by Lifeworlds Learning and there are special offers for early bookings and for those who would like to a stall in the market place. Contact Lifeworlds here to book your place now.
Think Global have relaunched their website for teachers looking for support to explore “the world in the classroom”. The site now has a brand new, clean design and improved navigation. Please take a look at http://www.globaldimension.org.uk/ and try it out for yourself.
Dept for Education - changes timetable
The Dept for Education have posted a useful timetable of changes taking place over the next 18 months and how and who they affect. You can find a link to this information at here
The environmental pioneer and political force that was Wangari Maathai passed away on 25 September 2011. If you have not heard of This Nobel Prize winning Kenyan then you can find out more by visiting the Greebelt Movement site or reading one of the many obituaries and testimonies that have appeared since her death. We have collated a few links here:
Greenbelt Movement tributes (including from Dalai Lama, Ban Ki Moon, Barack Obama, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and more)
We are thinking of putting together a resource around Wangari Maathi as an inspirational person for young people and the global struggles for peace, justice and sustainability. If any MELA members would like to contribute/distribute/share then email us
Michael Gove triumphs Nottingham Academy
Michael Gove recently visited a Nottingham Academy that is being held up as an example of what the changes being currently introduced are trying to achieve. You can view a YouTube video of his visit and perspective here.
Climate of Change in Education - Chris Southwood inTES
MELA member Chris Southwood has had an interesting letter published in the TES on 30 September 2011. The article 'Climate of Change in Education' make some very useful points as we head into this period of further curriculum change. Here is a short extract - "Best of all would be for ESD to be an entitlement for all pupils, but if it is included it must be integrated and supported across the whole school. It should not be seen as a weight for hanging around the necks of a few subject teachers who happen to teach relevant subjects and are then assumed to be ESD experts."
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Festival update - last chance to book a place!
We are now entering the final stage of booking time for the Festival on 21 June. If you've been thinking of coming but have not yet booked a place then don't miss out. We will need to close bookings around the 14-16 June so book now to avoid being disappointed.
UN Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development
MELA is pleased to announce that it is soon to include a specific area to host news, information, opportunities and other related content of the UN Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development in the East Midlands. This addition to MELA will be made in close coordination with the relaunching of the regional work on sustainable schools as reported in the Wire on 20 May (click here). The other active groups in the UN RCE-EM include a Higher Education group, a Further Education group and a Youth group. We will let update you in a future WIRE of progress in this work.
MELA to feature in journal on co-operative education and learning
We have been invited to write about the experience of MELA as an example of cooperative education and learning in a forthcoming issues of the Journal of Cooperative Studies. This is a really good opportunity to showcase the way that the different learning communities have come together as MELA and embraced many of the principles of co-operative education and learning in order to support one another through what remains a challenging time.
Not sure if any of you blog, but we have been thinking about it for a while here at Lifeworlds and also for MELA. It seems a good way to communicate, but it is also a bit of a potential minefield as it is often a far more personal means of communication than say writing an article for a website or journal. We've decided to give it a go anyway - initially as Lifeworlds and then maybe later we'll provide a space for a MELA blog? If you want to see what we are saying or thinking at Lifeworlds then visit our blog here and if you are a seasoned blogger and can offer an opinion or any advice then we'd love to hear how to best use this way of communicating.
2011 Festival of Learning update
MELA is delighted to confirm that the Festival of Learning will be facilitated by CLADA (Cooperative Learning and Development Associates), a highly creative group of practitioners specialising in co-operative learning. CLADA will support us as a learning community coming together in person for the first time. I have no doubt that their involvement will enhance the experience for all participants as well as providing very useful insights into our individual and collective practice. We are grateful to CLADA for their support to the Festival and we hope that it represents the start of an ongoing relationship with MELA.
Calling all teachers
We are keen to get as many practising teachers as possible to the Festival, but bookings to date are skewed towards practitioners. Whilst this is also extremely valuable, we want more teachers so if you have friendly heads, project schools, or other ‘direct lines’ into schools then please use them and encourage them to come along and see what is on offer in the region. It is in our collective interests to show the support we can offer ahead of the large corporate providers that are flexing their muscles to take up the current void in provision. We know from the recent collapse of one national offer that schools would rather have a local or regional approach, but we need them there to spread the word.
DfID review - The findings of the latest DfID review of global learning in England was expected by now but has been delayed again and is now likely to be released by mid June. This continued uncertainty is disruptive to the sector and the advice being given is to continue diversifying income streams and funding strategies.
Building a Sustainable Funding Base - In July (Manchester) and September (London) the Consortium of Development Education Centres in partnership with Think Global will be holding two seminars to help DECs address the challenges of the time and develop new or revised business models. The events will include examples and insights from invited speakers and provide time for attendees to think through the implications for their own organisations. The small fee of £35 is to help cover costs. Contact Eleanor Knowles here for more information or to book a place.
DEEEP Europeand Funding - European funding through DEEEP looks like being one of the few sources open to the global learning sector in 2011-12. Lifeworlds Learning attended a recent European event in Prague where they were offering a two day workshop on global learning. The event was attended by many of those with a key role in determining the focus and delivery of EU funding and provided a useful opportunity to find out what the outlook was. The key message was that the EU expect applications to be very high and that bids must be of exceptional quality to succeed. It was also apparent that multi-stakeholder bids (geographically and structurally) would be given preference. MELA is in a potentially strong position to take advantage of this having already gone some way to bring together many different parties working across sectors and territories. Would a meeting to discuss a possible regional bid be something anyone is interested in? If so then contact Rob Bowden here and we can set something up. For more information on DEEEP and funding opportunities click here.
Don’t forget to check on the new entries for global learning in courses and events.
Sustainable Schools Alliance - At the national level the Sustainable Schools Alliance was successfully launched in London at the end of March. MELA members Paul Warwick and Margaret Fleming were in attendance and reported a positive event that was well attended and forward thinking. The new alliance which is formed by SEEd, Think Global and the National Children’s Bureau has produced a new website to offer ongoing support to schools engaging in sustainability. You can find it here.
East Midlands website - Regionally, Lifeworlds Learning have now secured the case studies and provider database of the former Sustainable Schools East Midlands website. They will be working to update, reformat and integrate these pages into MELA over the coming months. If you are in, or know of a good example of Sustainable Schools then let us know and we will feature you as an example of good practice in these new pages.
PG Cert in ESD - Another regional success is the continuation of the Masters level PGCert in Education for Sustainable Development that is being offered for its third successive year by Paul Warwick at the School of Education, University of Leicester. Many MELA members have already benefitted from involvement in this course and details of the new course (starting Nov 2011) will be released very soon. We will circulate them as soon as we have them.
Don’t forget to check on the new entries for sustainable schools in courses and events.
SLN classroom resources - Schools Linking Network is a leading organisation in the field of Community Cohesion and continues to provide strong support for work in this area. MELA member Lifeworlds Learning worked with SLN to produce a bank of online resources for teaching about community cohesion and these have now been made publicly available to non-SLN listed schools. You can find the resources here. SLN will be one of the workshop providers at the 2011 Festival of Learning so if you want to know more about their work then book a place here.
Cumbria cluster - We have all heard about the potential benefits of working with schools in clusters and many of us will have some experience of this. Lifeworlds Learning were recently invited to run a workshop on community cohesion at a cluster of schools based in Cumbria around Barrow. This was an impressive cluster with 21 early years, infant and junior settings coming together to share inputs and thinking. The day included inputs from a wide variety of providers and was the second of a planned series of cluster conferences working in this way. It would seem that this is an efficient and worthwhile model to consider going forwards. What are your experiences of working with clusters? Let us know.
Time 2 Think - This new bank of resources stems from the Global Learning for Community Cohesion Project and will see a host of OSDE inspired materials for primary educators being launched in September 2011. There will be a taster at the Festival of Learning and there will be workshops on offer in the autumn term around the country. You can register interest here.
Study Visit Project: What is Learning For?
Lifeworlds Learning are pleased to announce that their 2011-12 study visit project What is Learning For? was successful in recruiting a fantastic group of participants and will commence in mid June and include a 7 day visit to learn from Kerala in southern India in October 2011. The project had significant national interest including from DECs, sustainability groups, teachers and government departments. As a result, Lifeworlds Learning have committed to providing a micro-site to share the key outputs of the project with a wider audience. If you would like to stay informed of this key project then let us know and we’ll add you to the circulation list. Future study visits are being planned so if you are interested register with us now and we’ll make sure your first to know.
NEW National Literacy Trust Leaders Network
How do you use books, reading, speaking and listening and other aspects of literacy in your work? What are the possibilities of using literacy to enhance and extend what you already do?
Lifeworlds Learning were successful in winning a national tender to set up a new consultants network for the National Literacy Trust and this went live in the last week. The network is now inviting applications from those able to offer literacy support to schools and you have the opportunity to join an exciting and effective community of practice. You can choose to stay informed for the minimal fee of just £90 a year, or for just a little more (£120) add yourself to a national interactive provider listing that is accessible to all schools in the UK. If you would like to know more about the network then visit the new network pages here. Alternatively contact Rob or Rosie at Lifeworlds who would be happy to tell you more. Please note that since its launch the network is run entirely by the Trust.