Recent Projects

DEC(SY) has been involved with a wide range of diverse projects. This is a small selection of some of our recent projects.

Southern Artists for Development

This is a three year project, funded by the Department for International Development (DfID).

DEC(SY) has seen strong evidence of school pupils changing preconceived ideas about Africa following sessions by African artists / educators from Ghana. Arts inputs such as drumming, dance, song, story and drama can engage pupils emotionally, physically and spiritually as well as intellectually.

This project raises the profile of development education within a whole-school community, often leading to stronger contacts with local minority groups and encouraging longer-term commitment such as school linking.

Find out more about the Southern Artists in the Services section.

Enabling Effective Support

This project involves the development of a new regional body - the Yorkshire and Humber Global Schools Association (YHGSA) - which is responsible for a regional strategy to try and ensure that every child in Yorkshire and The Humber is entitled to a global dimension in their education.

DEC(SY) has been actively involved in this work, through the resources and services, curriculum development and continual professional development commissions and sitting on the selection panel for the new YHGSA Coordinator.

EC Capacity Building

The EC Capacity Building Project complements the Enabling Effective Support project. It has enabled DEC(SY) to have more time to liaise with officers from the four South Yorkshire LEAs, the two local universities and many schools in order to promote the YHGSA and its initiatives.

Students from the University of Sheffield taking part in a training session at DECSY

Extended Visits

Drawing on experience from the Pakistan project, DEC(SY) has been working with Sheffield, Sandwell and Oldham LEA Ethnic Minority Achievement Services, supported by Sheffield Children's Fund to develop a workbook for children of Pakistani heritage who go on extended visits to Pakistan and 'Azad' Kashmir.

One of the aims of this curriculum-linked resource resulting from this work, which was published in October, is to encourage teachers and pupils to value and appreciate the global experience that may be reflected in their classrooms.

Following a launch event at Scotia Works the publication is being distributed to Sheffield schools with pupils of Pakistani heritage. A similar resource on Bangladesh is also available.

Strengthening Partnerships

The Strengthening Partnerships Project aims to strengthen DEC(SY)'s capacity to deliver development education by building more structured partnerships with other bodies involved in education and development issues.

Moving Here - The Refugee Experience

A new exhibition developed by Global Link is now available for booking by Sheffield and South Yorkshire schools. The exhibition allows school students to ‘experience’ stages of the asylum process, from scenes of conflict in people’s home country to arrival and settlement in Britain.

To help ensure that the students gain the maximum benefit from this, DECSY has been working with local teachers to develop educational materials for use before and after the visit to the exhibition.

For more information go to the EMAS Moving Here Exhibition web page.

Take Part Too Global Citizens Simulation

Take Part Too is a web-based project focusing on democracy, communication and negotiation.
Three school classes from three countries make up a Youth Council whose task is to study and take action on some of the big issues that are currently being debated in Europe.

The scenario begins with the EU Commission asking the Youth Council for advice. This request starts the process of cooperation and communication within the Youth Council community.

Participants from the three countries choose to work on one of three issues.

• If Europe is to avoid becoming a giant home for elderly persons, do we need to open our gates to
millions of new immigrants?
• How can we balance our need for security with our need for freedom?
• Can the planet and the human race survive if we carry on consuming at our present rate?

Over 50 secondary schools in England, Romania and Denmark have taken part in the pilot phase of Take Part Too. We have a vision of developing the project further and involving other countries, possibly leading to the setting up of a European or worldwide virtual Youth Council.

There are currently about one billion 12 to 18-year-olds in the world – about 1/6 of the world’s population - they are the present as well as the future. Politicians talk about the importance of listening to young people. Here is an opportunity to hear young people’s considered opinions, discussions and proposals.

So far the project has been financed by the EU (Socrates-Minerva) but the funding ended in 2006. We are now looking for partner organizations who would like to use and adapt Take Part Too to use with schools across Europe and the wider world.

Visit the website www.takeparttoo.org Download the flyer by clicking here

Following the assessment of the final report, this DECSY-run initiative was given an overall project score of 10 out of 10 by The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of the European Union

Ecological Footprints

This project, with a strong global focus, is based on the concept of the ecological footprint. It arose out of liaison with environmental educators from bodies such as the Earth Centre, Losehill Hall Peak Park Study Centre, and a range of groups involved in the Sheffield Envioronmental Education Network.

The Ecological Footprint, the area of land needed to sustain the resource consumption and waste discharge by a given population / person, can be used to demonstrate the unsustainable nature of consumption by countries of the 'north' and the impact this may be having on countries of the 'south'.

The project, which has obtained funding from a range of small trusts, has links with a larger national project coordinated by the Humanities Education Centre in Tower Hamlets. This link provides an excellent opportunity for sharing ideas and experiences.

The project works with three Sheffield schools (two primary and one special) and uses the ecological footprint concept as a framework for a range of inputs and school visits that make use of local expertise in education for sustainable development. An evaluator is conducting interviews and activities with groups of children to find out whether or not the project is having an influence on attitudes towards the global environment.

For more details visit the project website (this is now part of the DECSY website)

Mediation On the Line

This On the Line funded link, involving Channel 4, Oxfam and a range of other NGO's, has been established between a peer mediation programme working with Sheffield schools and an ActionAid peace education project based in Tamale which aims to support the overall peace and reconciliation process for Northern Ghana. Specifically the project involves the setting up of a pilot teacher/ development educator exchange between High Storrs school in Sheffield and Zebilla Junior Secondary school near Bawku.

High Storrs school is also part of "Dancing On-Line: Bringing the Spirit of Africa to Sheffield". Dancing On Line is a dance project looking at human rights, conflict resolution and peace through dance. The project was conceived by Dylan Quinn, based in Lancaster, England, and will link High Storrs school in Sheffield with schools in Ghana, West Africa.

Charity to Justice

Work with secondary school aged children which took place as part of the Sheffield International Weekend in November 2002 when year 10 pupils from four secondary schools explored the issue of international trade, justice and sustainable development through a simulation game.

One of the teachers questioned about the event said that she had been personally affected: 'We've decided to buy Fair Trade products at school and personally, in the future.' Pupils from one school became involved in buying and selling Fair Trade chocolate.

In all cases teachers inteviewed said that the pupils had expressed their enjoyment of the day. One teacher felt that the pupils became clear that the world trading system was unfair.

Is Food Costing the Earth

This was a partnership project with Leeds DEC and Groundwork in Dearne Valley and Leeds that involved developing and delivering classroom sessions on food and sustainability for Year 4 or 5 classes in six local primary schools. The work begins with an introduction to the concept of the Ecological footprint (Based on work from the 'Ecological Footprint Project').

This is followed by sessions on the source of food, food miles, Fairtrade, packaging, supermarkets and alternatives. Feedback from the pupils and their teachers has been very positive. The work was curriculum-linked to the National Curriculum and NLS/NNS.

The work resulted in statistically significant reductions in pupils' ecological footprint sizes.

For example: 24 pupils from a class at Herringthorpe Junior School in Rotherham gave themselves a an average footprint of 5.05 hectares before the project and 4.37 afterwards using the same assessment activity. The average footprint reduction of 13.5% had a p value of less than 0.05 using a paired t-test.

One World Zine

"The pages are class! Well done!" - William, "I think it is cool" - Rebekah "I think children's rights are important" - Emily

One World Zone (OWZ) is a DFID funded development education project which aims to respond to the explosion in popularity amongst young people of social networking services (for example a recent survey indicated that 93% of 16 to 21 year olds use Social Network Communities (SNCs) such as Bebo, Facebook, MySpace etc.)

OWZ exists within two of Intuitive Media’s SNC websites: www.superclubsplus.com (6-12 yr olds) and www.goldstarcafe.net (11-14 yr olds). It has around 2000 active users on its two sites and provides news items, interactive stimuli relating to topical development issues and events and enables young people to discuss their responses using on-line forums.

‘Hotseat’ live web chats are regularly held with people from countries of the ‘South,’ often in response to an issue in the news. These have included Htoo Ku, a teacher from Burma on the democracy protests and cyclone; Rimas, a Maasai from Kenya on the post election conflict, and James from the D.R.Congo on the misuse of the mineral, agricultural and cultural wealth in his country. The external evaluator, Professor Pine from the University of Hertfordshire observed ‘These [issues] are brought to life for the children via real human stories. This is conducive to creating real depth of learning and, in addition, the chance to question people enables the children to be active in the learning process.’

Baseline and follow-up surveys on children’s understanding and attitudes about development issues indicated that children’s understanding of the impact of events in the world affecting other countries increased from 69% to 77% and the percentage of children wishing to take action to tackle global poverty increased from 66% to 85%. To find out more download a copy of the evaluation report

The project ends in 2009 but it is hoped that the learning will inform future ICT initiatives.

To see examples of the One World pages go to Gold Star Cafe and Superclubs for a tour.

Or for a examples of the features of One World Zone on both sites visit OWZ features

For more information on the One World Project contact Rob Unwin at DECSY

Somalia History and Culture

This project, which is being run with Sheffield EMAS, local Somali organisations and individuals and MASH Production, has led to the development of a multi-media resource for schools: Who Am I? The DVD aims to enhance the achievement of Somali young people and to develop an understanding of Somali history and the culture in the wider community.

Find out more by viewing the introduction and samples of interactive materials from the DVD

For more information contact Rob Unwin at DECSY

Slavery and South Yorkshire

Working in collaboration with local schools, museums and archives and former DECSY project Worker, Alison Twells (author of DECSY publication: Colonialism, Slavery and the Industrial Revolution) DECSY has put together a new teaching resource for Primary schools 'Olaudah Equiano in Sheffield'. The materials focus on how certain individuals in the area benefited from the trans-atlantic slave trade, whilst others campaigned against it.

The use of the new resource is enhanced by the availability of supplementary materials for use on an interactive white board click here to visit the publication page containing the extra materials

Aspects of Latin America Day School 11 October 2008

This event organised by Sheffield International Linking Committee (SILC) with the support of DECSY, brought together local groups with an interest in Latin America to share information and ideas and to look at ways to raise awareness of this part of the world in the longer term and where possible, work together.

Our thanks go to CAFOD, Cuba Solidarity Campaign, King Edward VII School and Language College, Languages Sheffield, Wales High School (Paraguay link), Paul May (University of Sheffield), Sheffield-Esteli Society, Sheffield-Venezuela Information Centre, Rosa Diaz-Sandoval and Julio Gonzalez-Gallego from Sheffield University.

Links to material from many of the workshops can be found below:

A view of Mexico through the centuries.pps

México in a year (with sound).pps

CAFOD & Bolivia.ppt

KES - Putting Spanish First.ppt

Preparing visitors to Nicaragua.ppt

FOOD PLANTS HAVING ORIGINS IN LATIN AMERICA.doc

Quiz Latin American Food Plants.doc