Every school has the responsibility to promote the importance of citizenship. John Dowler explains how the Save The Children World Marathon Challenge has made global citizenship relevant, accessible and most importantly, fun for all students.
In ever-diversifying classrooms, young people sit side by side with peers from around the world, with limited knowledge or experience of their contrasting backgrounds. In some schools, classmates can range from a child who has never set foot further than a three square mile invisible boundary, to a former Sudanese refugee. With such different backgrounds, getting pupils to relate and empathise with one another, let alone feel a sense of responsibility to the entire population, is not a straightforward task.
Every school now has the responsibility to help its students become active global citizens. Whether this is officially measured or merely complementing the curriculum, it is an increasingly important part of the ethos of many schools.
Encouraging young people to see beyond their own problems and look to help others while understandably absorbed in their trying pre-adolescent world can be tough, especially when the experiences they’re hearing about are so alien. How can an 11-year-old from inner city Hackney or rural Cheshire understand and value the concept of global citizenship?
Opportunities for global citizenship