The Global Learning Community Apr 2010

The document proposes setting up global village schools through the Dulwich Global Learning Communities to help address issues of inequitable resource distribution and widening inequality. It advocates for extending learning beyond local schools into a global community to nurture the next generation of global citizens and social entrepreneurs. A key part of the model involves creating a universal Community and Service program harnessing students', staff, and parents' energy to work with partner communities. It also outlines plans for a student-led NGO, virtual learning platform, and regional hubs to coordinate activities and support between schools.

Uploaded by

Paul Templeton

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

44 views

The Global Learning Community Apr 2010

Uploaded by

Paul Templeton

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 3

The Dulwich Global Learning Communities: using education as a force

for good

Why?
The use and distribution of the world’s resources is inequitable and unsustainable and as
the gap between the rich and poor widens, poverty continues to deny millions of people
around the world their basic rights. Setting up global village schools will help today’s
children become tomorrow’s global citizens “by developing the knowledge, skills and
values needed to secure a just and sustainable world in which all may find their own
authentic voice, fulfil their potential and help others do the same.”
Education for Global Citizenship (2006), Oxfam, Oxford

What?
We wish to set up an international network of global village schools which: extends the
learning beyond local schools to a global community; brings the advantaged and
disadvantaged together in equal partnership; and helps nurture the next generation of
global citizens and social entrepreneurs.

How?
We believe the solution lies in creating social organisations peopled by social
entrepreneurs; people who have a mission to help make the world a better place and are
happy to harness the power of the global economy to achieve their outcomes.

1. The Design Challenge

a. Social Entrepreneurship in Action
As Muhammad Yunus pointed out in his Nobel Peace Prize speech, poverty is a
threat to peace. Yet 60% of the world’s population lives on 6% of the world’s
income, with nearly 3 billion people living on less than two dollars a day and one
billion on less than one dollar a day. He set up the “Grameen” or “village banks”
and the micro credit revolution to do something about it. The key for him was a
shift in thinking instead asking “are the poor credit-worthy?” he reversed the
question and asked “are the banks people-worthy?” He challenged the whole
concept of financial apartheid.

What he noticed was that the poorest people in the world have phenomenal
entrepreneurial abilities (who else can be self-employed and support a family on
less than two dollars a day?)! He likened them to bonsai trees; when you plant
the best seed of the tallest tree in a 6-inch deep flower pot you get a perfect
replica of the tallest tree but only inches tall; the problem is not the seed but the
soil base that nourishes it.

What he has clearly shown is that people with a vision and passion to take action
can change the world and some 34 million people have now been lifted out of
poverty as a result of this one idea; its power is that it works at both a local and
global level. Micro credit created a macro level tipping point.
www.grameenfoundation.org

We believe that education also has the power to transform people’s lives and to
act as a force for good in the world but it too needs a shift in thinking. The
essence of global citizenship is a journey from ‘me’ to ‘we’ The question we need
to ask ourselves is, “How can we create a model of education which helps people
find their own unique voice and talent (me) and at the same time helps others to
do the same (we)? How can we do it in a way that is sustainable, inclusive and
scalable (SIS) and reduces the social injustice of poverty and promotes peace?”

For Yunus, at a local level he found the solution was to lend to groups of women
within the villages so that they make themselves accountable to each other (with
the result that he has a default rate of less than 2%). At a global level his concept
of the social organisation acted as the model which could be copied around the
world; it became both sustainable and replicable.

We believe within the field of education we too need to get rid of another form of
apartheid: educational apartheid; we need to help build global communities of
learners which link people together irrespective of their race, religion or
background and thereby, using Yunus’ metaphor, create a nourishing soil base
which allows the bonsai tree to grow to its full capacity.

So how can we go about the business of creating a tipping point? Yunus creates a
compelling argument for a new kind of organisation to help alleviate poverty in a
way which is sustainable and scalable. He recognizes the role that governments,
charities and international organisations have played but asks the simple
question; “If they were effective, why do we still have poverty?” He believes the
solution lies in social organisations peopled by social entrepreneurs; people who
have a mission to help make the world a better place and are happy to harness
the power of the global economy to achieve their outcomes. Jeff Skoll, the eBay
founder and creator of the Skoll foundation for social entrepreneurs, defines them
as:

“Proven leaders whose approaches and solutions to social problems are helping
to better the lives and circumstances of countless underserved or disadvantaged
individuals.” www.skoll.org

b. Global Citizenship
Oxfam in its paper on education for global citizenship argues the case that the
use of the world’s resources is inequitable and unsustainable and as the gap
between the rich and poor widens, poverty continues to deny millions of people
around the world their basic rights. Education, they argue is a powerful tool for
change, for today’s children are tomorrow’s global citizens and therefore
extending the learning will help pupils and communities ‘to develop the
knowledge and skills and values needed to secure a just and sustainable world in
which all may fulfil their potential.’

This is the basis of the idea behind creating a learning network which extends
beyond the school and the local community into a global partnership. So what is a
global citizen? Here is Oxfam’s compelling definition:

The Global Citizen

• is aware of the wider world and has a sense of their role as a world
citizen
• respects and values diversity
• has an understanding of how the world works
• is outraged by social injustice
• participates in the community at both local and global levels
• is willing to act to make the world a more equitable and sustainable
place
• takes responsibility for his/her actions

Education for Global Citizenship (2006), Oxfam, Oxford

The Model
1. Community and Service (CAS)
Using the Academy as the vehicle, create a universal Community and Service
programme to harness the energy, creativity and commitment of the network. The
CAS programme would create opportunities for members of the Dulwich extended
community to work with communities in a partnership of equals. This is not about
charity or telling people what to think and do but rather about equipping students
and staff with the knowledge, skills and values to participate as active citizens at a
local and global level and about creating a deep and compelling understanding of
how we relate to the environment and to each other as human beings. Above all, it is
about learning rich in dialogue, collaboration and co-construction.

2. Create a student-led Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO)

a. Dulwich NGO
The NGO would be run by students, staff and parents across the network of
schools. It would identify schools and communities both in LDCs and locally to
nurture partnerships which create the local and global community of learners.
This would enable visiting programmes and enriching student and staff
exchanges to take place.
b. Create a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and online classrooms
Create a robust platform that digitally links the teaching and learning. By
bringing communities of learners together in partnership, we hope to enrich
and extend the learning to increase the opportunities and possibilities for all
the children and adults across the entire network.
c. Regional hubs
Where appropriate to build Dulwich international schools to act as regional
central hubs to help coordinate and support the activities of the other schools
within the country. As part of an extension of the learning, would also like to
create partnerships with small communities to help them with their schooling,
the development of sustainable eco-tourism and agriculture.
The Dulwich network would act as a centre for providing the funding and
support to set up these satellite schools and train teachers.