Working for the common good
We all need to tackle global issues, and the IB community theme of Sharing our Humanity encourages debate and positive action, Sam Upton discovers
“We must develop new instincts and politics across the planet, whereby each of us is first a global citizen, second a national citizen and third a local citizen. Right now, we have it the other way around. It’s for these two reasons – the need for new, out-of-the-box methodologies and for a new mindset – that I am excited about the experiment started by some distinguished international schools. I can think of few educational projects as worthy of support.”
July 2007. In a large hall in Chicago, USA, the keynote speech of the IB North American Conference is underway. The speaker is JF Rischard, former World Bank vice president for Europe and one of the world’s leading advocates of positive global change. His book, High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them, outlines a new approach to the most important and urgent problems of the 21st century, and it’s no understatement to call it one of the most influential books of the decade. It has certainly been a major contributory factor to work taking place in IB World Schools across the globe.
“Rischard’s book has been hugely influential in schools because its ideas and themes are very accessible,” explains Boyd Roberts, project director of the IB community theme. “All his ideas relate to one another and to the theme of humanity, providing a solid basis for debate within the classroom.”
Officially launched at the IB annual general meeting in April 2007, the first community theme of Sharing our Humanity was chosen in 2006 to coincide with both the 40th anniversary of the International Year for Human Rights and the 40th anniversary of the IB. But more than mere commemoration, the theme also relates to this introductory sentence of the learner profile: “The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world.”
A platform for sharing
Lasting for three years, the theme will serve as a focus for the IB and IB World Schools to capture the excellent initiatives that are already underway in many schools and encourage and inspire new activities, in and out of the classroom. More importantly, it can become a catalyst for vital small-scale changes across the world which, when added together, make a genuine difference to tackling the sort of issues raised in High Noon. IB World Schools have always traditionally put a strong emphasis on community and an awareness of other cultures, but the introduction of a focused theme with clearly defined issues should provide a platform to share their initiatives and work together for a greater cause.
“Sharing our humanity as a stand-alone title means different things to different people,” explains Boyd, “which is why we shifted the focus to a number of issues, so that people have a better idea and a better common understanding of what’s involved.” Those six topics are: The fight against poverty; Peacekeeping, conflict prevention, combating terrorism; Education for all; Global infectious diseases; Digital divide; and Natural disaster prevention and mitigation.
“We know that many schools are already doing great work in some of these areas,” says Boyd. “What we want is for them to share their experiences and also to help us identify individuals who can contribute to platforms such as an online forum.”
The power of collaboration
One such individual is Iain Sachdev, Year 11 coordinator at the International School of Milan, Italy. Iain helps organize conferences and events for the Global Issues Network, a group of 60 schools that come together each year to learn about challenges such as poverty and terrorism. “The network was set up four years ago by a group of teachers in Luxembourg,” explains Iain. “They would invite experts in a certain field to come and talk to their students, who would then return to the classroom and talk about what they had learnt. The organization has grown dramatically and we have schools all over the world involved, from the Middle East to East Asia.”
While tackling issues head-on in the classroom is a great way to raise awareness of these global issues, some students have taken the theme further, organizing visits to other countries and experiencing first-hand some of the devastating effects of poverty and disease. St Helen’s School in Northwood, UK, places a huge emphasis on raising both awareness and money for a number of development projects in countries such as Uganda and Malawi.
But as well as encouraging pupils to grasp global issues with initiatives such as a writing competition, and get involved with volunteer groups, it also offers the opportunity to visit overseas projects and take an active part in their work.
Two years ago, 17-year-old Teesta Dey spent a week working in an HIV and AIDS clinic in India, getting an insight into how such an operation works and the funding problems it faces. On her return to the UK, Teesta set about raising funds. “In 2006, I did an assembly for the whole school about what I’d seen in India because I thought it was an important issue to raise,” she explains. “The response I got was brilliant.”
A genuine difference
Teesta went on to organize a production of An Inspector Calls by JB Priestley, raising more than GBP2,500 from ticket sales, sponsorship and donations, which paid for a social worker to help at the clinic for two years. Not only did this result in Teesta receiving a Diana Award – given to young people in the UK who help raise funds for charity –it gave her an increased awareness of the world around her and the part she can play in it.
“Right from the start, I realized it’s not just us – there are other people we should be thinking about,” she says. “The one thing I learnt is the amount of support people can provide each other and the interest people have in helping the wider community.”
When the after-effects of conflict are right on your doorstep, however, there’s a different set of skills that teachers must employ. Namal Suganda Lokuge, an English A1 teacher at United World College Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been teaching the IB Diploma Programme for nine years and finds literature is often the key to stimulating discussion on global issues and events. And given the location of his school, he often finds it’s the Balkan conflict that dominates.
“I try to touch upon the war as much as possible,” he says. “When teaching a book like Isabel Allende’s The House of The Spirits, which deals with civil unrest, I want to make the students see how universal such tragedies are, so they can better understand how they begin and how they develop. That’s what’s so beautiful about literature – it can give you a deeper understanding of a subject.”
During the first half of 2008, there will be a huge amount of activity around the community theme, with a number of conferences and workshops dedicated to Sharing our Humanity, as well as guidance for schools on incorporating the theme into all programmes. There will also be a web platform set up to showcase the work of teachers, students and schools to encourage the sharing and exchange of knowledge, as well as facilitating collaborations.
Teachers such as Namal welcome the theme. In a school where he takes on the role of father figure as well as teacher, he feels it’s one of the most important issues that can be taught. “Sharing our humanity is one of the primary pillars of the IB curriculum,” he says. “If we fail to do that in a curriculum that encompasses so many cultures, we fail in our mission as teachers.”
Get involved
Share your activities and be inspired by others. Visit communitytheme.ibo.org.
The six topics: why we need to act now
1) The fight against poverty
Every three seconds someone dies as a result of poverty. Over a billion people live in absolute poverty – deprived of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, healthcare, education and shelter. The richest 1% of adults in the world own 40% of the planet’s wealth; the poorest 50% own barely 1%. Progress has been made in reducing poverty worldwide, but the task is mounting as the global population continues to increase.
2) Peace-keeping, conflict prevention and combating terrorism
More than 90% of conflicts since 1945 have been in developing countries. One in five Africans is affected by war. In 2006, there were more than 24 million internally displaced people worldwide – this figure is growing. Internal conflicts are more likely in countries with low income and poor education.
3) Education for all
Worldwide, 72 million children are missing out on going to school. One in five adults (one in four women) lack basic literacy skills. Research shows that until a country reaches an average of six years’ schooling, it remains trapped in a low-return economy.
4) Global infectious disease
Infectious disease is the single biggest killer worldwide. The main threats – AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria – kill around six million people every year. The worst-affected countries cannot afford to combat these diseases without external aid.
5) Digital divide
Computers and the internet open up access to education and to world markets. The spread of new technologies remains concentrated in the most developed countries. There are still around 30 countries with an internet penetration of less than 1%.
6) Natural disaster prevention and mitigation
Due to human activity such as deforestation and river damming, many ecosystems no longer play their natural role in buffering the effects of extreme weather. Around half the world’s population now live in cities. As urban areas increase, so do casualties of disasters such as earthquakes.
