Pendleton College

The Pendleton project grew out of the students' interest to follow up a volunteer's presentation about her visit to Levana Primary School in South Africa. The DEA funding and support enabled the project leader to explore and develop this interest into a sustainable global learning strategy across the college.

In developing the strategy, the project leader worked collaboratively with colleagues supported by the Salford Levana Support Fund, Christian Aid and People and Planet. The project progressed with three specific aims:

  • Develop and maintain relationships with communities in Africa, specifically through three schools, one in RSA, one in Botswana and the other in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
  • Explore some of the issues faced in schools in English and African education systems and the communities they serve.
  • Engage staff and students at Pendleton College more fully in global awareness and action.

To do this, the project leader made full use of themed weeks such as Africa Week, One World Week and Fairtrade Fortnight. Staff included the themes in their curriculum planning and provided a mainstream learning context for what might have otherwise been considered as extra curricular activities. Students and tutors worked together to facilitate and attend talks and workshops, planned and managed fair trade stalls, discussed and researched issues such as HIV/AIDS and its impact on local and global communities and ways in which they could become actively involved in creating solutions.

The project impacted most on the curriculum planning within the college resulting in:

  • The production of a Moving Stories publication of college students' experience and views about refugees that has generated interest from the LEA.
  • The initiative began as a 'special project' but has been picked up by other subject tutors across the curriculum engaging over 1,000 students.

Future plans:

  • Senior managers are keen to build on the success of the project and make the fair trade stalls a regular feature of the college.
  • There is an expressed interest within Health Education to develop the work around AIDS and HIV, linked to the increase in AIDS in the UK and especially in the North West.
  • Develop a staff training package on global perspectives with those staff that have begun to work with this agenda.

More examples of practice:

Back to adult, community and further education page.