To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14190 by Maureen Watt on 25 June 2008, what further action has been taken to encourage global citizenship in schools and ensure that children’s education has a European and international dimension.
Since June 2008, considerable progress has been made to encourage global citizenship in schools and ensure that children''s education has an European and international dimension. Global citizenship is encouraged and promoted in a variety of ways and many outstanding examples of practice are detailed in HM Inspectorate of Education''s guide,
International Education: Responsible, Global Citizens, published on 4 February 2010.
Global citizenship is now fully embedded across the curriculum and ensures that our young people are ready to play a full and active part in society - politically, socially, economically, environmentally and culturally. Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) and partners have provided a range of support materials, resources and continuing professional development opportunities for this work.
The Year of Homecoming in 2009 successfully used Scotland''s history, culture and heritage to enable young people to build a sense of pride in their identity and develop an understanding of Scotland''s place in an increasingly globalised world. Global citizenship is also being encouraged as part of the Commonwealth Games Legacy for Scotland.
The Scottish Government continues its support for the Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research (SCILT). SCILT provides continuing professional development opportunities for all languages practitioners and works in conjunction with other bodies, such as the Scottish European Education Trust and cultural organisations, to promote European language and culture learning and teaching.
LTS is also promoting a knowledge of Chinese language and culture through the development of the Confucius Classroom Hub programme, of which there are now 10 hubs covering 15 local authorities.