Global citizenship in the early years

What is global citizenship?

Global citizenship is about enabling children to actively engage and participate in an increasingly global society. It includes

• knowledge and understanding of global issues
• values and dispositions relating to social justice and self-awareness
• the development of skills which should enable children to make informed judgements as they become active, responsible global citizens.

The 3-5 curriculum guidelines state: 'It is important that children from the earliest stages are helped to recognise that there are many ways of seeing and understanding the world.'

Activities on global citizenship are not restricted to one area of the curriculum and are often a creative and engaging opportunity to make learning active and exciting. Global citizenship activities in the early years provide opportunities for young children to:

• make connections between their lives and the lives of other children and families across the globe
• develop respect for other cultures, religions, languages and lifestyles
• understand that areas of their lives, such as the food we eat and how it is produced and transported, mean that we rely on the skills and resources of others.

Global issues are part of children and young people’s lives in ways unfamiliar to previous generations due to advances in technology such as the internet. We know far more about how children live across the world and can share information about our families and lifestyles. This provides an opportunity to encourage children to develop positive attitudes, to promote equal opportunities and to challenge discrimination.

To find out more, read the Global Dimension in the Curriculum, a comprehensive toolkit for reflection, self-evaluation and professional development.

Free resources

Activities for under-5s
Download Global Citizenship: Activities for under 5s, activity ideas from the extensive Oxfam site on developing ideas about diversity and interdependence.

Photo Opportunities
Oxfam has an online photo gallery, Photo Opportunities, made up of images to use to stimulate discussion and investigation. The site also includes some pointers on how to develop the use of photographs with children and how children ‘read’ photographs. The teacher’s notes are aimed at working with children ages 7 and up but the images are useful for all age groups.

Your World, My World
Another great resource from Oxfam, Your World, My World helps pupils explore their own lives, and the world around them, by looking at the lives of four children from Ethiopia, Brazil, Russia and India. You can download photos of the children, 10 detailed lesson plans, stories to read aloud and profiles of the four countries.

Resources to buy

Oxfam early years resources
The A Child's Day series and the Our Street, Our World pack are just some of the excellent resources available to order from this site.

Christian Aid
Christian Aid has a series of books including Abu lives in Kenya and Luis and Richard live in Peru which are available as big books with teacher’s notes and suggested activities. These engaging books encourage children to identify similarities with their own lives and interests. Online activity notes are available.

What Makes Me Happy
The What Makes Me Happy pack from Save The Children provides an exciting resource for children aged 5–8. The films tell the stories of Ranjita from Nepal, Tommy from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Amran from Ethiopia, Hashi from Sri Lanka, Junjie from China and Mahmoud from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Barefoot Books
Barefoot Books is a specialist company which offers titles such as 'We All Went On Safari', a rhyming counting journey through Tanzania. Each page has animals to count and discuss and the book includes facts about Tanzania and the people who live there. It also has a colourful series including African Animals ABC which includes wonderful illustrations of xoona moths and dassies.

Scotdec
Scotdec produces a very useful Resources for Scottish Education catalogue of global related resources for all stages including early years.