OTHER PEER / TEACHER CO-CREATED RESOURCES
Peer-teaching is universally agreed to be a great way to teach a new generation the skills they need to be successful. It is great for BOTH the peer-teacher and the pupil who is peer-taught. By getting elder-teachers and peer teachers to work together to co-create text books and learning guides, Peace Child has created many invaluable Youth and Teacher co-created teaching guides and text books.
INTRODUCTION
From the Each-one-Teach-one programme in India to the Literacy Brigades in Cuba and Nicaragua, peer-teaching has proved its ability to transform whole nations with effective education. Peace Child has built on this tradition which follows the following compelling, but possibly apocryphal, rationale:
- Tell me something – and I will forget;
- Teach me about that something – and I may remember;
- Involve me, get me to do that something – and I have a 50 : 50 chance of remembering
- Get me to teach one of my peers about that something – and I have a 90% chance of remembering it myself;
The following are well tried-and-tested Resources from the Peace Child Archive:
- The Be the Change Challenge was the first major Peer-to-peer teaching programme PCI devised. We ran for several years to promote behaviour change, using lifestyle contracts developed by the students. These proved to be a very effective way of building good sustainability habits in both the children and their families. We encouraged the students to take the contracts home with them, and get their whole family involved. The results of the programme are featured on the poster below:
We called the young peer teachers, “Ambassadors.” We spent a day training them up to lead the workshops for younger children in primary schools. The young peoples clearly enjoyed the novelty of learning from Ambassadors not much older than themselves. It also helped build up links between primary and secondary schools.
- Create the Change – This 96-page Handbook is a brilliant step-by-step guide to teaching young people how to create lasting changes in their lives. The Pre-cursor to PCI’s excellent Work the Change programme, this handbook takes young people through the Planning, Execution, Evaluation and Logistics necessary to deliver an effective behaviour change programme to Years 8-10 students. Every page is choc-full of ideas and photo-copiable sheets that you can use to flesh out a single lesson to a term-long course.The programme grew out of a discussion we had with students from a North London school about Bullying and Knife Crime. Students described how problems escalated in school playgrounds and through their use of mobile phones and social media. Together with their drama teacher, the students developed short, Forum Theatre drama skits around the 3 options students agreed on:
1. Build your own personal resilience to combat bullying ( - not for everyone)
2. Realise you have a choice to make a situation better or worse ( - so THINK before you act!)
3. Getting along with people who are different to us ( - that’s everyone, even people you don’t like)For each option, the 13 year olds developed a short drama sketching out the issues which then breaks off at a key point and invites the audience to consider what they would do in the tense situation the pupils find themselves in. Interestingly in a survey nearly all the students found it difficult talking to people who were different to them but the schools nearly all chose the first two options.We then had different exercises involving some drama with all the 11 year old recipients of the workshops. The Handbook (above) includes some of the exercises, along with the booklet we distributed to students.
- Advocacy – 2 x How to Guides on making a difference in your community, nation and world. The Advocacy Planning Toolkit is a 26-page entry-level guide to the core principles of advocate – and the Foundational tools that advocacy practitioners use: SWOT / BEEM analyses, Problem Trees, the Ladder of Participation, Stakeholder analysis etc. It is simple and easy-to-understand. So You Wanna Be a Campaigner – is much more serious document. 130-pages long, in 5 x sections, it starts with a detailed History and analysis of Advocacy, then moves on through Strategising, Planning and Running a campaign, skills workshops to detailed Evaluation Forms.
- Learn Your Human Rights – 7 x Lessons Plans designed to help young people understand their Human Rights – starting with a Lesson on what human rights actually are, moving on through the right to equality, justice, education, peace and – finally – ACTION to secure your own Human Rights. It contains a simplified summary of the Universal Declaration along with curriculum links. It also provides a lense through which to examine Children’s Rights;
- Energy Revolution – A 96-page book in 3 x Sections discussing first: the problem of Global Warming; second: the solution – a Post-carbon future. Third: how we make it happen.Prepared as a youth contribution to the Copenhagen Climate Summit, it has an Introduction by Ed Milliband, the UK’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and is thoroughly solutions-based, looking at post-carbon power supplies, one planet living, and the transport revolution that the young people currently passing through schools will certainly see in their lifetimes;
- Gender Journey – a 64-page Gender Empowerment that empowers young women and men in practical ways to combat gender inequality. It takes the reader through a Sample Training Schedule, identifying stereotypes, setting realistic expectations and road map planning with a ton of practical tools to use along the way. Compiled under the supervision of global gender expert, Nikki van der Graag, the book is a great contribution to gender empowerment as it recognises that Gender equity has to involve both women and men.
- Every Journey Matters – this 74-page book is sponsored by Transport for London as part of their School Travel Plan initiative, designed to get the 40% of all London pupils who travel to school by car to think about travelling in a more sustainable way. With extraordinary stories from around the world about children getting to school by snowmobiles in Northern Canada, or pulley cradles across raging torrents in Nepal, the book is a fascinating guide.
- Co-Management – Becoming Equal Partners – Peace Child Intl.’s Manifesto for how youth and elders can work more effectively together to deliver the changes the world needs. Developed by a group of 5 x European NGOs in a project sponsored by the European Commission, the Manifesto includes exploratory introductions leading to a 10-stage Step-by-Step Guide to achieving effective co-management. It then reviews the possibilities of co-management in the Family, schools and colleges, local, national and global government – along with specific case studies of youth-adult co-management in Business and Police Authorities. It builds on the Council of Europe’s original concept of co-management developed in the 1960s – and re-invents it for the 21st Century.
- GEEBIZ – this 52-page guide helps young people understand what is meant by a green, sustainable business, that does NOT fall victim to green-washing but actually acts as a regenerative force for sustainability on the planet. The accompanying video, above, is a great introduction to why this generation has to move quickly to a 100% green economy. The Booklet explains how ‘Green-ovators’ have developed sustainable products, sustainable transportation, sustainable construction, sustainable energy supplies, sustainable lifestyles and sustainable waste management. It also contains a step-by-step guide on how to create a Green Enterprise;
- Youth-Led Development – 4 x introductions to the meaning, scope and achievements of development projects devised and implemented by young people. The concept of Youth-led Development (YLD) was first coined at the Hawaii Congress – and a programme of Action Projects funded as a follow-up: using the Gandhi phrase: “You have to Be the Change you want to see in the World,” our young delegates came to the Scotland Congress with an excellent Proof of Concept report on over 50 completed YLD projects. Delegates to this Congress came up with a Youth-led Development Starter Kit outlining best practice in planning, execution and follow-up of YLD projects. The Introduction by UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, draws attention to the fact that “young people are the most precious resources the planet possesses…” - and he challenges this generation of young people to “be the generation that eradicates poverty completely.” The Celebration of Youth-led Development prepared for the Canada Congress, and the analytical introduction and advocacy for the YLD concept by Peace Child President, David Woollcombe, completes the PCI contribution to this Development concept which has now spread around the world.
- World Class – a 60-page Booklet prepared by one of the many brilliant youth teams who worked at PCI. The Lesson Plans were gathered from delegates to the World Youth Congress in Quebec City, Canada – and they cover all the global issues that young people care most about, with teaching ideas drawn from over 100 countries. There are Lesson Plans on Trade, Justice and the elimination of Poverty, health, environment, peace, human rights and the “Global Dimension” – which covers a range of other lesson ideas developed by the young people. The booklet includes photocopiable sheets, lifestyle contracts and certificate blanks to support teachers.
- Introductions to Sustainable Human Development – Peace Child Intl.’s summaries of the first 10 x UN Human Development Reports + its Report on Water and Climate Change. The young people wanted to call our summary of the UN HDRs “Investing in Happiness.” But – though we all felt that this was what Sustainable Development was supposed to deliver to people – it was roundly rejected by the UN as a distraction, so we were stuck with the more sober title. The two shorter pamphlets – on Water and Climate Change issues – got away with more catchy titles, but all three remain the most serious of PCI’s introductions to the UN”s central policy goal: achieving sustainable human development.
- Introductions to Environmental Sustainability – Peace Child Intl.’s three most famous books deliver illustrated information about the UN’s most ambitious plans to preserve and regenerate the environment and all life on earth. The first, our Children’s State of the Planet Handbook, asked young people to write down “Everything they wanted to know about the Environment but were afraid to ask.” We then put a digest of their questions to celebrity environmentalists around the world – and compiled their answers into a comprehensive state of the planet report – outlining what young people might do about it. The success of this book enabled PCI to prepare the Children’s edition of Agenda 21 for UNEP, UNICEF, UNESCO and UNDP – summarising the content of the Rio Earth Summit’s Agenda 21. Selling over half a million copies in 23 languages, this is PCI’s most successful book – and remains an excellent introduction to the different components of sustainability for young people and all ages. Pachamama was one of many books that PCI was asked by the UN to prepare following the success of Rescue Mission. It summarises the content of UNEP’s first Global Environmental Outlook report – and is often considered PCI’s most brilliantly designed publication.