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Harbord’s Global Citizenship Working Charter: Recommendations for Cultivating Rights & Responsibilities at Our School
- Local to global awareness Curriculum taught in all courses should promote local to global awareness as per Harbord’s mission statement re. equity, social justice, and the environment. Student leaders will present to admin and teachers their desire for the mission to be further implemented.
- Promote equality There should be more of an activism presence outside of the classroom, with more posters in the hallways, possibly a mural. Equity-seeking student groups and social/environmental justice groups further collaboration on projects.
- Stand up for social justice Bring in professionals. Have speakers come in more frequently, and raise awareness to a variety of students on current global and local issues. SLIC continues to organize events that raise issues of social justice, Eco-Team around the environment, she for (s)he on feminism, Bent on Change around heterosexism,label ignorance, and homophobia.
- Desire for change/activism Students organizing school events should be encouraged with a positive attitude at all times, as a negative attitude from a staff member can often lead to the event being dropped. Through the Harbord Student Leadership Council encourage greater collaboration between student clubs on events that promote student engagement and activism.
- Respect for civil liberties Students should have a more organized voice in school actions; a school survey should be delivered online to manage the opinions of all students on different issues schoolwide. Also set-up whole-school assemblies through with LAWS program and Canadian Civil Liberties Association to present to all Grade 10 students.
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Great ideas! I like the 'local to global awareness' curriculum - can you think of some learning activities that would support local to global awareness in different classes, for example English Language Arts, Social Studies or Sciences?
I fully support your idea to promote equality in/out of schools through the use of artistic expressions, such as posters, murals, and perhaps we could add music and drama as well. Political art has been instrumental in questioning citizens to think about social justice in various contexts as well as promote public aspirations for equality and justice. However, do you think there are specific school policies that could be adopted that would also facilitate the promotion of equality?
Also, I’m just curious to hear more of your thoughts about the ‘desire to change/activism’ - what is it that you hope might change? I think developing a counter-narrative to the status-quo is crucial for mobilizing agents of social change, so I would encourage you to develop a narrative that clearly articulates what you stand against but also what you stand for, and how such change might be enacted. Great stuff!
Curtis Riep
Mar 4, 2015