'SANKOFA' is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that translates as "Go back and get it". It is a common symbolic concept, to represent the need to reflect on the past to build a successful future. It symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge. Since the beginning of human history, stories have been used to transfer knowledge and wisdom, a way of enabling people and societies to learn from the past and from each other. But despite a wealth of recent research evidencing the wide range of positive impacts of storytelling in the classroom, it remains an uncommon and certainly unelaborated methodology in schools within the participating countries. In this project we will explore, elaborate, trial and share 'Digital Storytelling' as an innovative classroom methodology for enabling children to critically engage with some of the complex issues inherent in a globalised world. One of our partners is a BAFTA-nominated storyteller and actress, and she will build the competences of the three partners in participatory storytelling, the traditions of storytelling and the ways in which it can contribute to deep personal and collaborative learning. We will create a Learning Guide for educators, which introduces the general approach, mindsets, practices and theory. We will then work closely with teachers, and through a 'Focus Group' approach will support them as they trial the storytelling method with children in their schools. Each partner will focus on the application of storytelling through a number of themes, all of which are coalesced under the 'meta-story' of the Sustainable Development Goals, giving the community of teachers a broad framework in which the work they do with their children is contributing to a fairer and more sustainable future for people and planet. Teachers and children will be supported and mentored as they create materials, digital stories, instructive notes and reflective journals, all of which will become part of an online Toolkit. The Toolkit will be a 'living' resource, hosted on a StorySite, which will be an interactive hub for an emerging community of educators and learners. Our overall aim is to develop resources and materials that will support teachers to build new and improved competences for teaching the. Our project objectives are to: - Promote the use of storytelling by teachers in partner countries, in order to improve children's literacy and oracy skills; - Embed the use of storytelling as an approach for improving children's competences in critical thinking, and their sense of self-efficacy, related to their role as citizens; - Enhance children's ICT skills through digital techniques; - Enable transnational transfer of knowledge and skills, between teachers and children; - Better equip teachers to support children to improve their intercultural understanding and competences. The thematic areas which will be explored in the focus groups with children are: migration, identity and refugees; biodiversity and ecosystems; responsible consumption; water; active global citizenship; and gender equality. Our target participants will be teachers (40) in mainly rural schools, and their pupils (400). Through the StorySite we hope to engage at least an additional 300 teachers and other educators. And we aim to disseminate the results (learning guide, toolkit and StorySite) directly to an additional 225 teachers and educators through a series of national dissemination events in each of the three countries. The longer-term benefits of the project will be that schools are far better prepared - through deepened teacher competence and confidence - to equip their learners with the learning dispositions and capabilities to navigate the complex issues which are inherent in a globalised world. They will be able to recognise that knowledge is provisional, that we are all able to critically engage with complex ideas and problems, that a range of multiple perspectives is not a reason for intractable differences but an opportunity to learn together. This is especially important given the current and ongoing challenges to societal and inter-societal cohesion which is posed by dominant narratives around migration, climate change, and insecurity.
The context for our project was built from the word 'SANKOFA' ,which, in the Twi language of Ghana translates as "Go back and get it". It is a common symbolic concept, to represent the need to reflect on the past to build a successful future. It symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge. Since the beginning of human history, stories have been used to transfer knowledge and wisdom, a way of enabling people and societies to learn from the past and from each other. The overall aim of SANKOFA project was to develop resources that would support teachers to build new and improved competences for teaching the complex issues inherent in a globalised world. Project objectives were to: - Promote the use of storytelling by teachers in partner countries, in order to improve children's literacy and oracy skills; - Embed the use of storytelling as an approach for improving children's competences in critical thinking, and their sense of self-efficacy, related to their role as citizens in an interconnected world; - Enhance children's ICT skills through digital techniques; - Enable transnational transfer of knowledge and skills, between teachers and children; - Better equip teachers to support children to improve their intercultural competences for sustainable development. In this project we explored, elaborated, trialled and shared 'Digital Storytelling' as an innovative classroom methodology for enabling children to critically engage with some of the complex issues inherent in a globalised world. The project recognised the need for children and young people (CYP) to have: Digital literacy skills and competences Global competences: developing appropriate pedagogical skills and resources to help prepare children for life and work in a complex globalized world (including increased mobility and integration of ICT). Own-language literacy: increase in reading, writing and oracy skills The context for our project was shaped during delivery, due to the Covid pandemic and the shift in all partner countries to online learning for all pupils at various points of the past 12 months. The growth in the use of digital technologies by teachers and pupils has further demonstrated how core these key skills are to education. The pandemic has also demonstrated how globally interdependent we are. Through the 4 project partners, we worked with 40 teachers and 831 children and young people. Teachers and pupils engaged in a series of training and focus group sessions, where the methodology and learning guide provided support for the delivery of the project in the classroom. Teachers and pupils’ experiences helped to shape and inform the toolkit of tried and tested activities The CYP were supported by the teachers and project partners to develop their digital stories based on the project’s overall themes, which link to the SDGs: migration, identity and refugees; biodiversity and ecosystems; responsible consumption; water; active global citizenship; and gender equality. We achieved our goals of producing three intellectual outputs: learning guide, toolkit and website; we feel our Intellectual Outputs exceed initial expectations: both our toolkit and learning guide are high quality publications, with additional content than originally planned. Our website provides additional resources, beyond the intellectual outputs that establishes it as a sustainable resource for teachers long-term. All of our outputs are freely accessible and teachers who have used them to date have been impressed with how useful and supportive they are. All partners have developed new projects or enhanced existing work to include storytelling and digital methodologies as they raise awareness of global issues in the teachers and young people with whom they work. While Covid presented many challenges, it also offered opportunities and added value outcomes- including enhanced resources and outputs.