Identity, Diversity and Citizenship

A DCSF funded education project designed to engage primary and secondary school teachers in the exploration of identity, diversity and citizenship with their pupils – in their schools, local communities and beyond.

 The project follows the Curriculum Review on Diversity and Citizenship, undertaken by Sir Keith Ajegbo, which recommended that all schools participate in a high profile, national event – titled Who do we think we are? Week – where the main activities would be… “…investigations and celebrations by schools of pupils’ histories and their community’s roots and of the national and global links that they can make.” * Diversity and Citizenship Curriculum Review DfES (2007) Full report (PDF) * http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/

Key areas of work include: • A new website http://www.whodowethinkweare.org.uk structured around four themes, each with learning resources:
• School and community
• Relationships, belonging and faith
• History and settlement
• ‘Britishness’, national identity /values and the 2012  Games
• The creation of an online database and ‘Ideas Hub’ – signposting existing resources and support for the learning and teaching of identity, diversity and community
• Curriculum Development Programmes to support targeted work with schools and young people in Local Authorities, particularly working with the School Linking Network.
• The development and promotion of a week long WDWTWA activities programme during mid June annually
Who do we think we are? Week - 21st - 27th June 2010
20th - 26th June 2011 - 18th - 24th June 2012
• Themes covered School and community Relationships, belonging and faith History and settlement Britishness, national identity/ values and the 2012 Games http://www.whodowethinkweare.org.uk

Grants for Schools Now Open! Schools can now apply for grants to complete activities as part of WDWTWA Week 2010
As part of ‘Who Do We Think We Are? Week’ 2010, schools are again being offered the opportunity to apply for grants of up to £500 to develop activities linked to the focus week in June.  

Quotes from 2009 project participants: "The WDWTWA project seemed an ideal opportunity to get students and teachers to work in a cross-curricular way to think about themselves, their identity and belonging and their place in communities. I would encourage all schools to take part in the theme next year. It has certainly helped us to focus, evaluate, celebrate and reward the enormous amount of excellent community work that occurs across the curriculum and the school and has set us on the path for the attainment of the SSAT Cultural Diversity Quality Standard."  Cardinal Newman Catholic School, Hove

 "The whole experience proved positive and thought provoking for all involved.  Students and staff alike learned about and from each other in terms of identity in a revealing yet safe and inspiring way." George Green's Secondary School

"The who do we think we are?’ project is an innovative approach to developing the skills that our students will need for the 21st Century. Getting students to reflect on their role in society combined with developing key skills, has meant students at the school have been able to enhance their understanding of their own cultural identity and that of those around them.’ Walton High School, Milton Keynes

If you are interested in applying for a grant for activities at your school, please download the guidance provided below and submit your application to the Project Officer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) by 12th February 2010.

Our research shows that a school’s curriculum, as a crucial element that reflects a school’s ethos, should be grounded within the frame of reference of the local community before it can extend to encompass the national and the global. School context and ethnic composition determine some of the issues within a school and its wider community; they need also to help shape the solutions.

There is a challenge, not just for teachers, if we want our communities to be more cohesive. Everyone needs to meet that challenge, both the school community and those beyond the school gates – headteachers and leadership teams, teachers, support staff, pupils, parents and the wider society.

Disparity of communities - There is no easily transferable template that comes with ethnic, religious and cultural identity; communities across the UK are diverse in their composition and present different challenges to schools. Yet as key agents in building community cohesion, unless schools anchor their education for diversity within their local context, they risk tokenism rather than a practical solution, scratching the surface instead of exploring opportunities. We have seen many examples where the excellent work of a school has made a difference to a community beyond the pupils it teaches. Numerous schools are using voluntary and community work, for example, as a bridge to greater understanding.

Engaging parents and the wider community - Schools based in multicultural areas have the ready-made resource of the communities on their doorstep, which can bring education for diversity to life in the classroom. Many schools in multiethnic areas are reaching out to their community, using community representatives and leaders to build trust and understanding, and making a major contribution to community cohesion in their locality.

Languages and different cultures - Studying languages has immense potential for involving pupils in different cultures. An expert from CILT, the National Centre for Languages, highlighted to us the potential to develop language learning beyond the European languages normally taught in schools and to arrest the decline in take up of language learning of any sort at Key Stage 4.

Children at primary school, for instance, benefit considerably from ‘tasters’ of different languages, which help them to think about and explore other cultures. Consideration needs to be given to how language teachers in primary schools can be supported to provide a wider platform of languages, including in those schools with a largely indigenous population.

There are schools with outstanding practice in this area: Newbury Primary School, for instance, in 2005 won a European Award for Languages. Through its partnership with parents and the community, it teaches a different language each month.

There is a growing number of languages in use in the UK, including in areas where previously few languages other than English were spoken. Competence in community languages can represent substantial benefits for young people, their community and UK society. Some of the most widely spoken and studied community languages – Urdu, Turkish, Chinese, Bengali and Arabic – are likely to be of particular benefit to the UK economy, both for trade and for international relations in the 21st century.

There are extensive opportunities for community language teachers and modern language teachers to build partnerships. But these need to be sufficiently well resourced. Such partnerships open up the possibilities of a language being used not just by those whose community language it is but also in the form of ‘tasters’ – and possibly more – for the whole school. Careful thought also needs to be given to how pupils with a community language are supported in schools.

Linking schools - A major recommendation in our report is the further development of school links 42,  matched to the particular demographics of the school. Links between schools can be a powerful resource for education for diversity. We believe that schools need to work with each other across the UK so that both monocultural and multiethnic schools build proper partnerships, electronically and through visits.

A representative from the Inter Faith Network, for example, emphasised the importance of school linking as a way of promoting education for diversity for monocultural schools, believing in the ‘moral mission’ to persuade headteachers of its importance. Our review has shown how powerful this can be when based on planned curriculum objectives.

Geography, for example, can be an ideal platform for school links: employment, community and neighbourhood, for instance, all deal with identity and diversity. Schools can study their local area, relate it to their local experience and compare it with other areas and experiences, sharing information, discussion and debate with other schools. Building these links will require careful national and local organisation and resourcing, to remove some of the logistical burdens from schools.

Schools all over the UK have already developed links, both across the UK and globally, and there is some excellent practice in this field by, for instance, the Global Gateway (globalgateway.org.uk) and the British Council.

One respondent, from the Association of Science Teachers, told us about Science across the World, in which pupils exchange scientific ideas and data across countries. Links should have curriculum objectives and be built into Schemes of Work; anything less can lead to relationships that reinforce prejudice.