Application Guidance: British Council International School Award
Intermediate Certificate
What is the British Council International School Award?
The British Council International School Award champions and supports international learning
by recognising schools that forge lasting relationships with international partners, teach young
people about the world around them and celebrate unity in diversity.
Working towards the International School Award enriches education and develops global
citizenship in young people, contributing to whole school improvement. The Award provides
schools with a framework for collaboration with international partners, sharing best practice,
and opening young people’s eyes and minds to the realities of a globalised world. Each level
of the Award is suitable for ages 4 to18 and all schools from pre-school to further education
colleges can participate.
Who should apply for the Intermediate Certificate?
A school at the Intermediate level has already started its international journey and has
established relations with international partners. The school is now gaining experience of
working on collaborative projects and increasing the level of activity and impact in the school.
Educators at this level are observing development areas in practice for themselves. Young
people are becoming more aware of different global themes.
What does this mean at Intermediate Certificate?
Schools can achieve the following outcomes by working towards the Intermediate Certificate:
Global Citizenship
•
Schools run curriculum activities which enable reflective learning on global themes (e.g.
identity and belonging, sustainability, rights and responsibilities).
•
Young people discuss global themes and their local context with international partners.
•
Educators are able to develop global citizenship issues in teaching.
Please see our guide on Global Citizenship themes.
Enriching Education
•
Educators critically reflect on their own practice.
•
Educators run collaborative studies of education practices with a partner school.
Schools can find Global learning resources and professional development opportunities on the
British Council Schools Online website.
How does ISA relate to the Ireland curriculum?
The International School Award supports Irish schools/colleges to:
•
Enhance the quality of education (curriculum and teaching)
•
Improve pupils’ life skills and levels of achievement and learning
•
Increase leadership, teamwork and collaboration with 3rd parties locally and globally
•
Embed Global Citizenship within the curriculum – development and intercultural
education, as well as economic awareness and sustainability in a global economy
•
Effectively measure key academic and life skills and respond to international
benchmarks such as the PISA 2015 survey.
In Ireland, the International School Award supports a variety of curriculum areas from preschool to further education. These include: Geography; Social, Environmental and Scientific
Education (SESE); Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE); Economics; Languages;
English; Sciences; Religion; Civic Social and Political education; and cross curricular work.
Intermediate Certificate criteria
Applications for the Intermediate Certificate are made retrospectively. Schools wishing to apply
for the Intermediate Certificate should have already completed the activities below with a focus
on the outcomes for Global Citizenship and Enriching Education. These should be completed
between September 2013 and the application deadline, 31 January 2015:
1. Conducted an audit of young people’s and educators’ understanding of global themes
and education in other countries. Please see the international work survey template
available on the British Council Schools Online website.
2. Appointed an international coordinator.
3. Written an international policy. Please see the International policy template available on
the British Council Schools Online website.
4. Completed at least three curriculum activities, which as a whole demonstrate the
Intermediate Certificate outcomes in Global Citizenship and/ or Enriching Education.
5. Completed at least one of the three activities in collaboration with a partner school in
another country. Please see British Council Schools Online.
6. Planned the international activities across the school so approximately half of all
learners would participate at some point.
Designing your activity
In planning your international activities, you should consider:
How do activities develop learners’ understanding of global citizenship themes?
What do you hope will be the learning outcomes?
How does the activity achieve these aims? What will be the long-term impact?
1. Eligibility period:
International activities must be completed between 01 September 2013 and the submission
date, 31 January 2015.
2. Curriculum-based:
International activities must be part of genuine classroom work that relates to a national or
local curriculum and should take place during normal lesson time. International activities
should include a range of subjects. Lunch time and after school clubs are not usually eligible
for consideration, unless they clearly relate to curriculum-based work.
3. Global themes:
Every activity should have an international focus, its content must be embedded within the
national or local curriculum and it should contribute to improving educational outcomes.
Your activities must encourage young people to show awareness of global themes and
explore the differences between their local community and that of their partner school.
Examples of global themes include the following:
• Conflict and peace
• Sustainable living
• Rights and responsibilities
• Fairness and equality
• Identity and belonging
4. Collaboration:
Schools applying for the Intermediate certificate are required to carry out at least one
international activity in collaboration with their partner school. In their applications, schools
should explain how young people of both schools have worked together on a curriculum-based
shared project. It is important to show how the work has been exchanged, through what
means, and what impact this has had in terms of international learning and young people’s
understanding of global issues.
Please see British Council project templates and global learning resources available on the
British Council Schools Online website.
5. Scope: how many pupils should participate in the international activities?
Schools working towards the Intermediate Certificate should plan the international activities
across the school so that approximately half of all pupils participate at some point during their
time at the school.
The following kinds of activity, unless supported by extensive classroom based curriculum
work, are not applicable for the Award:
Fundraising and sponsoring
We advise that schools move away from a donor-recipient relationship to form equitable
partnerships based on trust and collaboration. Fundraising and sponsoring alone are not
suitable international activities unless young people are introduced to global themes and gain
a better understanding of global issues. For fundraising activities to be eligible young people
should be in regular contact with a school abroad and the content of the information exchange
should have an impact on the curriculum.
In-country and overseas visits
A trip or visit will not qualify as an activity on its own, but should be included in addition to
curriculum-based projects. For example, a trip to a place of worship does not count in
isolation, but as part of a term-long project on religions of the world, it should certainly be
included. Ski trips and other extra-curricular visits, which have no impact on lessons, will not
be considered as curriculum-based international activities. We are looking for evidence of
young people exchanging work.
Exchanges visits
Exchange visits must show evidence of young people sharing cultural information (via email,
post or Skype) as part of in-depth curriculum work with their peers in the partner school before
and after the exchange visit.
One day activities
Assemblies and theme days can appear isolated and of low impact. Schools including them
must make sure they detail the classroom-based preparation that was undertaken for the day
as well as the day's lasting curricular impact.
Evaluation
To support your application and your assessment of the impact of the international
activities, you may find it useful to evaluate your activities. Templates of evaluation
forms for learners, teachers and parents are available on British Council Schools
Online.
We do not require evidence of the evaluation forms but they can be kept at your
school to build a portfolio of evidence as you progress through the International
School Award journey.
Example Activity (Intermediate Certificate)
Subject involved: Art, Geography, CSPE and Languages
Global theme: Sustainable living
Duration of the activity: 4 months
Number of young people involved: 35 pupils – age group 12-13.
Evaluations: Evaluation forms from pupils, teachers, parents and visitors have been
collected.
Preparations were made for a teacher exchange and pupils undertook activities so the work
could be shared with the partner school. Firstly, the pupils made school brochures explaining
the layout of the school, the curriculum, extracurricular activities and other provisions such as
school dinners and tuck shop. These were exchanged with the pupils at the partner school
who were surprised at the provision of food. They felt that the subjects studied were very
similar, but discussion with staff revealed a big difference in flexibility in the curriculum.
The pupils in Ireland also produced illustrated reports about their homes and the jobs their
parents did. These were reciprocated by the pupils at the partner school who drew their homes
and wrote stories about where they live. The difference in the houses was discussed and this
was linked to the climate and wealth. On the return visit to Ireland the partner school’s
teachers brought pictures of food/animals/clothing etc from their country and taught the Irish
pupils the names of various items in the language spoken in the partner school’s country. The
pupils from Ireland were asked to sum up everything they had learned from the activities and
the exchange of work and presented this to the visiting teachers.
Application assessment
Once submitted, your application will be assessed by an independent panel of
educational professionals. Assessors will consider how your activities met the criteria
for the Intermediate Certificate, the impact of activities on learners’ awareness of
global citizenship themes and how the school’s international work enriches education.
Schools will be notified of the outcome of their application by email.
Successful schools will receive a certificate by post. Unsuccessful schools will be
offered feedback and support to resubmit their application within the agreed
timeframe.
Deadline
Schools can submit their Intermediate application when they feel ready and anytime up until
the deadline, 31 January 2015. Activities included in the application must be completed
between September 2013 and the submission deadline.
How to Apply
All applications are made online. Schools will need to register on the British Council Schools
Online website in order to get access to them. Please complete the online application form.
Contact us
If you require any support please contact Catrin Davies, British Council Ireland:
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +353 (0)1 676 6943
Website: http://www.britishcouncil.ie/programmes/education
Glossary of terms
Action
Taking action in this context means applying the knowledge, skills and values gained
through activities to making a positive difference to a local issue with contemporary
global relevance.
Audit of
international
work
A survey of work taking place in a school with an international focus. Survey
template available on the British Council Schools Online website.
Collaboratio
n
Joint and reciprocal work between learners and teachers in schools. Learning is
together, research is two sided and conclusions are arrived at together.
Critical
reflection
Analysis in the context of a wider perspective(s) – ie, evaluating teaching methods in
light of research about approaches in other countries, or evaluating national
approaches to problems after considering the approaches to the same problem from
elsewhere.
Curriculum
activity
An activity linked to normal school activity (either for learners or teachers), opposed
to extra-curricular activities, such as chess clubs or sports teams.
‘Develop
global
citizenship
issues in
teaching’
The ability of a teacher to embed global citizenship in normal curriculum activity. The
Connecting Classrooms professional development courses can contribute directly to
this.
'Developing
international
work'
This is what we expect from schools at Intermediate level. They should have moved
on from initial scoping and be active in their international work. They have a partner
school in another country.
Disseminate To share learning, training, conclusions with peers, teachers or people outside the
school community.
'Embedding
international
work'
This stage relates to Award accreditation. It’s about having a consistent approach
embedded throughout the school.
Enriching
education
The process of continuous improvement in education happening as a result of
reflective learning from international exchange.
'Expanding
international
work’
This stage relates to Reaccreditation. Not only does the school have an embedded
long-term approach but is also sharing their learning and expertise with others – at
learner, teacher and school level.
Global
citizenship
“Global education is education that opens people’s eyes and minds to the realities of
the globalised world and awakens them to bring about a world of greater justice,
equity and Human Rights for all.”
“Global education is understood to encompass Development Education, Human
Rights Education, Education for Sustainability, Education for Peace and Conflict
Prevention and Intercultural Education; being the global dimension of Education for
Citizenship.”
Miguel Carvalho da Silva, M. (2008) Global Education Guidelines. 2nd edn. Lisbon:
North-South Centre of the Council of Europe.
Global
themes
Impact
These are themes in global education. We use this list:
•
Peace and conflict
•
Sustainable living
•
Rights and responsibilities
•
Fairness and equality
•
Identity and belonging
The end-result/ ultimate benefit from doing an international activity. What you hope
to achieve.
International An international policy is normally signed off by the schools management board. It
Policy
explains what international work in the school is aiming to achieve and how it will do
it. See:
https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/accreditation-and-awards/isa/ireland
International The international coordinator has a varied role in organising, applying, training and
coordinator implementing.
Local
context
This refers to the context of the school, but with reference to a global theme. For
example, a school town’s recycling provision would fall under the theme of
sustainable living.
Outcome
The results of doing an activity. What did you learn, gain or develop in?
Partner
schools
Schools in other countries with which an educational link is established. Links should
have shared aims: the schools should share the same vision of working together to
foster global citizenship and enrich education.
'Preparing
for
international
work'
What a school does for the Foundation Certificate. They are laying the ground work
for future work. They explore possibilities and reflect on where they could go with
international activity. They take practical steps as well.
Reflective
learning
This involves not just the absorption of facts but the critical analysis of data, opinions
and learning, from a variety of cultural perspectives.
Resources
In the context of resources provided by the school for the international coordinator/
international work. This could be time, money, training etc.
Social
action
With knowledge, skills and values to make a positive difference, global citizens
should take action to improve things for society. We expect some evidence of this for
full International School Award accreditation.
Wider
community
Groups linked to the school e.g. religious groups, community groups, businesses
etc.
Young
people
Young people are normally under 18 years. They participate in activities which are
led or facilitated by educators. Young people include learners as well as members of
the wider community.