Developing learning and action resources
Just Ideas has a strong track record in developing resources and learning or training packages designed to be used by others. These are never written in isolation, but always based on rigorous research, collaborative planning, piloting and revision, before being launched with clear guidance and support for those doing the delivery. These resources might be Action Kits – providing information and ideas for taking action on issues of social or environmental justice, training sessions on partnership working in communities, or resources for schools to explore global learning or development issues. Target audiences range from early years practitioners (those working with 2-5 year olds) through primary and secondary school educators to adults within communities and corporate clients looking for practical sustainability education in the workplace. We can provide entirely distance or e-learning, or a hybrid including some face-to-face or peer learning session.
Recent examples include:
- Working with film makers Bridge and Tunnel Productions, Helen researched, piloted and wrote i-kooch in schools – a resource enabling students in the North East of England to connect with the stories of refugees and asylum seekers arriving there from the Middle East. Running parallel to an exciting and challenging programme where refugees were supported to creatively tell their stories, this resource harnessed the power of those stories and experiences to enable school students to explore their own and others’ journeys, experiences and humanity.
- With specific experience in climate change and sustainability education, Just Ideas was contracted to develop the schools and youth resources as part of a multinational EU funded programme called Make the Link – Climate exChange. We wrote and piloted a series of units for pupil-led work on climate change, used in UK, Senegal, Malawi, Kenya, Netherlands and Bulgaria.
- Just Ideas has had a long standing partnership with Mediae, a Kenya-based production company specialising in ‘edutainment’, which produces among other things a Kenyan TV Soap Opera Makutano Junction. With 10 million viewers across East Africa, and with 13 series, we got together to look at how this resource could be used in schools in the UK and Europe to get children and young people thinking about international issues, but also about their own lives and what they can do as global citizens. With significant funding from DFID and then EU, and in partnership with the Institute of Education, we developed extensive learning resources for both primary and secondary schools using clips from the Soap as a catalyst for exploring all sorts of issues.
- Moving down the age range, we were recently brought in to develop and edit a handbook for early years practitioners (The World from our Doorstep project) across UK, Bulgaria, Cypress and Poland, based on two children’s books, describing activities for teachers to try with very young children to start them thinking about fairness, sustainability and being part of a global community.
