Professor Ted Cantle CBE of the Institute of Community Cohesion recommends some useful resources to help schools explore the issues around bringing communities together
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government recently named the Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) as the national ‘one stop shop’ for cohesion practitioners, and its reach is extending beyond national borders into Europe and as far afield as Australia. iCoCo has built up a comprehensive collection of resources to support practitioners whose roles and responsibilities involve community cohesion. The institute’s website at www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk features toolkits, reports, guidance and a library of projects and schemes which exemplify good practice in community cohesion. Online support from the Institute of Community Cohesion A statutory duty to promote community cohesion came into effect in September 2007 for all maintained schools in England. After staging a roadshow of regional conferences to help schools to understand and meet the requirements of this new duty, iCoCo was commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to develop an online resource guide for schools on all cohesion matters. The guide provides practical ideas for implementing the duty to promote community cohesion and includes case studies of good practice in the areas of teaching, curriculum and learning, equity and excellence, and engagement and extended services. Exploring the challenges and opportunities facing schools, the resource also includes an FAQ section and links to other useful guidance and resources.
The online resource guide is available from the summer term – see www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk
UK charity Minorities of Europe has developed a learning programme specifically to help groups of all ages learn the communication skills needed for a world of increasing diversity. Participants get to know each other through carefully structured conversations and then work together on joint projects. Swapping Cultures can be customised to start projects which then explore almost any theme or topic relevant to the group and is ideal for developing school-to-school links, hosting visiting groups or bringing new groups together (as part of an induction programme, for instance).
The sequence of activities is easy to run and is designed to encourage young people to take on the group leader’s role. It aims to Swapping Cultures – intercultural communications for schools and community groups deepen their understanding of culture and identity and works equally well in very diverse groups or among people with similar backgrounds. Minorities of Europe runs various training events including a‘Champions for Change’ programme aimed at young people. More information is available from www.swappingcultures.com
The Schools Linking Network is a new organisation established in 2007 in order to support schools and local authorities in fulfilling the new guidance on community cohesion. The network works with schools and other organisations to establish programmes that will facilitate meetings between children and young people of different backgrounds. These differences may be cultural, ethnic, religious or socio-economic, or a combination of all of these. The main focus of the work is to enable young people to develop skills that they will need for life in the 21st-century world.
The programmes begin by looking at the questions ‘Who am I?’, ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Where do we live?’ and later develop into thematic work shared between linked schools. These themes include worldwide issues such as sustainability and fair trade, allowing students to explore the local and the global, discovering the relevance of these issues to their daily lives. The work also helps to create dialogue between groups who may have diverse perspectives. More information is available from www.schoolslinkingnetwork.org.uk
Professor Ted Cantle is the Chair of the Institute of Community Cohesion. The institute was established in 2005 to provide a new approach to race, diversity and multiculturalism. Its work focuses on building positive and harmonious community relations.
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