Tide Aims and aspirations

Tide~ aims and aspirations

Tide~ is a network of teachers
[and other educators]:

bullet sharing values about the potential role of
education in building a positive future;

bullet sharing concerns about educational challenges;

bullet looking out, learning, responding to global
issues and working creatively on the
contribution our profession can make.

Thousands of teachers have contributed significant work to build up the experience and thinking of the network. Their energy, symbolised by the substantial library of Tide~ publications, demonstrates the educational value of global dimensions and development perspectives.

These publications have been important to the sharing of ideas, many of which have been taken up by mainstream educational publishing and the national curriculum. But in many ways their greatest importance remains the focus they provide for groups of teachers to work together, to share ideas and to respond to the challenges of exploring their own understandings of key issues. This process also helps thinking about ways to enable young people to engage in similar learning

This dynamic of professional development has often been featured in evaluations of Tide~. It not only offers an opportunity to those involved but has a long term impact as they build that experience into their own work as a teacher, or as they take on new responsibilities.

We have plenty of evidence about the motivation of teachers to engage with the issues even when the mainstream tide seems to be flowing the other way!

We are clearly reminded of both the need for creativity and the potential for it. The challenge is to build a network that will contribute to unlocking that potential.

The diagram [left] illustrates the proposition that there should be core educational experiences and opportunities ‘essential for everyone’. This ‘core’ needs to respond to the aims of development education and other ‘educations’ in a way that is cohesive and that best meets the needs of young people.

The idea of global learning is about bringing these ideas together to meet the educational needs of learners growing up in an increasingly globalised society.

Tide~ is working to the following long term goals:

	that development education is recognised and valued as a core element of global learning;
	that young people should have an entitlement to global learning ... for example they see themselves as global citizens, they have a deeper knowledge and understanding of inter-dependence, they have opportunities to shape the curriculum they experience;
	that there should be opportunities for teachers to be involved in a network which engages their values and beliefs, stimulates professional creativity and promotes their own understanding of development;
	that global learning should be more systematically integrated into the curriculum, reflecting a coalition of both thinking and practice;
	that there should be opportunities to enable young people and teachers to contribute to national debate about the curriculum ... and about global learning.

The West Midlands Coalition provides the main context for Tide~'s work

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