Welcome to the Teacher’s Homepage of the
SCEMES National Short Story Competition
"Global learning and education for sustainability address environmental, social and economic issues that are of importance to young people. This can make learning more relevant to their lives and have a positive impact on engagement and achievement."
The English National Curriculum, QCA
The SCEMES National Writing Competitions were initially inspired by the DfES’ Sustainable Schools Consultation Document, and are designed to facilitate the teaching of sustainable development through the National Curriculum.
Last year, our National Poetry Competition on the theme of ‘The Environment’ elicited some fantastic responses from teachers and pupils and showed that children are capable of expressing an acute sensitivity to the world around them and their place in it.
This year’s theme of ‘One World’ was chosen following an extensive consultation process with teaching staff and research into curriculum requirements, and gives pupils the opportunity to develop their understanding of ‘The Environment’ by placing it within a global context.
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority states that, for learners to understand global dimensions and sustainable development, they should have opportunities across the curriculum to:
- appreciate the importance of a global context and engage in a range of culturally diverse experiences
- understand the connections between the environmental, social and economic spheres and make links between local, national and global issues
- critically evaluate their own values and attitudes, appreciating the similarities between people everywhere and learning to value diversity
- understand and appreciate the relevance of the global dimension to their own lives
- develop skills that will enable them to identify and challenge injustice, prejudice and discrimination
- participate in global partnerships, which can be a powerful and exciting way of bringing a global dimension into the classroom
- make informed decisions about how they can understand and potentially make their own distinctive contribution to local and global communities
- recognise that some of the Earth’s resources are finite and therefore must be used responsibly
- consider probable and preferable futures and how to achieve the latter
- appreciate the importance of sustainable resource use – rethink, reduce, repair, re-use, recycle
- appreciate the importance of obtaining materials from sustainably managed resources
- appreciate that economic development is only one aspect that contributes to the quality of life.
We at SCEMES have designed this website to provide you with all the resources that you need to provide pupils with these opportunities. By dividing the theme of ‘One World’ into a number of sub-categories, we have created resources on a number of topics from global warming to travel and communication to world aid.
Visit our ‘One World Resources’ section for a comprehensive list of topics and story starters and browse the rest of the website to find lesson plans, work sheets and a range of useful links.
We have designed the SCEMES National Short Story Competition to sit well with a number of subject areas including English, Geography, Science, Technology and Citizenship and we have labelled our resources accordingly.
Bringing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into the curriculum can empower children through their increased understanding of the problems relating to climate change and the opportunity to actively participate in the solution.
We hope that you find the material provided useful and that you have fun exploring the many applications of ‘One World’.
For more information on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) please follow the links below: