In a world that is opening up at an astonishing speed, schools are recognising the need to equip young people with the skills to contribute to an increasingly global, interdependent society.
Yet in a world in which 4 billion people – two thirds of the population – are of faith, can we be sure that young people are equipped to participate as global citizens if they do not understand much about the world’s major religions? How can we ensure that a lack of knowledge does not lead to prejudice, antagonism and tension?
A new global education programme from the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, Face to Faith, is designed to do just that. The initiative was launched formally on Tuesday 9th June by Tony Blair who took part in a video-conference between three schools in the UK, Palestine and India.
Developed by an international group of educational experts and piloted in more than 10 countries on three continents, Face to Faith uses video conferencing, an online community and a course syllabus to support exchange between young people of different faiths. Face to Faith also contributes to the project component of the ‘Global Perspectives’ IGSCE from Cambridge Assessment as well as to a range of national RE, Humanities, Social Sciences and Citizenship qualifications and curricula.
The programme has already been taken up by schools in India, Singapore, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Thailand, Indonesia, Lebanon, the US, UK and Canada, who have recognised the programme’s potential to improve young people’s religious literacy. Young people involved in the pilot are already reporting how their understanding of the role of faith in today’s world has increased by learning from those of differing social, cultural and religious perspectives. As a student from The Indian Heights School in New Delhi said, “It’s so much more interesting and real to learn directly from people of a different religion rather than simply reading about them in a book.”
And Virginia Cheng, Principal at National Junior College, Singapore who has been an early pioneer of the programme, commented, “This programme provides us with another opportunity to strengthen our national education efforts to promote racial and religious harmony.”
If you want to find out more email education@tonyblairfaithfoundation.org
Annika Small
Director of Education
December 14, 2009 at 1:08 pm |
i need to establishe school that teach the need to equip young people with the skills to contribute to an increasingly global, interdependent society. any one who can help with in this reagred can send me an email or call me 00251910474947, Towfik Hassen, Addis Ababa- Ethiopia
December 15, 2009 at 6:58 am |
this is realy very good beging, but how we can bring this to my country, Ethiopia, i can help this promote this idea.