Involving Award participants in the actual award process

[Boyd Roberts]

The IGC Award engages participants in active global citizenship, and that includes playing as active and participatory role as possible in the operation of the Award programme itself.

This includes the process and decisions involved in recognising the development of fellow participants, and on when it is appropriate to recognise participation and development by making the award.

This involvement of participants in the actual award process is one of the distinctive features of the IGC Award, and distinguishes it from such awards as the International / Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

As we get to the time of the year when centres are deciding which participants to recognise for the Award, here are a few thoughts and some ideas, from Award centres and elsewhere, of how participants might be engaged in this process.

The involvement of peers should be supportive, but adds a measure of authenticity to the whole process too.  Students may be able to “talk the talk” but not necessarily “walk the walk.” The involvement of participants, who will probably know more about what their peers actually do rather than say, is likely to encourage their fellow participants to be truthful and realistic. More importantly, if we are looking to develop students who are active, participatory global citizens, then it seems entirely appropriate that they should play their part at the award recognition stage.

Teachers recognise very well that students dislike unfairness, and if given the opportunity, exercise judgement soundly and responsibly. In major research on peer assessment, Black and Wiliam (1998) concluded that students “are generally honest and reliable in assessing both themselves and one another; they can even be too hard on themselves.”

For some peer awards and prizes students nominate or vote for individuals. Such as simple process does not seem appropriate for the IGC Award process, in which there can be many recipients and there is no element of competition.

Where possible, the involvement of peers should be encouraging and affirmatory.

A number of Award centres have involved students in an award panel with considerable success.

At Bali International School, Peter Muir reported here (July 2010): “We went through the Award an area at a time, with a number of weeks given to students to complete activities in that area. Students themselves came up with what activities/action they would take and presented these to the rest of the group to seek their approval before commencing in the activities. This was good as it involved lots of interesting discussion and gave the students ownership. On a given date students then gave a presentation to the group, stating what they did, presenting material and reflecting upon the experience. The group then decided if their peer had successfully completed that section of the award. Teachers were involved in these discussions also. Students also shared their material on a Google site – https://sites.google.com/a/baliis.net/bis-igcaward/”

This highlights the value of involving students in recognising peer activities throughout the programme, not just at the end.

Peter notes that “It was good to have all students involved in direction and decision making, however this would be more difficult with a larger group.”

With larger numbers of participants, perhaps students can be divided into groups for mutual support, sharing ideas and reports, and for the purposes of the recognition process.

Banksia Park International High School in Australia has operated a Global Citizen’s Medal (GCM) for a number of years. This is awarded to graduating students who put themselves forward for the medal on the basis of a portfolio of activities. The award process involves a panel. Award coordinator Ray Bywaters writes:

“Each student develops a GCM portfolio and embedded personal reflection/self assessment empowers students to recognise their qualities.  Finally, students undertake a fifteen minute presentation demonstrating their worthiness for the medal before a panel, which comprises a community member, a family member, teacher advocate, a critical friend from the senior year level and a junior school observer.”

Take a look at ideas from some of the pilot centres collated previously on this site, at http://igcaward.ning.com/forum/topics/2002074:Topic:503

 

The award/recognition process provides an opportunity for participants to reflect on development and achievements during the programme, but also to set out ideas for their future development as participatory global citizens – possibly within the Award programme, by moving to the next level of the Award - or more generally.

 

Please take this opportunity to share

• experiences you have had of involving students in  making IGC Awards
• any plans you have for the process this year
• thoughts, ideas and suggestions

 

Please add them to the discussion here.

 

Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998)  Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 80, No. 2 and online at http://www.webcitation.org/5Ye8ATNYs