Headteachers & Teachers:

Curriculum teaching opportunities through the ‘Wales for Peace’ project

Introduction:

The ‘Wales for Peace’ project is a 4-year Heritage Lottery funded project, managed by the Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA). Between 2015 and 2018 the project will be engaging 100,000 people across Wales to explore the central question: ‘In the 100 years since the First World War, how has Wales contributed to the search for peace?’

This is an exciting opportunity, which will enable us to explore questions such as: ‘Is Wales really a peace-loving nation?’, ‘Who are Wales’ ‘peace heroes’? and ‘What are Welsh people’s attitudes towards war and peace today?’ The project will be an opportunity to explore how war has affected individuals and areas across Wales, and to capture those stories. We also aim to uncover a range of ‘hidden histories’ of people who have striven for peace over the last century. By the end of the project we hope to have inspired a new generation of peacemakers – young people with clear ideas of what their peace heritage means to them and what they can do, personally and collectively, to bring peace about.

We aim to engage and inspire groups of children and young people across Wales in finding out about and exploring their peace heritage. To this end we will be supporting pupils and youth groups across Wales to find out about and respond creatively to stories that inspire them. Resulting materials – artefacts, photos, activities, films, poetry, music – will be uploaded via the ‘Wales for Peace’ website with supporting curriculum materials. In this way we will build up a wealth of materials which can be used to enrich pupils’ learning.

The aim of this document is to map out the main areas of the curriculum which relate most directly to the themes that will be covered by the ‘Wales for Peace’ project, so that teachers can have an overview of how present and future project materials relate to their subject areas. All resources produced as part of the project will be accompanied by information showing how they relate specifically to different areas of the curriculum, including literacy, numeracy and the Welsh Baccalaureate.

Comments on and additions to materials will be welcomed, and a facility to do this will be available through the ‘Wales for Peace’ website. The Learning Coordinator can also be contacted directly through email () or phone 029 2082 1051.

Broad relevance of Wales for Peace to specific curriculum areas:

History:

‘Wales for Peace’ materials will contribute to the Curriculum Cymreig by enabling learners to explore aspects of local and Welsh history, and to understand how events have shaped Welsh society and culture. Learners will have opportunities to look at the lives of significant Welsh people and to understand why they acted as they did and the consequences of those actions. They will also be encouraged to develop skills of historical enquiry by using a range of sources, asking relevant questions, and reflecting on their findings.

Geography:

Through geography, learners come to understand their own local environment and their role as local and global citizens. This fosters an appreciation of how people across the world are interlinked, and how people’s actions impact on their environment. Activities covered by the ‘Wales for Peace’ project will help learners to understand the impact of war on environments – both in the past and in the world today.

Literacy:

All materials produced as part of the Wales for Peace project will be linked to the national literacy framework. Exploring and sharing ‘hidden histories’ of individuals and communities in Wales will enable pupils to use and develop oracy, reading and writing skills – for instance by interviewing those affected by conflict about their experiences; by reading archive materials and gauging their relevance; by presenting stories they uncover both orally and in a variety of written forms. Learners will be encouraged to question, debate and think for themselves. Links will also be made to relevant literary figures and work which references aspects of peace and the impact of war.

Numeracy:

There will be opportunities to use and develop numeracy skills, particularly through looking at and interpreting data such as the numbers of those who died from a particular area, the effect of rations on a population, the proportionate number of conscientious objectors in Wales, etc. Learners may also be able to compare what happened at different periods of Wales’ history, thus gaining historical perspective.

Religious Education:

Religious education enables learners to look at questions of morality and meaning, and also to understand how individuals and religious communities may be motivated to take a certain stance in times of conflict – either opposed to or justifying war on grounds of religion. Through religious education, learners can also ask questions which enable them to come to their own views on issues relating to past and present conflicts.

The Creative Arts – Music, Art and Drama:

Engaging with an aspect of Wales’ peace heritage will provide opportunities for learners to respond to stories or express their emotions in a variety of creative ways – through writing, music, art or drama – and to share their work with others. Suggestions for creative follow-up activities will be made in curriculum notes accompanying project materials.

The Welsh Baccalaureate:

The Wales for Peace team will produce materials which can be used as a basis for an Individual Project which will help learners to develop the following essential employability skills in particular:

  • Critical thinking and problem solving
  • Planning and organisation
  • Creativity and innovation.

Briefs will also be developed which will enable learners to undertake a Global Citizenship Challenge on a peace-related theme.

Learning across the curriculum:

Wales for Peace provides the ideal framework for cross-curricular project work as well as learning across the curriculum within subject studies.

  • CwricwlwmCymreig / Wales, Europe and the World:

With Wales at its core, Wales for Peace provides strong evidence for the Curriculum Cymreig (7–14) and Wales, Europe and the World (14–19) as learners are given opportunities to develop and apply knowledge and understanding of the cultural, economic, environmental, historical and linguistic characteristics of Wales. Learners will have active engagement in understanding the political, social, economic and cultural aspects of Wales as part of the world as a whole. Indeed they will contribute to the future understanding of Wales and its peace heritage for future CwricwlwmCymreig studies.

  • Personal and Social Education (PSE):

Learners have opportunities to learn to become active citizens and promote global citizenship. Through researching and sharing stories of individuals and groups in Wales who have contributed to peace over the last 100 years, learners will develop thinking and communication skills and empathy, and come to understand how culture, beliefs and values have influenced people’s decisions and actions. Exploring the ‘hidden histories’ of peacemakers will enable learners to consider different points of view about conflict, and to explore the moral dilemmas faced by those who lived during periods of conflict and apply them to views about current affairs and future global development goals.

  • Careers and the world of work:

Learners, by undertaking volunteer work and engaging with professional historians / archivists / ICT trainers, will have opportunities to develop their awareness of careers and the world of work and how their studies contribute to their readiness for a working life.

Skills across the curriculum

The Wales for Peace project is an enriching opportunity to ensure aspects of all expectations for Skills across the curriculum are met.

  • Developing Thinking is an obvious strand given the issues-based content of the project, the challenge of conflict and resolution, and the processes of planning, developing and reflecting in the research.
  • Developing Communication is part of the research project in planning through teamwork, oracy in individual contacts during research or when presenting to others, background reading, report writing, and preparing for wider communication through website or exhibitions.
  • ICT is a critical component of the project as students input to, or extract from, various historical databases, use a range of audio or visual recordings whilst collecting historical information, present using a range of software to live audiences or on the website / you tube.

HISTORY

Key Stage 2
Range / Skills / Examples
Study the differences in people’s daily lives in two contrasting periods of the twentiethcentury / Historical Knowledge and Understanding:
2. identify significant people and describeevents within and across periods
3. understand why people did things, what caused specific events and theconsequences of those events.
Historical enquiry – opportunities to:
1. ask and answer relevant questions about the past
2. plan the investigative approach to be used,suggesting how to find relevant information
3. use a range of sources, including ICT,
4. reflect on their findings and the investigativeapproach used. / e.g. study specific examples of how people’s lives on the home front in Wales differed during WWI and WWII.
Compare and contrast how Conscientious Objectors were treated in Wales during WWI and WWII, including a study of particular individuals.
Key Stage 3
Range / Skills / Examples
Explore and interpret how some twentieth century individuals and events have shaped our world today / Historical knowledge and understanding:
2. describe, analyse and explain patterns andrelationships
3. evaluate the significance of the mainevents, people and changes studied.
Interpretations of history
1. consider differing views andrepresentations of some historicalevents, people and changes, andunderstand how and why theyhave beeninterpreted in these ways
Historical enquiry
3. independently use a range of historicalsources in their historical context
4. select and summarise information accuratelyfrom sources
5. record and evaluate the information
acquired, reaching reasoned conclusions. / e.g. how people in Wales reacted to WWI and how this changed over time; look at some of the peace movements that emerged after WWI
e.e. attitudes to conscription and military service; changing role of women – e.g. 1920s peace marchers & Greenham Common women; the anti-apartheid movement in Wales

GCSE History – post-2015 Curriculum

‘Wales for Peace’ is directly relevant to some areas of the new WJEC curriculum - e.e.

Route / Unit / Theme / Topic Area
A / 1 / Wales and England in the early Twentieth Century c1890 - 1919 / 3. The impact of the First World War
A / 2 / Depression, War and Recovery in Wales and England 1930 - 1951 / 2. The impact of war on life on the Home Front
A / 2 / Changes in South Africa 1948 - 1994 / 2. Resistance and oppression: opposition to apartheid. (Could be an opportunity to look at the anti-apartheid movement in Wales)

Areas relevant to ‘Wales for Peace’ could also be studied as part of the ‘Controlled Assessment’ element of the syllabus. Possible topics could include:

  • The impact of WWI in Wales in terms of the development of groups working for international cooperation and understanding
  • The influence and significance of a key pacifist figure or movement – e.g. George M Ll Davies; the Greenham Common women
  • Changing attitudes to conscription and war in Welsh society in the 20th century

GEOGRAPHY

Key Stage 2
Range / Skills / Examples
Learning about places, environments and issues:
-Study living in my world: caring for placesand environments and theimportance of being a global citizen
-Carry out investigations of ‘geography in thenews’, topical events and issues inthe local area and the wider world / Understanding places, environments and processes:
3. describe the causes and consequences
of how places and environments
change / e.g. understanding how a child in an area experiencing conflict experiences their environment
e.g. looking at the effects of migration on their local area, and discovering why this happens
Key Stage 3
Range / Skills / Examples
Learning about places, environments and
Issues:
-Study people and the planet: population patterns,change and movement
-Look at the rich and poor world: economicdevelopment in differentlocations/countries
-Consider tomorrow’s citizens: issues in Walesand the wider world of livingsustainably and the responsibilities
of being a global citizen / Understanding places, environments and processes:
2. explain the causes and effects of physical and human processes and how the processes interrelate.
3. explain how and why places and
environments change and identify trends and
future implications / e.g. understanding how a past conflict impacted on local communities and the environment – e.g. WWI or WWII
e..g understanding some of the challenges that face the world today, including people fleeing conflict, and consider how Wales as a country should react.

GCSE Geography – post-2014 Curriculum

The study of Geography at GCSE level will enable learners to understand the complex and changing nature of the world we live in – e.g. in terms of climate change, population shifts, the unequal distribution of wealth and resources, and varying levels of human and economic development. Links can be made between these elements and both the causes and consequences of conflict, leading to a consideration of how we – as global citizens – react to these challenges today and in the future so as to create a more just, equal and peaceful world.

LITERACY

Strand / Elements / Aspects / Examples
Oracy across the curriculum / Developing and presenting information and ideas. / Speaking: communicate ideas and information to a wide range of audiences and a variety of situations. / e.g. Make a presentation about a peacemaker, or about the impact of war on one’s local community
Listening: listen and respond to the viewpoints and ideas of others. / e.g. take part in a class discussion exploring different points of view around conscientious objection
Collaboration & discussion:
– contribute to discussions and presentations
– discuss the viewpoints/ ideas of others to reach agreement. / e.g. take part in a group presentation about a local peacemaker
e.g. take part in a class discussion around different ways of responding to a specific conflict situation
Reading across the curriculum / Locating, selecting and using information, / Reading strategies:
– use a range of appropriate reading strategies to make sense of texts
– assess quality and reliability of texts. / e.g. use skim-reading to make sense of newspaper articles – and to distinguish fact from editorial bias
Responding to what has been read / Comprehension
– gain an understanding of unfamiliar information
– identify main ideas, events and supporting details
– carry out research to develop a full understanding.
Response and analysis
– organise and analyse relevant information
– distinguish between facts, theories and opinions
– compare a range of views
– evaluate the content, presentation and reliability of texts. / e.g. read and understand articles containing opinions about a conflict – e.g. WWI, the war in Afghanistan
e.g. distinguish between facts and propaganda; compare and contrast view of those on the home front and those who served directly in a conflict
Writing across the curriculum / Organising ideas and information / Meaning, purposes and readers
– plan and adapt writing style to suit the audience and purpose
– improve writing through independent review and redrafting
– reflect, edit and redraft to improve writing.
Structure and organisation
– use a structure that is appropriate to the purpose and focus ofthe task
– select analyse and present information appropriately
– establish a structure to organise writing. / e.g. write about a conflict from different points of view and for different audiences – e.g. letter home, newspaper article etc
e.g. write in a format relevant to the purpose – letter, article, report etc
Writing accurately / Language
– use language appropriate to writing

NUMERACY:

Strand / Element / Example
Using number skills / • Use number facts and relationships. / e.g. calculate the percentage of a community affected by a conflict; conduct and interview, and calculate the numbers of people holding different points of view.
• Fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio.
• Calculate using mental and written methods.
• Estimate and check.
Using data skills / • Collect and record data. / e.g. looking at data presented in archive materials such as newspaper articles, reports or letters, calculating their significance and presenting this to others.
• Present and analyse data.
• Interpret results.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION:

Key Stage 2
Range / Skills / Examples
Human experience
• human identity – the ways in which religions understand human existence,
• meaning and purpose of life – how religious ideas, values and beliefs influence people’s responses to life and death / Engaging with Fundamental Questions:
• ask, discuss and respond to fundamentalquestions raised by their own experiences and the world around them
• use evidence from a range of sourceseffectively in order to present and supportarguments and opinions
• carry out investigation in an open-minded way and be prepared to accept challenge in the light of new information or evidence.
Expressing personal responses
• express and begin to justify their own feelings and opinions in different ways, e.g. orally, in writing, and through creative arts
• demonstrate how what they have learned has impacted on their own views/ideas
• consider, appreciate, empathise with andrespect the viewpoints of others / e.g. research the life of a particular Welsh peacemaker who was motivated by religious beliefs – e.g. Waldo Williams. Explore the stance he / she took and why, then develop a creative response – e.g. digital film, diary, poetry, music, etc
Key Stage 3
Range / Skills / Examples
Human experience:
• relationships and responsibility – how
religions demonstrate rules for living, advise on making difficult moral decisions, recommend ways to develop and retain relationships and provide reasons why these are important, e.g. right/wrong; tolerance/respect; conflict/reconciliation
• the journey of life – how and why religious
people take on different roles, responsibilities
and commitments at different stages of life, / Engaging with Fundamental Questions:
• use problem-solving techniques, critical,creative and intuitive thinking to explorepreconceptions, possibilities/explanations
• formulate arguments and justify points of view while recognising that the conclusions are only partial, inconclusive and are open to different interpretations.
Expressing personal responses
• appreciate, respect, empathise with andevaluate the viewpoints of others,
acknowledging where they are similar to anddifferent from their own / e.g.look at the life of a conscientious objector in Wales who was influenced by biblical teachings / religion and understand how these motivated that person to take a stance against war.

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL EDUCATION (PSE):