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  The Friendship Map

These children are working on a map of the Bradford district made by a local artist with a pair of linked schools, as part of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture outreach programme.

The children brought together their very different perspectives of the district as their schools are in different parts – one rural and one urban. When the map was completed they travelled to Liverpool to meet children from all the other cities and they made a film.

The Friendship map and other artefacts in a chest have travelled around the country and a copy stays in Bradford to be used by Bradford schools so that more children can learn about the physical diversity of their district.

Curriculum Links

The Diversity and Citizenship Curriculum Review led by Sir Keith Ajegbo, 2007 is an excellent source of ideas about how to design a curriculum for diversity and recommends that:

 All schools should be encouraged to audit their curriculum to establish what they currently teach that is meaningful for all pupils in relation to diversity and multiple identities. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) ‘Respect for All’ is a useful audit tool. In the light of this audit, all schools should map provision across years and subjects and ensure that coverage is coherent.

 There needs to be a focus on whole-school exploration of identities, diversity and citizenship. We suggest that time dedicated to Who Do We Think We Are? has the potential to excite schools to get involved. This could include:

 Whole-staff (including support staff) involvement in training, preparation and delivery

 Local authority support

 Local projects e.g. History, Geography fieldwork

 Investigations of Who Do We Think We Are?, with a local/national focus

 The cross-curricular concept of diversity explored through subject ‘join up’ e.g. collapsed timetables, extensive enrichment activities

 Links established between schools

 Cultural celebrations

 Debates around values, identities and diversity

 Accessing a range of resources including museums, archives and libraries

 A national media focus on Who Do We Think We Are? as a nation

 Diversity should not just be addressed more effectively in the humanities – Citizenship, History, Geography or the creative subjects as English, Music and Drama. Diversity needs to be reflected in all aspects of the curriculum, including Maths, Science and ICT... What is evident is that in order to acknowledge diversity effectively, the curriculum needs to provide resources that promote ‘collective identities’ and challenge ideologies that build the social constructs of ‘the nation’ and ‘national identity’ to the exclusion of minority groups.