History
Nick Pollard, the driving force behind the establishment of the Global Student Forum tells some of its history:
For many years, in schools and colleges across the south of England, I have led conferences which help 15-19 yr old students to develop their critical thinking skills and to apply them to important spiritual and moral issues. I love helping students to develop their ability to think and argue well - especially about the big questions of life.
At each conference I have always noticed a handful of students who are particularly gifted and articulate and who are keen to continue to develop and express their thinking. Clearly they should do this on a bigger stage.
Meanwhile, I have also had the privilege of leading a team that produced the very popular and successful educational computer game President for a Day, and the related conference called The President for a Day Experience. From these it became clear that one area in which students wanted to think clearly and to argue well was the field of global citizenship.
Today's generation is the first to grow up in a truly globalised world. They deserve the opportunity to help each other to explore the issues underlying global citizenship. Understandably, they do not want anyone to tell them what to think or how to act, but they do want the opportunity to think together about how they will live in this globalised world. In this, I am delighted to provide whatever help I can.
I found others who shared that vision, and so was born the idea for a National Conference for students in Year 12 of schools across England and Wales. But we wanted this to be more than simply one day in the life of those school student who were fortunate enough to be selected to attend. It is clear that key student thinkers are best served by helping them to become peer-educators, and by enabling them to support each other as they share with others what they have learned. And so the concept of a National Conference turned into plans for a Global Student Forum - not just a once-off conference, but also a network that would inspire and enable those who had attended the conference to go back to their schools and their communities as peer-educators, and that could be replicated in schools across the world.
We launched the Global Student Forum in London in 2005, with the first National Conference scheduled to take place on 4th July. Tickets sold out very quickly and we soon had a large waiting list - so we decided to run it for a second day (5th July) - and those tickets sold out in three days! Find out more on the GSF2005 page.
In GSF2006 we focussed on the impact of HIV and AIDS on developing countries and built upon the success of the previous year by providing for each student a 100 page Peer Educator Book, together with a DVD of related video clips. This led to even more peer education - and a number of schools began to build the annual GSF conference and Peer Education into their Citizenship education curriculum, seeking to reach every student in their school. In that year we also piloted the possibility of providing the entire conference and materials to another country - so it was that Scotland ran its own GSF2006 which was successful but demonstrated the importance of preparing the conference and materials with such a licensing option in mind from the start. Find out more on the GSF2006 page.
In GSF2007 we focussed on the impact of Climate Change on developing countries and built on the success of the previous years by expanding the Peer Educator Book to provide assembly and lesson plans for them to deliver in their local Primary Schools. Thus the Peer Education was delivered to many Primary Schools pupils as well as those in their Secondary School. We also provided the schools with the script, PowerPoint and videos of the conference such that they could run a local version of the London GSF conference for schools in their local area, with ten 6th formers from each of those schools being given the Peer Educator Book. Many schools were very keen on this concept but only one school held a local Global Student Forum. It appeared that the schools need more support to enable them to put into practice their willing desire to run these. Find out more on the GSF2007 page.
GSF2008 was called Everybody Wants A Peace and explored the effects of conflict on poor countries (focussing particularly on the impact on children) and considered how we might be champions for change who will transform conflict into opportunities for secure, peaceful and positive development. This conference was sponsored by the Department for International Development who provided access to greater expertise and resources in various forms. The conference was visited by some Year 10 students who, in 2005 (when they were in Year 7), were among the first to be inspired by the peer-educators who had attended GSF2005. They spoke of the impact that this had on them and, in the words of their teacher "shows the power of the project". Find out more on the GSF2008 page.
In 2009 GSF2009 once again showed the power of GSF to give young people a platform on which they could stand up and speak out, this time on issues of child mortality, under the title of ‘When I grow up I want to be … alive’. GSF also continued to develop the Media Partnership Challenge with the support of Jon Snow and Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Channel 4 News. The 2009 Media Partnership Challenge called on students to create a concept and a storyboard for a film to engage others with the theme of child mortality. The winning entry – a stunning film called Reflection – made by students from Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School can be viewed on www.facebook.com/gsfreflection.
At the same time GSF was the subject of a detailed independent evaluation by Prof Alan Penny which reported that GSF is "cost effective, extremely well conceived and intelligently delivered" and was specifically referred to a wider evaluation of all DFID funding for education which highlighted that GSF should move forward "to ensure more universal coverage". Consequently GSF submitted a bid to DFID for funding to expand the reach of GSF over the next three years and this was granted. GSF has now appointed a National Co-ordinator, Richard Baker, to increase the support available to all GSF Partner Schools and also to appoint GSF Beacon Schools with whom Richard will organise Regional GSF Conferences.
GSF2010 explored the second Millennium Development Goal (MDG2) and asked why 72 million children miss out on even a basic primary education - when we know that education is a proven path out of poverty. The year of activity was very effective as shown by the detailed evaluation of the immediate and sustained impacts. All of the evaluation reports can be viewed here on our website. The year culminated in the launch of the One Goal charity DVD (see www.onegoalsong.org) which won the Get Shorty Challenge (the new name for what was previously called the Media Partnership Challenge). This DVD was sponsored by The Entertainer, which was one of the first pieces of commercial sponsorships received by GSF (the other, at this stage, being travel sponsorship provided by Virgin Trains and National Express Coaches).
So, now, we have tracked the success of GSF to deliver development education effectively through Peer Educators who are equipped and inspired at a GSF conference and have shown the potential for replicating GSF to every school through Regional GSF conferences and in other countries through licensing the conference and resources. Thus, the Global Student Forum has the potential to deliver, each year, a certain amount of topical, relevant, development education to every school pupil in the country - and, if it is then licensed to other countries, it even has the potential to deliver this to every school pupil in the world!
That is our vision!
