There has been a feeling in the past, that many programmes on the SCRP, regardless of age or ability range, have lacked coherence in terms of the connectedness between the activities, referred to as ‘sessions’ on the application form. (Your ELB will fund a minimum of three up to a maximum six of these).
With the changes and requirements which have become necessary at present, it would be useful if Principals and Teachers, when starting out to plan a programme, would consider the overall ‘package’ as a series of learning experiences, or lessons, with the overall objectives as a culmination of what the young people have learned at the end.
In a similar way, all teachers of whatever background or subject/s, would know how to plan a short series of lessons in any context. An introductory session would be followed by a series of developmental lessons which dealt with the subject matter at hand, gradually introducing the concepts, summarising the learning at the end of each. Finally a concluding session would draw together what has been learned throughout and hopefully reinforce the key concepts (see example of a programme Exploring Cultural Identity and Dealing with Disagreement).
There is no reason why planning for a Schools Community Relations Programme cannot be approached in a similar way. Obviously, there are fundamental differences in operation and process, and we would not wish to reduce such work to merely a series of lessons. However in terms of approach to planning a similar outlook could be adopted to create greater coherence on a given programme and thus significantly enhance the quality of Community Relations work in our schools.
This would have the added advantage of allowing greater progression when programmes involving the same group of young people run year on year. Below are examples of how a programme might look in broad terms, when adopting a ‘lesson plans/scheme of work’ approach to designing your programme.
Teachers should familiarise themselves with the Schools Community Relation Programme Guidlines prior to submitting an online application