Change Makers Speak Out challenge – still time to get involved

We are inviting young people to use their creativity to design an ideal day of learning. Please join us and submit artwork and responses by the 1st of March 2023. There is still time to get involved!



Sign up to the Change Makers Challenge


To support this challenge we have made a free resource to support educators in encouraging young people to get involved in shaping the future of education. Young people’s voices matter and they must be heard on the issues that impact their lives, their communities and their world.


Change Makers Resource


This resource encourages discussion on many topics. Asking young people education is, what makes it fair, accessible, fun, and useful, asking questions on a global scale, will generate exciting discussions to open up the possibilities for the future.

 

Our last edition of Engage focused on this question: “Globally are our current education systems and curricula best suited for life in tomorrow’s world?”. Education must transform in order to overcome the barriers to education that we are facing worldwide. The resource points to a range of current discussions about how education can change.

 

All of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals hinge on education to drive their success. Education is at the heart of tackling climate change, poverty, gender equality, equity and inclusion. Our resource offers an introduction to the SDGs, a simple way to introduce these to your students, and why we believe SDG4 is so important.

 

Equity in education is providing the right support for each person, taking into account their needs and circumstances. This depends on fairness, that personal circumstances should not interfere with a person’s potential for achievement. It also depends on inclusion, a standard that applies to everyone in an educational system. Fairness and inclusion are both needed for an education system to work.

 

We have several resources that will help you explore issues that affect equity in education, now and in the future.


  • SSF Human Rights resource: The world I want to live in - This resource serves as a mini-guide to classroom activities which seek to promote human rights education for children and young people in the classroom and to provide a platform for their voices on this issue. Human rights education is one contribution towards a broader human rights project of achieving greater justice and peace in the world.


  • SSF Climate Change resource: 5 ways to make my world better - The fight against climate change begins in the classroom. The effects of climate change is having a growing effect on large numbers of people and their ability to access education. This resource can help you to start discussions in school about climate change and how we can all have a positive impact.


  • SSF Inclusive Learning Environments resource - A curated collection of webinars and resources that are designed to enable a safe and inclusive learning environment for young people. To offer equity in education, the learning environment needs to address issues arising from safety, health and wellness, socioeconomic standing, race, gender, and disability.



You can find all our free resources here: https://www.stevesinnottfoundation.org.uk/resources

 

If you want some inspiration on what young people made in our previous creative challenge on understanding human rights, have a look here.



We also have a free resource to help and inspire you with some creative ideas.

 

After the success of the human rights competition last year we are looking forward to the creative responses from young people to this years creative challenge.


Steve Sinnott • February 4, 2023

An Education Revolution

By Ann Beatty • April 6, 2025
This week while out and about in Hertfordshire and we visited the British Schools Museum. We discovered the first school opened by Joseph Lancaster, was known as the ‘Poor Childs Friend”, was in 1810. It was his lifelong mission that all children regardless of their circumstances, should benefit from an education. Apparently, Joseph heard a small girl say, “Oh that I could read!” and this inspired him to create a simple education system that eventually would benefit children across the world. Joseph was the tenth son of a poor man himself from South London. His aim was to offer free education for everyone. However, it would be 93 years before the U.K. government finally made education free for all. There are still many countries today where education is still not free to access and it is certainly not compulsory for primary and secondary age pupils. Joseph’s mission really resonates with that of the Foundation, to support access to education for all. We enjoyed our visit and appreciated the tour given by two of the Museum’s volunteers, Angela and Clare. They described some of the challenges faced in the early years of formal education and shared some of the rules that teachers and students had to abide by with us. 

Sparks Bristol

By Ann Beatty • April 4, 2025
Sparks Bristol is a collaborative community project initially envisioned by The Global Goals Centre, (GGC) more of which below. A few years ago, GGC took over an empty Marks and Spencer store and that’s how Sparks was born. Sparks is a department store with a difference, co-created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace. On the ground floor is a huge range of shops, installations, events and more. Upstairs is a hub for local artists, it offers affordable studios as well as rehearsal and performance space. The Global Goals Centre is a Bristol-based educational charity inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals. (SDGs). GGC believe the SDG’s or Global Goals as they are sometimes known, can be reached, with imaginative solutions and widespread education and engagement. They work with partners to promote creative solutions and deliver ground breaking projects that work towards these ambitious goals. The Steve Sinnott Foundation supported the Global Goals Centre with seed funding when it first started over 5 years ago. This month we went to visit them to see how they are getting on and we were taken aback by the volume of work they have achieved since they started. It is amazing to see how though working together with other local community groups it has grown into the vibrant centre it is today. All of the creative projects they host are linked to the SDGs. They cover topics that tackle poverty, education, climate change, fashion recycling and upcycling, to name a few.

Spring is Here! Looking Ahead!

By Ann Beatty • March 28, 2025
Spring is definitely here, daffodils, blossom and crocuses are all basking in the bright sunshine. There is still a chill in the air in the shade but it's happening and all the seeds that were sown over the last few months are coming to fruition. At the Foundation, we have been planning the year ahead and our Positive Periods and Prevention of Gender Based Violence programmes got underway this weekend in Haiti and Ghana. These projects will have a long-lasting effect on the lives of the women and girls who take part: tackling the root causes of gender-based violence and enabling girls to attend school every day when they have their period, to feel safe at school and know how to take action when they are faced with violence. These are the first of many projects planned for the year ahead as we continue to work towards Education for All children everywhere.