The Global School Partnerships programme is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) with the aim of motivating young people’s commitment to a fairer, more sustainable world. DFID supports school partnerships that promote global education through the curriculum. Support and guidance is provided to teachers and grants to schools to make the most of a school partnership as a learning tool. Funding is available for visits between partner schools to enable them to develop curriculum projects together based on global themes.

In September/October 2010 NFER conducted, for DFID, a 'snapshot' evaluation to assess the impact of the Global School Partnerships (GSP) programme on the learning and attitudes of pupils throughout the UK in relation to global issues.

Key points

• Involvement in the GSP programme was shown to have a significant positive effect on pupil awareness, attitudes and response at both primary and secondary school level.
• Most significant differences were observed in schools in the third grant year, where partnerships were well established and the principles and values promoted by the GSP programme had had time to become embedded in whole-school policy, but significant effects were also found in other grant years.

The Global School Partnerships programme aims to motivate young people's commitment to a fairer, more sustainable world. The evidence from this research indicates that the GSP programme has made a significant positive impact on the learning and attitudes of girls and boys in primary and secondary schools throughout the UK.

View and download the Executive Summary

Also see:

• Global Schools Partnerships
• "Global School Partnerships - developing global citizens"
  (Article in Impact: NFER's Research News for Schools)

Sizmur, J., Brzyska, B., Cooper, L., Morrison, J., Wilkinson, K. and Kerr, D. (2011) Global School Partnerships programme: Impact evaluation report. London: DFID.