TEACHING THE YOUNG ABOUT FAIR
TRADE ..
Alongside my part-time role as BAFTS’ Marketing and
Membership Coordinator, I also work a couple of lunchtimes in BAFTS’ shop,
Gateway World Shop, Durham and have a teaching qualification. So, when a
primary teacher enquires as to whether we can do something by way of a visit to
the shop and a little lesson about Fairtrade/ Fair Trade I jump at the chance.
Hazel Dobson, Manager of Gateway World Shop, and I are
greeted by 10-11 six to seven year olds and their teachers. The props
(FAIRTRADE Mark certified goods from the shop such as tea, cocoa, sugar and
muesli; and crafts such as a picture frame, knitted finger-puppets, and a
wooden Christmas decorations, alongside leaflets and posters) are laid out
either side of me and the finger puppets help tell a story.
We start by using the Santa Claus finger-puppet and ask the
pupils how they would feel if their brothers and sisters asked for 10 presents
and got ten, but they asked for the same number and only got 5. The whole
concept of unfairness is introduced to them on a level and in an example with
which they can identify. We ask them how they might feel to be treated
unfairly...words such as angry, sad, disappointed are expressed.
Then we swap to the two finger puppets which could just about
pass for farmers (they are actually two Josephs from a Nativity set) pretending
that they are brothers, both tea growers, and each have ten fields to tend. We
suggest they have spent an outlay of £25 a year on their crops, as an easy
figure to remember. But one brother is offered £20 for his whole crop
(non-Fairtrade) whereas the other is offered £40 for his exact same crop
(Fairtrade). We look at the difficulties which the brother might encounter with
his shortfall – hunger, sickness, lack of education for his children,
despondency, debt – and what extra the other brother might be able to do with
his profit -a simplistic version of a fairer wage which covers outlay and gives
the farmer a premium. We suggest he could repair damaged houses and schools,
install a tap with fresh water for the community, feed their families better,
pay for medicines, and buy more crops to sell more next year, which would
increase his profit. Interestingly enough, several of the children suggest that
he could give some of his extra money to his brother to help him out....
We explain briefly about the differences between the FAIRTRADE
Mark (www.fairtrade.org.uk) and BAFTS’ products (www.bafts.org.uk), and how the children can make sure that products are
fairly-traded. The pupils get a chance to look at and touch the products on
show, and ask questions. All very basic, but they went away knowing what it
feels like to be on the receiving end of unfairness, and the sort of products available, which will hopefully help them to remember how Fair Trade
helps make farmers, growers and craftsmen feel good about themselves, and might
encourage them to pass the message on to their wider families too. As a parent
myself, I am well aware how powerful my own children’s “pester-power” can
be....and the pupils must have enjoyed the session, as we have been invited to a fair trade coffee morning next week as well!!
Kathryn Sygrove
BAFTS’ Marketing and Membership Coordinator.
