Traidcraft for Schools Website

The Traidcraft for Schools Website is a major source of lesson plans and materials which explore fair trade topics through most classroom subjects. The resources are labelled in terms of Key Stages 1-5 (ages 5-18) but can be easily adapted for Curriculum for Excellence.

The website also has activity ideas for lunchtime groups, resources for assemblies, and background information on becoming a Fairtrade School and buying Fairtrade products.

Lesson plans follow a straightforward standard format and are available for many different subject areas. These can be supported by downloadable leaflets telling producers’ stories etc. While no specific links are made to Curriculum for Excellence, materials can be readily related to appropriate Experiences and Outcomes.

The site has easy-to-use materials for most subject areas. For example pupils conduct market research on alternative fairtrade products in Computing Studies, create a poster about Fairtrade in Spanish, explore the environmental ‘footprint’ of Fairtrade in Science, or work out the proportions of Fairtrade ingredients in a snack, in Maths.

Traidcraft was set up in 1979 as a Christian response to poverty, and combines a trading company and a development charity.