The steps to becoming a Fairtrade school

• 1. Register your school

  1. Register your school

  Register your school here. If you have difficulty at this stage it may be that your school is already registered, in which case contact schools@fairtrade.org.uk so that we can help you to activate your account.

  Please note that only schools in the UK can get a Fairtrade School Award with the Fairtrade Foundation.

• 2. Complete your Audits: Product Audits

  2. Complete your Audits: Product Audits

  Find out which Fairtrade products you use around school already and where they are used. Do you use Fairtrade tea or coffee in the staffroom? Are there Fairtrade bananas in the canteens? Do you use Fairtrade honey or sugar in Food Technology? Do learners wear Fairtrade cotton uniform for school or school trips?

  This can be printed out and completed by students or filled in by a teacher.

• 3. Complete your Audits: Teaching Audits

  3. Complete your Audits: Teaching Audits

  Audit what your school is teaching about Fairtrade already and where in the curriculum.

• 4. Complete your audits: Learner Audit

  4. Complete your audits: Learner Audit

  The learner audit is to find out what your students already know about Fairtrade and the world around them in order to tailor your approach. It will also feed in to a large-scale data collection of pupils’ knowledge across the UK and allow us to make the Fairtrade Schools Award as effective as possible.

  The learner audit should be completed by at least 60 pupils and should only take roughly 10 minutes to complete. If you do not have 60 pupils in the school please contact us on schools@fairtrade.org.uk. The learner audit can be downloaded, given out to pupils and then collated. It is important to know that there are no wrong answers. This should be an honest reflection of the understanding and values of students so please try not to influence the answers in any way.

  Please note that if your pupils are under seven years old or have special educational needs we have developed an Alternative Learner Audit which you may find more suitable. The Alternative Learner Audit is based around a story pack for young learners which can be downloaded here.

  Once completed, add the information to your online schools account so that you can refer back and see what progress has been made as your Fairtrade plans go forward. 

• 5. Carry out a Learning Challenge

  5. Carry out a Learning Challenge

  If you are able to complete the Learner Audit, you should get a sense of which aspects would be best to focus on first. Perhaps young people are keen to understand more about the world around them but aren’t sure how they can make a difference. Or perhaps not everyone recognises the Fairtrade Mark.

  Whatever your school decides for the FairAware Learning Challenge, at least one whole year group must take part in an activity around Fairtrade issues. Then log on to your schools account and specify what learning resources were used – whether from the Fairtrade Foundation, another website, resources made in school or something else – and complete a short narrative about how the learning activity went.

  The activity might focus on:

  • Where our food comes from and the people involved in producing it
  • Examining the concept of fairness and what it means to be fair
  • Why there’s a need for Fairtrade
  • Why global trade patterns exist and how power imbalances in trade can cause poverty
  • How Fairtrade works and what impact it hopes to have 
  • Examining whether Fairtrade is a good idea.

  We have lesson kits, films and Fairtrade activities to help you plan your lesson.