A Union for a’ that is a collaborative education project for Scottish schools marking the 300th anniversary of the Union of the Parliaments in 1707. The project is funded by the Scottish Executive.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland, Historic Scotland, the National Galleries of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland, the Scottish Parliament, and the Law Society of Scotland, with advice from Learning and Teaching Scotland, are together delivering learning resources exploring the historical significance of the Union and a programme of learning activities looking at both that history and the architectural expression of democratic decision-making, designed to support A Curriculum for Excellence.

A Union for a’ that was launched at the beginning of February 2007with the publication of the project leaflet, and the website going live at http://www.1707union.info.

There are three main strands to the project. One is to support the Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament. The partners in the project enabled four venues of architectural interest to be used for the four regional finals in the Tournament. At these finals half-day workshops were provided for the successful teams and fellow pupils from their schools. These workshops focussed on introducing the people and politics involved in the Union debates before and after 1707, and to the changes in coinage and heraldry resulting from the Union, relating these themes to present issues. The workshops also looked at the development of local government in Scotland through the development from tolbooths and town houses to civic chambers.

The second is to provide twelve full-day workshops for upper primary pupils, six in Aberdeen for schools in the north of Scotland, and six in Edinburgh for schools from central and southern Scotland.

The Aberdeen workshops were planned and delivered in partnership with Aberdeen City libraries and archives. They took place on the 28 and 29 May, the 4 and 5 June, and the 11 and 12 June. Each full-day workshop focussed on using primary sources of evidence to explain what happened in 1706-1707, and object handling to explain changes in coinage, flags and heraldry. In Aberdeen each day started in the Town House with sessions on local and national government in Scotland. Pupils followed an architectural trail from the Town House to the Central Library, looking at the architecture of local and national government, followed by the historical sessions in the afternoon.

Six workshops of a similar nature will be delivered in Edinburgh in the Autumn term. These will start at Edinburgh Castle to consider the architecture of monarchy and the events of the Union of the Parliaments in 1707. Pupils will follow an architectural trail down the Royal Mile looking at the architecture of national and local government before spending the afternoon in the Scottish Parliament. They will also have the opportunity to look at Making the Act of Union: The Key Documents, a special exhibition at the Scottish Parliament featuring the key documents that created the Act of Union.

The third strand of the project is the delivery of learning resources in the form of a DVD. Project partners are preparing a variety of resources and activities for the DVD, including images of documents and photographs, audio and film clips aimed at upper primary and secondary school pupils. The learning resources will be distributed free of charge to all primary and secondary schools in Scotland in November 2007.

For further information on any aspect of the Union project please contact Alison Diamond, Project Manager, on tel: 0131 535 1375 or email: Alison.Diamond@nas.gov.uk.