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Specialist helps students understand Ukraine

Students at Barrow Sixth Form have been kept up-to-date with events in Ukraine thanks to a series of sessions from a college specialist.

A Level Politics tutor Steve Buckley, who has studied the Ukraine for many years, has visited each class at the Rating Lane campus to do a question and answer session.

Steve has 30 years’ experience of teaching politics at the campus, which is one of the only places in the North West students can take an A Level in politics.

In a document available to all Furness College students – across Channelside and Rating Lane – on the virtual learning site he has shared his views to help develop the students understanding of events.

Steve explains that Ukraine is not part of Russia but is a sovereign independent state with a clear right under international law to self-determination and freedom from aggression.

“It is important that our young people understand the facts and the history of this situation in order to try to make sense of what is currently happening,” he said. “Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991 but left in 1991 following the break-up and collapse of the communist regimes of eastern Europe in the early 1990s.

“Ukraine is now a democracy, not a perfect one, but a democracy nevertheless. It has an elected Prime Minister and President. It has a cabinet, executive agencies and regular elections contested by multiple parties.

“Vladimir Putin is highly focussed on Ukraine because his interpretation of history sees Ukrainians and Russians sharing a common history. It imagines Ukraine first and foremost as Russian territory and Ukrainians as ‘brother’ Russians. Russia and Ukraine are, in his words ‘one nation’.

Steve said Ukraine has always been an area of interest for larger neighbouring powers. Its agricultural sector is so important that Ukraine is regularly referred to throughout history as the ‘breadbasket of Europe’.

“Ukraine combines rich, fertile soils and extensive farmlands in the west with industry and natural resources (coal) in the east. Today, Ukraine is one of the largest grain producers in the world and is also responsible for around 50% of the world sunflower oil production.”

He goes on to explore why President Putin is referencing the Ukranian government as Neo-Nazis, how it is not a member of NATO or the EU and the issues around that, and the popularity of the current Ukrainian President, Volodomyr Zelensky, a trained lawyer, and a comedian and television actor who won a landslide victory in 2019.

Steve also reflects on how the current situation in Ukraine began in 2014 with Russian intervention in the eastern areas of the Donbas region following Ukrainian election results that saw Ukrainians looking increasingly to the EU and away from Russia.

“These are unprecedented global events,” he said. “The more factual information our students have, the more they can develop their own views on the conflict and contribute to well-founded discourse across our communities.”

The college has developed a designated page on its Moodle site so students can keep up to speed with developments using reliable sources.

  • Sixthformers are selling blue and yellow ribbons over the next two weeks in a project called Change for Ukraine in aid of the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal supported by the Disaster Emergency Committee and Unicef. A Level Politics student Will Buckley, who is leading the project, is photographed with some of the ribbons.
  • Staff in the college’s Learning Resources Centre at Channelside are also hosting a bake sale next Monday to raise funds to support the people of Ukraine. The proceeds will be shared between the Red Cross DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal and Outright Action International Ukraine Fund.


Channelside
Barrow-In-Furness
Cumbria
LA14 2PJ
Rating Lane
Barrow-In-Furness
Cumbria
LA13 9LE
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