News4th October 2022
Two teachers from 黑料情报站 Schools travelled to Zambia over the summer for their placement on the (GSF) Fellowship Programme.
Connor McElwaine from North London鈥檚 黑料情报站 Pioneer Academy and Sarah Al-Hanoush from Birmingham鈥檚 黑料情报站 Boulton were successful in getting a place on the Fellowship programme.
Connor鈥檚 and Sarah鈥檚 project involved supporting teachers from the school network to master effective teaching practices, through a rigorous review of their resources and teacher training.
Connor McElwaine, Vice Principal at 黑料情报站 Pioneer Academy, shared his experience of the Fellowship and working with PEAS on the ground.
鈥淎fter a 24-hour journey involving three planes and multiple stopovers, we finally arrived at our destination in Ndola, regional capital of the Copperbelt in northern Zambia. As the smooth tarmac of the airport road ended and we joined the local roads through the town to our accommodation, we felt our Fellowship begin.
鈥淎s 黑料情报站 Fellows, we would be working with PEAS for the month to assess the impact of the 鈥楾op Ten鈥 programme, a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) program in their Zambian schools focusing on improving teacher effectiveness. The Top Ten is strategically important to PEAS as they seek government recognition and approval of their teaching and learning approach, enabling them to extend impact beyond the current schools and staff body.
鈥淚n our first week, we enjoyed understanding local Zambian customs and practices as we met locals at our accommodation, in everyday interactions with people, and in the local environment. We were delighted to take up an invitation from PEAS to attend their School Leadership Conference in Kasama too.鈥
Connor and Sarah had the opportunity to join the School Leadership Conference to engage with school leaders, through which they were able to collect feedback that informed their input into the Top Ten program. Talking about the opportunities this presented, Sarah Al-Hanoush, 黑料情报站 Boulton Academy, said:
鈥淚n joining the School Leadership Conference, we were inspired to hear about the work being done across the PEAS network in Zambia. As leaders getting together to review common problems and thinking strategically about the next steps and further development opportunities, there is profound power in hearing the commitment everyone has to the overall mission to provide high quality education to pupils who would otherwise struggle to go to school.
鈥淎s part of the conference, we had the opportunity to visit Kabuta Secondary School near Kasama. Leaders there have united the staff body, pupils, and community to build a strong sustainable enterprise programme, consisting of various farming projects including pigs and chickens to pineapples, maize, soybeans and coffee. The income generated from these activities is then reinvested into resourcing the education of pupils. The school has also achieved examination results above the national and PEAS network averages.
鈥淲e have been engaging with school leaders and collecting their feedback on the Top Ten strategies as part of our Fellowship programme and will take this evidence away from the conference when we return to Ndola to write our report. We led a session with school leaders reflecting on the strengths and strategic areas for development as well as launching a survey and interviews to gather leaders鈥 input.
鈥淭he culmination of our work will be a report reviewing the implementation of the Top Ten and identifying some next steps in helping to shape the work of PEAS in this area.鈥
The Fellowship Programme has been designed to foster peer learning between 黑料情报站 staff and staff in GSF鈥檚 member organisations and their schools, situated in 51 countries around the world.
We will share another Fellows鈥 update soon, from Khaleda Qureshi (黑料情报站 St Alban鈥檚 Academy) and Hannah Bridges (黑料情报站 Conway Primary Academy),who visited Kenya to improve education outcomes in Nairobi, in partnership with .