Case Studies
Ballyfermot College of Further Education, Dublin, Ireland and Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce, Lusaka, Zambia
Background
The WorldWise partnership between Ballyfermot College of Further Education and Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce was established in 2007 as a multi-stranded and long-term project.
Teacher Visits
Three members of Ballyfermot CFE staff travelled to Lusaka in March 2008 on a WorldWise teacher visit to meet with partner colleagues and draw up the first draft of their partnership agreement together (see attachments: the original Partnership Agreement and minutes of meetings that took place in Zambia and in Ireland, as well as the latest review and addendum to that agreement).
The return visit of three members of Evelyn Hone staff to Ballyfermot in October 2008 proved central to the development of the partnership at this stage and improving collaboration. It also allowed for exploration of possible future areas of joint work and generated a greater interest in and awareness of development issues and co-operation possibilities in both colleges. Discussion on curriculum and teaching took place, as well as ways to broaden established communication channels to include students as well as teachers.
Since then, repeat teacher visits have taken place by other members of staff from both colleges, in order to further embed and broaden the partnership project.
Progress
In Year 1 a cooperative and enduring link between the two colleges was created and the process of establishing development education, particularly in Ballyfermot, began.
Year 2 saw the project develop to include joint work between students of both colleges in the areas of journalism and music:
- A joint newspaper, Peer to Peer, was produced and distributed in Dublin and Lusaka
- A joint music CD, Bright Dawn was also produced
- A music website has been created to enable students from both colleges to contribute to and work on music
- IZMUS (standing for Ireland Zambia Music) can be found at www.myspace.com/izmus01
All of these vocational projects focused on development themes such as diversity and human rights and responsibilities, and aimed to enhance cultural understanding and cooperation between partner students and teachers.
Year 3 saw the continuation and expansion of joint project work, with a second joint newspaper produced and the teacher visits focus on building up capacity on the music departments of both colleges. There were deeper discussion in relation to curriculum issues, pedagogy and global education between partner teachers, which has led to a focus in 2010/11 on digital media as a platform for learning about global issues, and in particular how this area can be initiated in Evelyn Hone..
The Future
With Ballyfermot and Evelyn Hone both fully committed to the partnership, it is envisaged that the publishing of joint newspapers between journalism students in Dublin and Lusaka will be a regular event from now on. On-line material will also be published and there are plans to widen out the project to other courses in both colleges apart from music and journalism. Plans have been made to integrate whole-college events and themed days in the form of a development and human rights education plan. This will include a calendar of events starting from September 2010. Further teacher visits are scheduled for Spring 2011 in order to build the capacity for the project in both partner colleges, and to focus in particular on curriculum developments and furthering the cross-curricular approach to development education.
Good Practice Elements
- Collaborative approach including production of joint newspaper (see front cover here) and CD
- Summary of Development Education in BCFE to date
- Long-term approach and focus on sustainability in the project as evidenced by the latest review and addendum to the original partnership agreement
- Use of particular skills in both colleges including music, writing and IT
- Final Report 2009
