WorldWise Teachers' Forum 2009

On Saturday 25 April 2009, the WorldWise Teachers' Forum brought together forty teachers and principals of schools involved in linking projects with partner schools in the global South, as well as members of NGOs and development organisations that work closely with such schools.

The Forum provided a platform where participants critically examined the area of school partnership and explored ways to make partnership projects work more effectively in challenging times. It was an opportunity to meet colleagues involved in development education and linking, to share ideas and pool resources.

Programme for the Forum Agenda

The guest speaker was Ms Margaret Burr, Head of the Humanities Education Centre in the Tower Hamlets, London. Margaret Burr has been involved in various forms of linking in schools for 20 years and she recently developed the Toolkit for Linking: opportunities and challenges for UKOWLA (UK One World Linking Association) and the coalition of international agencies, BUILD (Building Understanding through International Links for Development). She is currently co-ordinating the ‘Southern Voices in linking’ project funded by Oxfam which aims to identify the barriers to greater involvement by Southern partners in links. Here is the link to her presentation at the Forum Ireland Equal Voices

In addition three workshops were held

Workshop1_Evaluation facilitated by Susan Gallwey of Waterford One World Centre

workshop2_TY facilitated by Michael O'Leary , National Co-ordinator Transition Year Programme

Workshop3_Networks facilitated by Michael Denny of the Loreto network of schools

And finally round table discussions were held relating to how best to go forward Round_table_discussions