WorldWise Team Visits Partners in Lesotho
Report
WorldWise Visit to Lesotho: 20 to 27 September2008
Assessment of Partner Schools’ Experience of School Partnerships
Mary McCarthy and Eva Creely of WorldWise travelled to Lesotho to meet with secondary schools that are partners with Irish schools in order to find out the key issues for them in participating in partnership projects. This information will be used to support Irish schools in developing effective partnerships with schools in developing countries, and to inform the overall development of the WorldWise programme. Lesotho was chosen for this exercise because of the number of schools and range of partners involved and because the size of the country allowed Mary and Eva to visit all the partners in one week.
They visited four partner schools:
- Malithuso High School, Mapoteng which is partnered with St Thomas’ Community College, Bray
- Emmanuel High School, Leribe and Kolonyama High School, Kolonyama which are both partnered with Schull Community College, Cork
- Morate English Medium High School which is partnered with Pobalscoil Chorcha Dhuibhne, Kerry.
Three of these schools have had visits from Irish students and teachers. Teachers from all four schools are due to go to Ireland on reciprocal visits over the next few months. Schull Community College has also done fundraising to bring students from its two partner schools to Ireland over the next year.
The format for the visits to the Lesotho schools included discussion/briefing on WorldWise and the current stage of each of the partnerships with the Principal and staff of each school. This was followed by facilitated discussions with groups of teachers and students which focussed on the basis for good school partnerships, the intended outcomes of partnership projects and the challenges faced in making these a reality.
Some of the issues which emerged from these sessions included:
1. The key motivation for partnership with Irish schools, in all the schools involved, was the opportunity it presented to students to broaden their horizons and to learn about the world beyond their local area. When this is mirrored in the motivation of Irish schools it can provide a good foundation for strong and equal partnerships.
2. To ensure the development of effective learning partnerships, the Basutho schools identified that these need to be based on trust, respect, and the sharing of ideas and skills. Practical measures in terms of communication, decision-making and curriculum-sharing need to be discussed and agreed. Since most of the schools we met with had received visits from Irish partners, it was felt that making these visits reciprocal was very important in order to maintain equity and ensure sharing of learning.
3. The most common outcomes (or “fruits of partnership”) that were envisaged by the Basutho schools included: the sharing of cultures and knowledge; an increase in understanding and knowledge of other people and countries; improved motivation and success academically; development of confidence and ability in meeting with new people.
4. Communication was identified as one of the key areas in developing and maintaining effective links, and given the local situation re intermittent post and Internet coverage, mobile phones seem to be the most reliable and available means for schools to keep in contact.
Overall more than 50 teachers and 96 students contributed to these sessions. In addition, Mary and Eva met with a wide range of staff and students informally in each school.
Mary and Eva also had a number of other meetings including one with Keratile Thabana, the Education Advisor in the Irish Embassy, which focussed on the range of schools involved, how local schools could identify Irish partner schools and how a development education approach might be appropriate in Lesotho at second level.
They also met with James Urwick, of the Lesotho College of Education (Teacher Training) and the possibility of having a joint Irish-Basotho student teacher research project on schools linking was mooted.
At the end of the week Mary and Eva gave a briefing on WorldWise to Ambassador Paddy Fay and his assistant Pat Curran. The discussion identified a number of Irish schools which had travelled to Lesotho and were involved in projects. Mary and Eva highlighted the development education approach and the support for learning partnerships which are the key elements of WorldWise. The Embassy is happy to provide support for those individuals (students and teachers) travelling from Ireland and Lesotho as part of the ongoing partnerships.
