Kimbolton school and Essaman United have been working for more than a year with Partner Ghana to develop their partnership. They have been working to incorporate projects on wider topics of shared interest which already feature in both curricula, such as Fair Trade and rainforests, in order to ensure a broad and topical learning experience for all participants. Teachers in a range of subjects have drawn upon resources made available by the partnership to deliver lessons on topics including Fair Trade (Geography and Religious Studies), slavery (History), and the intricacies of the popular Ghanaian game Oware (Mathematics).
A Y9 student trip to visit Essaman United, planned for Easter 2013, will further develop these shared projects. Pupils will embark on a joint field trip to a local cocoa farm in order to gather first-hand information about the process of growing cocoa, as well as investigating the lives and livelihoods of local workers. The project will also involve shared lessons, where students present information from their different contexts. Kimbolton pupils will also visit nearby Elmina Castle (a former slave castle) with their Ghanaian counterparts and prepare questions about this shared history.
Claire Kennedy, link teacher at Kimbolton, writes about the impact the link has had on developing pupil’s understandings of distant places and peoples: “Few learning experiences can match the impact of direct interaction with those from another culture, or the impact of visits to (and ongoing communication with) places previously seen only in geography textbooks or on news bulletins. Through exchange and reciprocal learning, our partnership has generated openness to more critical ways of thinking, motivated pupils to gain a deeper understanding of diversity and developed their ability to communicate across cultural and geographical boundaries.”
She goes on to talk about her own development as a teacher. “On a personal note, I have also benefitted greatly from the partnership in terms of my professional development. In addition to extending my departmental curriculum and incorporating a range of new material, I have gained significant experience through the process of developing a partnership with a school in a different cultural context. I believe that school partnerships can make important contributions to the depth and breadth of teaching in a range of subjects. “
Essaman teachers have benefitted greatly too. A recent visit to the UK allowed teachers Kwame Essuman and Jude Arthur to examine teaching in a different context. As a result, they are now working on implementing more pupil centred methodologies and exploring alternatives to corporal punishment in their own school. The partnership is already having an impact on their students too, as Jude relates: “Student attitudes towards learning have changed as a result of these projects. They are more concentrated on their English studies as they want to write perfect pen-pal letters! Projects on shared cultural or environmental issues are creating more understanding about how we are globally interdependent. These exchanges enable to students to research global issues and advocate for positive change.”
Kwame concludes “Through communication and mutually beneficial educational projects, we are creating an opportunity for teachers and students to explore and learn from each other. This will go a long way towards creating the understanding and mutual support needed in our global community.”