Jumpstart! Update: Teacher-Changer Networks
April 9, 2015
Over the past few weeks, our Jumpstart! team have been busy mobilising “teacher-changer networks” in the Nwoya district of Northern Uganda. The brain-child of STIR Education (you can find out more about them here: http://www.stireducation.org/) with whom African Revival has established a strong working relationship, the aim of these networks is to provide a supportive forum for teachers to share ideas and innovations which have improved their classrooms, and schools. Past innovations from teachers have included strategies for improving discipline, school hygiene, parent participation in schools, and increased teacher accountability.
Each network gathers around 15 teachers from local schools who are keen to develop as teachers, and positively impact their learning environments through exploring each other’s knowledge, and seeking advice from one another. During the initial mobilisation meetings, teachers worked together to define the characteristics of care-givers, and discussed how teachers can demonstrate these qualities within their classrooms. During the meetings (held at our partner schools- Anaka P7 and Koch Goma), we were delighted to see some familiar faces, including teachers we recently sponsored through ECD training; you may remember Sunday, Irene, Evelyn and Petra, who are proving to be incredible teachers!
Indeed, the teachers who have joined the teacher-changer networks are extremely passionate about education, and are keen to see their schools become thriving learning environments. One teacher, Denis- a K2 teacher at St Kizito Bidati- told us “we really want to work together, and support one another because we all have the same goal: to see our pupils succeed. Through these meetings where we can discuss our ideas, I feel like I am already becoming a better teacher because I have grown in confidence”.
Each network will be meeting four times each term, and will attend a quarterly micro-innovation sharing event, where teachers across several networks can share their tried-and-tested innovations. STIR Education collates the best innovations into an annual booklet, which is distributed to all networks and allows teachers to draw inspiration for their own schools.
Through these meetings, it has been great to see inspiring pre-primary school teachers build friendships, and supporting one another through these networks in order to provide the best quality of Nursery education possible, giving children that Jumpstart! needed to excel academically, and as individuals.
