Overview
Building on the success of the first Key Teacher Training project supported by Footprints fundraising, this phase enabled the training of more than 200 teachers from over 70 primary schools in this remote and very poor region. It aimed to greatly improve and extend – through better teaching and learning – the education of more than 4,000 students.
Feedback
Word of the course’s success and its great results in schools has spread so fast that for next year’s (2007-8) Key Teacher-Refresher training courses, we expect to get many more “Key Teachers”; and more than 300 Nepalis being trained as teachers.
Ruth Luthi, AHF volunteer teacher trainer, said of the Teacher Training course:
“Even in the past two years of the training I have noticed changes in teachers, schools and classrooms. For young and un-trained teachers, the program facilitates not only learning about strategies for teaching but also creates a forum for Nepali teachers to share their knowledge and experience. Teachers that return to the training are noticeably more confident and comfortable, and certainly eager to extend their skills. Likewise, as the Key Teachers have more clearly defined their roles during the Key Teacher Training, their participation in training and assisting their colleagues has grown and strengthened. For the children of the region the classrooms are moving away from the more traditional from fixed desks and drills to more child centred activities. It is has been an ongoing process, and the Program still needs time for these changes to continue and expand.
The partnership of the dynamic local Nepali NGO, REED ensures that these programs have local ownership and that volunteers understand the Nepali context. These are both extremely valuable aspects of the program."
The coordinator of the Program, Jim Strang, has reported from Nepal that the program this year was “very successful” and emphasised the strong need to continue the program for at least another three years to develop a strong local support base, with on-going training and in-school support for Key Teachers to enable this to continue.
(Update posted 12 September, 2007)
This project will cover
The training of a group of approx 160 to 180 local teachers, from about 65 schools in this remote region by Australian Himalayan Foundation volunteers (Australian teachers) and the AHF coordinator (also a teacher).
This will directly improve teaching and learning levels, and improve retention rates and the education of nearly 4,000 kids in the region’s schools.
The project builds on the success of the first Key Teacher Training project supported by Footprints fundraising.
Educational improvements through Teacher Training
The Teacher Training program greatly improves teaching and learning levels and the rates of retention and transition into secondary school, thus improving the opportunities for kids in this impoverished and remote Himalayan region. It also:
* Teaches child psychology and an understanding of how students learn. Teaching practices will promote higher-order critical and creative thinking to actively engage learners.
* Helps greatly to ease the severe shortage of trained teachers in all subjects
* Is run in conjunction with the local communities and experienced volunteers, ensuring sustainable benefits and increased community support.
Part of a larger project
Footprints has already funded the first part of this large project – the Key Teacher Training where 20 key primary school teachers to become teacher trainers themselves.
The success of that project has now allowed this second and central part of the cost-effective educational initiative to be rolled out.
Educational issues in the Himalaya Region
In the impoverished and remote communities of the Solukhumbu, there are very limited future opportunities for kids. With highly unsatisfactory learning outcomes and retention rates, teacher education is the most effective way to increase student participation, achievement, and retention in schools. It also facilitates significant increases in community support (vital for attendance and retention rates), social cohesion and local involvement in the schools. Better education in turn increases their job and economic prospects and community leadership and income-gaining skills, and greatly assists community well-being.
Community Involvement
The AHF project team is led by a teacher training coordinator who is highly experienced in this profession and region, a group of Australian volunteer teacher trainers and the strong local support of local Nepali teacher trainers. All teachers trained are from the local communities.
Other ways to get involved
Australian (and others) who are qualified teachers can participate as volunteer trainers of Key Teachers, and of other local teachers.
Can I visit this project?
You can also support the project and visit the schools through joining The Everest Sherpa Trails trip, an AHF fundraising trip run by World Expeditions and lead by mountaineer, author and AusHF director Lincoln Hall.
Departing Kathmandu 21 October - 04 November 2007
How was it this funded?
Thanks to hundreds of tiny donations from these online businesses and their customers.
- ***WorldNomads.com.au
- ***WorldNomads.co.nz
- World Nomads USA
- World Nomads Canada
- www.WorldNomads.com
- ***World Nomads UK
- Travel Insurance Direct AU
- Travel Insurance Direct NZ
Over the years, thousands of Australians have visited the Himalaya. For many it is an opportunity to trek beneath the world’s highest peaks and to appreciate some of the world’s most hospitable cultures.
However, for the remote communities in Nepal, Bhutan and northern India, access to basic health and education services is often out of reach and climate change poses a growing threat to Himalayan communities, livelihoods and glaciers, which are a critical source of water for millions of people.
The Australian Himalayan Foundation believes that the people of the Himalaya know their local environments best. Therefore, since 2002, AHF has worked in partnership with local organisations to design and deliver cost-effective and practical programs that help remote Himalayan families withstand serious challenges such as poverty, injustice and natural disasters.
Giving to AHF as a traveller is an opportunity to give something back to one of the most incredible mountain destinations in the world.