It was sad to see our friends from Palestine leave today (getting prepared to re-enter the land of checkpoints, Separation Wall, trigger-happy soldiers… terrible to think about). But it has been wonderful to meet them and the group of English teachers also part of the Teachers in Action project, and we have had a memorable ten days.
See the blog teachersinaction2016.blogspot.co.uk for a lot more information!
The visit began with a residential in Shropshire where UK and Palestinian teachers exchanged a lot of information about teaching and life in both countries – and also got very wet on a local walk! By the end of the week
end, people were firm friends, and looking forward to strengthening twinning partnerships between pairs of schools in Camden, Liverpool, Pendle, Llanidloes, Northampton and Tower Hamlets.
On the first Monday, the teachers in groups visited schools in Chester, Powys and Hackney. This led to interesting discussions on the differences between schools and life in the two countries – and to requests from some of the schools visited for new twinning partners.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Palestinian teachers spent time in their partner schools, and on Thursday in the local comm
unity. Evenings included a number of public events and meetings with NUT branches across the country. All gathered together on Friday for a workshop with Camden School Improvement Service, and on Saturday we held a stimulating School Twinning Conference, hosted by the NUT.
Sunday included a media workshop and a CADFA event at lunchtime, and the final Monday a chance to see a bit of London as w
ell as an evaluation session…
Lots of new starts, strengthened links, friendships, surprises and hope. We are looking forward to supporting these links over the next few months, and then reviewing them during the teachers’ visit to Palestine in October 2016.
[This exchange is part one of the Teachers in Action project funded by Erasmus + and the NUT]