Crossing continents to connect classrooms

Reporter: BEATRIZ AYALA
Date online: 10 March 2010

TEACHERS from India and Pakistan have visited schools in Oldham as part of an international project.

Staff and education officials from six schools in Kerala, south-west India, took a tour of four Oldham schools — Broadfield Primary, St Martin’s Primary, Holy Rosary RC Primary and Hathershaw College — which make up the West Oldham Trust.

During their week-long stay, the group visited classrooms to experience different teaching techniques and learned about the school system in Oldham.

A second group of head teachers from Pakistan spent their week at another six schools — St Anne’s Primary, Mayfield Primary, Crompton Primary, Royton and Crompton School, Our Lady’s RC High School and St Aidan’s and Oswalds — before joining the Mayor of Oldham, Councillor Jim McArdle, at the Civic Centre.

Education ministers from the Azad Jammu Kashmir region of Pakistan also visited Breezehill School, Higher Failsworth Primary and Mayfield Primary.

The three visits are part of the Connecting Classroom scheme being run by the British Council.

Schools across the UK link up with counterparts in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh for three years to explore different cultures and teaching customs.

Anne Robinson, director of globalisation at Hathershaw College of Technology and Sport, said: “The main focus of our link is to share cultures and swop information between students and teachers.

“The visit highlighted differences between our schools and theirs, as the education system in Kerala is book-based with up to 60 children in a classroom.

“The teachers were interested in our use of displays and the resources we had to teach. Next year, teachers from Oldham will be heading to India.”