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International
Hubs of the community
This year’s Steve Sinnott Award for Commonwealth Teachers went to not-for-profit aid organisation Humana People to People which runs 11 teacher training colleges in rural Mozambique. The award is named after the late NUT General Secretary, who cared strongly about the Union’s international work.
Silvestre dos Santos Rui Montinho is the Head Teacher of one of the colleges, in the Nampula province. He accepted the award on behalf of his organisation.
Students at the colleges are trained not only to teach, but also to take an active part in developing the rural communities in which they teach. They are taught pedagogy alongside how to organise communities, lead health and nutrition campaigns and run sports and other extra-curricular activities.
Silvestre and his colleagues take a holistic approach to teaching, using a method called determination of modern methods (DMM), which he says helps students “to be the driving force of their own learning and education. DMM enables students to learn about life and become a part of wider society.”
The college has a digital library with over 500 online resources. Students live at the college, also carrying out community and practical work. As a result Silvestre claims their graduates make the best teachers.
Once qualified, teachers work in rural communities where pupil-teacher ratios are high and resources limited. Their training prepares them to support community life, creating resources – and even classrooms – from local materials.
The great education race: Go for Gold!
The NUT supported an event hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Education for All, to celebrate the 2012 Send My Friend to School campaign, Go for Gold. This urges world leaders to make sure all children get into school by 2015. The event’s focus was achieving greater equity and inclusivity.
Speakers included TV presenter Ade Adepitan and Team GB Paralympian Sarah Storey OBE. Speaking on the power of education Ade said: “Education and sport have been the key to my success.”
A report by the Global Campaign for Education UK (GCE UK), Equity and Inclusion for All in Education, was launched at the event. This calls for UK Government support for access to education for marginalised children.
Disabled children are twice as likely to miss out on school in poor countries. GCE UK is calling on the Department for International Development to back inclusive education globally and to develop its work across the countries in which it operates.
The report can be found at www.sendmyfriend.org/news/parliamentary-event-2012.