Views Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) Changes at Ofsted


From Guernsey to Gisagara – What an Education!


Most people like to kick a bad habit in the New Year or take up a hobby, but 39 year old Catherine Le Page from Guernsey decided to take on a different kind of challenge. The Primary School Teacher left idyllic island life behind and journeyed to the heart of Africa. Catherine is using her skills – and learning a few new ones – on a VSO placement in Rwanda. Here, she shares her story.


I was looking for a new challenge and a friend suggested VSO. If I can travel across the world, live in a completely new setting, work with different age groups and run training workshops, I should be able to handle ANY teaching challenge thrown at me back home. VSO has given me confidence. I’m volunteering as a Methodology and Resources Adviser for fifteen months at the Teacher Training Centre in the Gisagara District, Southern Rwanda. I knew very little about the country’s education system before I arrived. I’m enjoying living and working somewhere new and getting to know my fellow volunteers.


Each Teacher Training Centre (TTC) in Rwanda has a Teaching Resource Centre (TRC) where trainee Teachers attend some of their lessons and use resources for their teaching practice.


I work with the TTC and TRC Managers to help ensure things run smoothly. On Guernsey, I was teaching 4 – 11 year olds but here, I’m sharing my skills with 15 year old students!


The school day in Rwanda is much longer as the students board here and their whole day is taken up with studying. They attend the ‘Practical Methodology and Resource Making’ course for one hour a week as part of their Foundation of Education Studies. I work with the Tutors in primary schools to deliver this course and ensure that the students are using ‘active’ and ‘learner centred’ methods in their teaching practice. This is the main focus of my work.


Day to day, I’ve been auditing and cataloguing resources and observing Tutors during TRC lessons. I give help and advice where I can, but it’s really important to tread carefully - they have to get to know me and trust me first. Change will not happen immediately.


My main challenge has been communication. Although the lessons have been taught in English since 2008 (formerly they were in French), it’s unclear how much exposure the students have actually had to English spoken with an English accent. Some of the first year students don’t understand everything I say - this has taught me to speak more slowly and clearly and use simpler language. I’ve become more empathetic as a result. Learning a new language is also hard - I won’t become fluent overnight. I need to be more patient. In some ways teaching in Rwanda is very similar to teaching back home on Guernsey. Results are very important here and I’m proud to say that my TTC has the best results in the country!


Conversely, it’s also very different. Guernsey is a tiny place in comparison. Our schools aren’t big but my TTC has over 870 students! And don’t expect a 10 o’clock meeting to start at 10!


Long may the work of VSO continue after I return home!


uVSO is currently recruiting volunteer teachers. u020 8780 7500 uwww.vso.org.uk/volunteer/how-to-apply


March 2015


This month, Caroline Wright, director of BESA talks us through Ofsted’s recent announcements and offers us her advice and thoughts. It was interesting to read Ofsted’s announcement this month of changes to school inspections, designed to contribute to driving up educational standards across the country. The first change outlined in its ‘Better inspection for all’ report, is that there will be more frequent but shorter inspections of good schools and further education (FE) and skills providers: ensuring parents and employers are kept much better informed.


The second change sees the introduction of a common inspection framework to standardise the approach to all education inspections. This change is designed to ensure greater consistency in inspections making it much easier for parents, pupils, learners and employers to compare different providers and make more informed choices. The final key reform will see full inspections of every non- association independent school in the country by July 2018. What is particularly noteworthy and heartening is that these changes come from an extensive programme of consultation with schools.


Sir Michael Wilshaw who set out Ofsted’s proposals at the launch of the consultation in October last year, confirmed that nearly 5,000 people gave their views with almost 70 per cent of respondents supporting the first key proposal for frequent, but shorter, inspections of good maintained schools and academies, more than 60 per cent supporting the proposal for FE and skills providers. The second change, namely a common approach taken to all education inspections from September 2015, received support from nearly 80 per cent of respondents and nearly 75 per cent of respondents agreed to full inspections of every non-association independent school in the country by July 2018.


This very positive response is not surprising. We have noticed that when the education sector is brought into a process of consultation before any new policies are introduced, the response is, in general very positive. In turn this level of buy-in leads to a more effective adoption of the new initiative. If, however, the sector is told what to do without bringing it into the decision making process, the initiative is commonly reluctantly adopted or even rejected. Ofsted’s National Director of Schools, Sean Harford said: “In recent years, we have seen encouraging improvements in schools and colleges across the country. Ofsted has played a critical role in challenging the education system to do better and it is clear that many leaders and teachers have responded to that challenge very positively.”


With the wealth of experience that educators have it is so important for the Government to consider their opinions. It’s also human nature that when we feel we are a part of a decision making process, we will buy into it more readily.


The full report on the consultation outcomes and next steps can be accessed at:


www.gov.uk/government/consultations/better-inspection-for-all.


uFor information from BESA contact: uCaroline Wright u020 7537 4997 ucaroline@besa.org.uk uwww.besa.org.uk


www.education-today.co.uk 7


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