The Office (Basotho style)

Week 4

Back to office life this week, planning, meetings, making arrangements, writing reports, re-writing reports, rearranging meetings etc etc. A new breed of flexibility has been added to my list of skills this time around. Monday afternoon saw me close my workshop officially with a planning meeting....I attempted to use De Bono's 

"Basotho" Thinking Hats to elicit problem solving regarding how this new curriculum affects the college.....I'm not sure if it worked as the group discussions were in Sesotho...but we did come up with a very viable set of plans for the following year....a lot of work for me to do in a very short time!

I had a very successful meeting with the Head of Special Educational Needs, Mrs Phela...very keen to collaborate with our Literacy Project and lead the sharing of good practice in Maseru. My meeting with the Dean of the Faculty of Education went just as well, the harbinger of many changes to come in the curriculum at LCE but keen and happy to help lead workshops regionally for student teachers out in the field! Multiple meetings with the Director of Academic Planning, Research and Consultancy booked me in for 2 more weeks of workshops so all staff are trained to the same level. Feedback has been excellent and all staff want to take part, which is bigger than I originally planned....they are taking me very seriously! No pressure! 

Lots more planning took place in lieu of these plans....streamlined and improved version of last week for the Thaba Tseka LCE campus, and my first Support workshop on The practical application of Assessment for Learining. Applying theory to the practicalities of teaching potentially 150 students in a simple, fresh and approachable way did prove challenging! 

Only 12 lecturers came to the support workshop, but it went extremely well as we all worked collaboratively to understand afl strategies, techniques and potential approaches to Grade 4. What we did discover though was a large can of worms - are we really able to sell AfL to the lecturers? They have to use it's methods for their students to experiment in school!

Integrated Curriculum Workshops - Going solo!!

Week 3

It was an early start on Monday with little sleep as I visualized my presentation to 50 lecturers and anxiously anticipated their reaction – were they going to be cautious, questioning, hostile?? Who knew, it was a new audience for me, and without my partner in crime Anna I was nervous. An 8.30am start meant a 9am start and my introduction, warm up activities and co-operative learning presentation went really well…getting back on the horse after a weeks planning was going to be great (I thought!)

My 4 day long workshops were all prepared to introduce the New Primary School Curriculum to lecturers in conjunction with the governmental bodies, the National Curriculum Development Centre and the Examinations Council of Lesotho. An important dual delivery where they would provide the theory and I would provide the practical…..great in theory….not so great in practice. As I waxed lyrical about the necessity for modelling good practice in order to understand how to teach a child-centered integrated curriculum, my highly energized, participatory activities were stagnated by dry 2 hour long commentaries about the syllabus, always descending into open argument and debate….in Sesotho, so I sat there excluded and without purpose!

By Wednesday I wondered why exactly I was here and I pondered if there really was any point in my wider professional concerns regarding helping LCE and the education system! Catastrophizing aside, I genuinely left the workshop on Wednesday wondering if I should go home for good in April!! However, by Thursday the tides had changed and the day went brilliantly. I was back in my comfort zone leading activities on Assessment for Learning and engaging a lot more with individuals and debating concerns that actually could be answered rather than arguing about semantics and political struggles between organizations.

Friday followed suit and we closed the workshops with a confident smile and genuine applause as we all now embark on the next step….rewriting and re-structuring the courses at LCE to ensure Primary Education students are ready to work with the new curriculum when they go out on teaching practice in 2015. A big job but I no longer feel like I’m tackling it on my own!!

International Learning Opportunities - 8 week placement....Maseru, Lesotho

Week 1

         And so I land once again at Moshoeshoe Airport, gently strolling to the tiny airport from the small South African airways plane with the sun shining and a soft breeze welcoming me home! Two months has literally flown by and as soon as I am on the main road heading to the city I settle into my seat and think about my new role at the Lesotho College of Education (LCE).

My first visit on Friday 21^st February (well, technically my second) saw me rushed off for a meeting with the Director of the National Curriculum Centre (NCDC), ushered speedily (surprisingly) by my new boss, Dr Khati, the Assistant Director of Academic Affairs. A provisional agreement was made immediately to provide training for LCE in March, which would make my job here so much more purposeful. The lead body on the New Primary School Curriculum providing training for the countries only teacher training institution in my presence and with my technical assistance…would be a great start.

I settled into my new house on the weekend, a large two-storey house (not common) in the staff village for the college. A huge space circa 1965, with a lovely view of huge gum trees from the small balcony area, huge kitchen, hot water geyser, comfy double bed and an almighty, overwhelming smell of damp!! Oh well, you can’t have it all eh!!

Morning yoga, short walk to the office at 8am, 1pm lunch at home and plentiful stares from the student teachers, local school students, workmen and generally anyone passing at all points!! I’m used to it now, as my freckly skin gets thicker and thicker BUT working in an office on my own is not something I’ve experienced before! Ironically that is going to be my biggest challenge, not the numerous visits to immigration as my Volunteer permit identification was not on A4 paper!! It finally got sorted and I started to find my feet by Tuesday as I met my “working party” of Faculty Dean’s and lecturers, wrote my plans, researched my materials, rewrote my plans, shared my plans, rewrote them again AND finally spent the morning trying to finalise training at NCDC…..I need to keep my fingers crossed that the Director sticks to his word, even though he is about to go on annual leave!

The end of the week was devoted to a little road trip in a clunky truck to Quthing; hundreds of donated books from the UK charity School Aid needed to get 3 hours South of Maseru. Luckily all sweaty hands were on deck and the seemingly endless boxes of books got onto a truck and got off a truck, nearly in the right place. The hired truck spluttered and stopped just at the top of the hill near our destination, the Education Office in Quthing, a very helpful “bakkie” driver and the lovely team of Welsh teachers on the Lesotho Teacher Placement Programme helped out. Rea leboha luna!!

An early start on Friday the 28^th February saw our link and placement schools celebrate St. David’s Day – Basotho Style. Thousands of learners, beaming sun and smiles, lots of Welsh and Basotho flags, singing and sweating on their Upper Moyeni parade. We had an Eisteddfod afterward back at Moyeni Primary School with all schools participating, singing dancing, reciting and acting in English, Welsh and Sesotho. Seven weeks in and all learners and teachers seem very happy and educated by our Welsh presence……..#allworthit