“So, why are you doing this then?”

This week has been really exciting.  I’ve been checking out flight times and making an appointment for my vaccinations.   Operation Uganda is starting to feel like a reality, especially as the news spreads and more and more people are aware of it.  That was massively helped when the local papers the Chester Chronicle and Ellesmere Port Pioneer ran a story on the trip.  Take a look!

However, quite a few people have seemed more than a little surprised by my decision to take part in the programme and accept a fellowship place.  This seems to be for two reasons:     

1. That I am leaving my little girl for a whole month.
2. That I’m being given leave from work to go.

My husband, Ellie and I.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the prospect of being away from Ellie does scare me. Anyone who knows me will know that she is the centre of the universe for me and being apart seems near-impossible in some ways.  I know that she will be brilliantly looked after by her Daddy, her grandparents, our brilliant childminder who Ellie adores and my wonderful friend Jenny (who is near enough family) is also being amazing and helping out too.  Ellie will no doubt be spoiled rotten whilst I’m away and be having the time of her life, but I am scared by how much I will miss her.  One month away from Ellie will be tough, but it’s doable. I will manage because I keep reminding myself that ‘it’s not a good enough reason not to do it!’ and because a month that is a relatively small sacrifice for me has the potential to do so much good for other people.

Being given the leave from work seems unusual to my teacher friends. Time off in term time has always been a big NO-NO in the school sector!  Teaching for Tute has afforded me more freedom and support than is realistically possible in a school situation.  Undertaking my doctorate, spending more time with my daughter and attending educational events has been possible in an alternative teaching environment and for that I am truly grateful. 

With these two matters cleared up, most people have asked why it is that I’m doing the programme and what I hope to get from it?  So I figured this was a good place to answer those questions.  

Everyone is aware of the need to deliver teacher training in developing countries.  That is fundamentally why I am going.  After all this time teaching and developing my craft as a teacher and studying as an educationalist, I think I can help; I have the right skill set to do this and to do it well.  I want to help because I know I can.  BUT I’d be lying if I said this was a totally selfless undertaking with nothing but altruistic motivations. I do hope to gain something, somethings in fact, by doing this too.

Firstly, I hope to learn whilst I am away.  My whole life has been about learning; learning to learn, learning to teach, learning to facilitate learning in alternative ways, learning to develop pedagogy and learning to enhance practice. This is what I hope to continue to do whilst I am in Uganda.  Although the aim of the programme is to lead teacher training overseas, I believe there is a lot for me to learn there too.  I won’t be leading the training alone.  There will be a group of fellows and we will devise and deliver the training as a group.  The fellows will be from different schools, different countries and will have different training and experiences. I will be able to learn immeasurably from the other fellows on the programme.  What will their teaching and learning approaches be?  How will they differ from my own? What will we develop together where our expertise is combined?

Perhaps even more so than from the other fellowship teachers, I am excited about what I can learn from the Ugandan teachers.  In Uganda, there are undoubtedly limited resources and this permeates every aspect of education; from the physical sparseness of the classrooms to the number of students in a class; from the educational materials available to the training and qualifications of the teachers themselves.  This is not an easy teaching environment in which to learn and develop your skills as a pedagogue and, yet, these teachers have done so.  Without rafts of textbooks, reams of learning tools that we take for granted in the UK or even the basics like ample writing implements to go around, these teachers can and do teach.  What wisdom can they share?  When all the carnival of teaching is stripped bare, what remains? What is really important and useful to teachers when they have little else but their own experience to draw on? 

Between us all, Ugandan teachers and fellowship teachers combined, a unique opportunity will be available to me.  I will join a community of practice where we are able to garner insights into the skills of teaching and facilitating learning in a context where issues like the latest Ofsted buzz phrase or the specifics of exam rubric are diluted and the focus becomes what I have always believed that it should be, how can we best support our learners?  I don’t know the answer to this question.  I don’t know if we will find that we share universal ideas or that our perspectives will be grossly at odds with each other.  Is teaching the same skill set, regardless of Geography, location and aesthetics of your classroom, resources, syllabus, culture and an infinite number of variables I have yet to even consider? Or will I find that what works in the UK does not work in Uganda and be challenged to devise alternatives?  I don’t know, but I hope to learn this and more whilst I am away and I hope that I am able to capture it, write about it and share it with others too.  I hope to carry out some level of research whilst I am there because it is too good and too exciting an opportunity not to.

Uganda sunset- a pic from my team leader this week

Finally, I hope to see a beautiful part of the world that I don’t think I could otherwise get to see.  I never took a gap year or travelled beyond a regular holiday.  I was too busy studying and working for that and it never really occurred to me to take a year out or anything.  It was still a relatively new concept when I was preparing for uni and, if I’m honest, I was an enormous geek-still am-and couldn’t wait to get to a university and learn more.  But, I do sometimes regret that a little.  I love studying and all that I’ve learned so far.  I love my career and that it has brought me to a point where opportunities like this are within my reach.  Beyond all else, I love my family and had I not trodden the path I did, I may not be the wife and mother I am today.  But this world is amazing, so missing out on exploring some of its further reaches would be a terrible shame.  This is a chance for me to do that.  To see somewhere different, to explore its culture and to meet people that have an understanding of the world that is different to and might challenge my own.  I don’t imagine there will be a lot of time for sightseeing, but I will be immersed in a culture and taking in my surroundings every step of the way and that really is exciting. 

I am lucky that my employers at Tute are supporting me and I am so very lucky that my husband, family and friends are enabling me to take part in this and to finish on one final update on winning Ellie around to me going away, I should let you know that I think I am getting there.  This week she has made three requests; I bring back presents (obviously), I take a photo of a lion (not too close up…I hope) and that she can be the Mummy whilst I’m away (sounds reasonable to me!).

So now, I just need to keep the fundraising going.  January sucks as a time to fundraise, but I’ll keep going and, with your help, hopefully get there.  

Hopefully…

If you're feeling generous, any donation is a huge help! Here's the link to my GoFundMe page!