The Commonwealth Education Trust has partnered with Gordon’s School to bring teachers together from Commonwealth countries to discuss and develop their teaching practice, while also establishing a culture of digital learning to support improved teaching and, therefore, improved learning outcomes. By providing an opportunity to be in the presence of other professionals, it gives teachers an opportunity to share and learn and, provides scope for teachers in both sub- Saharan Africa and the UK to improve their own teaching practice.

Initially six Gordon’s teachers have been linked with 12 teachers from partner schools in Cameroon, Kenya, and Zambia. The teachers will meet virtually, using the Trust’s Teach2030 courses to give structure to the meetings and to help create a focus for where they wish to develop their own teaching practice further. This partnership aligns with one of CET’s four pillars: Elevate Voices. The trust actively seeks opportunities to promote the voices of teachers working in lower- income countries, and to share their experiences through our Teach2030 platform and community.

Our CEO, Betty Abeng, visited Gordon’s School on their INSET Day at the start of the summer term and was given the opportunity to address teaching staff. Ms Abeng, who is originally from Cameroon, spoke of learning poverty globally. According to the World Bank, learning poverty affects over 250 million children around the world, limiting their life chances. It is estimated that up to 80 per cent of children in low-income countries remain unable to read and understand simple text by the age of ten. “I have been blessed with having a good education and at the forefront of my talk now is the teachers I met and everyone I encountered in my learning journey” she said. “We can build schools and send computers and devices but the people who have the real impact are the teachers.”

To date the Commonwealth Education Trust, which covers the Commonwealth’s 54 member countries, has reached 25,000 teachers in over 40 countries, benefitting a million students. The teachers from Gordon’s have been matched with those overseas according to their strengths and areas they wish to develop, subject areas and the age of the children they teach. Having two teachers from the same school partnering with one UK teacher will promote the learning partner process that Teach2030 emphasises, plus provide more opportunities to discuss key learning points in between virtual meetings. There has already been terrific feedback from the teacher partnerships – Kelly Fairweather from Gordon’s School said ‘My group worked perfectly during the Zoom launch call, and we had a really good chat. I think we will work well together. It’s an experienced group so will definitely feel like a CPD partnership!’

Andrew Kimetu from Kenya emailed us ‘I really appreciate the great interaction we had, it was a marvellous moment. Am humbled’ Seeing the positivity and enthusiasm from all teachers involved in this partnership is wonderful to see and we look forward to hearing more about their shared learning experiences over the next year.

It is hoped that the partnership will lead to co-creation of courses, participation by all teachers in our live viertual workshops and more.

We’re delighted to be working with Gordon’s and we’re looking forward to seeing how the partnership grows.