Learning Takes a Global Journey by @VSOUK

As an ex-volunteer in the Voluntary Services Overseas, working in Nigeria in 1997, the VSO holds a
very special place in my career.
Throughout my teaching career, traditional methods, as well as active learning and student-centred
approaches have been at the centre of the classroom, the methodologies and the policies. Thinking,
discussing, interacting, problem-solving
Debbie Flowers (pictured) is now working in Ethiopia in a placement with Voluntary Service
Overseas (VSO), where her role is to help and advise teachers to be less chalk and
talk and encourage learners to be more participatory. Being a teacher where your students
are doing these things is something she aspires to. Up until recently, she had never questioned that
it wasnt something to strive towards.
In Ethiopia, the recent boom of enrolment has shown a great promise to the future achievements of
the students, but keeping the quality of education has not been possible. But how do we improve it?
The traditional teaching approach in Ethiopia, Debbie says, is indicative of a teacher-centred
approach. The teacher speaks, the students listen. The teacher writes on the board, the students
copy. The reality is teachers dont know any better; this is how they were taught. So how do
you improve the situation? One idea is to send a VSO volunteer with professional experience to work
with these teachers to share experiences, as well as guide and train teachers in-country.
At first, Debbie was confident she could help improve the situation its easy
to convince yourself of that from the comfort of your armchair at home. But once I was in Ethiopia, I
had to get stuck in.
One of the great things about VSO is you work at a local level with local people, so you immediately
experience the reality of the situation, rather than idealising completely out of context. In reality,
you walk into a classroom and 60 faces stare back at you of differing ages. They might have
managed to find somewhere to sit, but theres no wriggle room. There are not enough text
books and when you ask a question or set a new task, you are greeted by silence discussion
is an alien concept.
Debbie says the lessons are 40 minutes long and that you see students once a week. Can you learn
their names? How long will it take to judge their abilities and group them appropriately? Can you
assess each students learning accurately? How will you ensure they are all learning and
understanding, thinking and discussing, interacting and problem solving, when all they want to do is
copy from the book so they can learn the answers for the test?
"Teaching is a strategic act of engagement. James Bellanca"
Of course there are strategies, and there are ways of introducing simple things to encourage
students to engage and be productive. Students are so keen to learn and be given a chance. The
phrase I am a clever student is not taboo in Ethiopia, and Debbie has heard many
students say this proudly. Teachers have come rushing out of classes, exhilarated by a new idea that
theyve tried and saw working. They are so pleased and excited that they have learnt
something new themselves.
There are also challenges when it comes to adopting active learning strategies, many of which are
outlined in Tabulawas (2013) Teaching and Learning in Context. Not only are the conditions
in the classroom difficult to align, there are restrictions from the outside. As controversial as it is,
how important is it to work your students towards the end of course examination? Yes, you may want
them to learn amazing life skills, but its their exam results that are important. And in
Ethiopia, the exam results are all multiple-choice, fact-giving questions, with no reasoning,
discussion or logical argument involved.
Despite the adversity, the most amazing thing for Debbie is the incredible teachers she says she is
working with in Ethiopia, even in the face of low salaries, poor social respect and challenging
conditions. Teachers are desperate to improve the experience for their students and to help them
learn as much as possible, in the best possible way. She says;
We need to empower them to be able to make these decisions about teaching in the most
informed way possible. Not just by prescribing great ideas from our comfy office
chairs and ignoring the societal contexts and pressures that are inherent in the culture. Instead, we
need to provide support, ideas and methodologies that they may never have heard of elsewhere, in a
land where resources and trainings are often non-existent and provide with them with the
opportunity and the confidence for them to employ what is possible.
Debbie truly believes that the quality of education has a long way to go to help the students learn
and achieve and by helping teachers to encourage their students to participate is an excellent
starting point. Its not going to be an easy journey and it will take some time. However,
its a worthwhile one and if done considerately, it will change many peoples lives for
the better.
By Debbie Flowers, 27, from Watford, England, is currently on a Voluntary Service Overseas
placement in Ethiopia, where she is volunteering as an English Language Quality Improvement
Program Advisor in the Benishangul-Gumuz Regional Education Bureau.
To find out how to volunteer with VSO, visit http://www.vso.org.uk/volunteer
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The most followed teacher on Twitter in the UK who writes one of the most influential blogs on
education in the UK and across the world. Award winning Deputy Headteacher; Author of 100 Ideas:
Outstanding Lessons and writer for The Guardian Education. Founder of @SLTchat and co-author of
the #5MinPlan. Championed #TMLondon @MyEdHunt and @SLTeachMeet; plus one of first UK
teachers to venture into the unknown, with pay-per-download teacher resources.
http://teachertoolkit.me/2014/09/27/active-learning-takes-a-global-journey-by-vsouk/
If you'd prefer to explore more about teaching exercises you have to check out
http://lauramcinerney.com/. It offers endless supply of great tips to check out. I'd really like to hear
your opinions on the subject when you've got anything to share. Leave a comment or hit me up with
an email when you want.