It’s all a bit overwhelming really. I think we were really shielded from the realities of school life when we were in Awassa. Life in colleges is quite different from schools – yes, our classrooms were basic and the library was poor but the problems seem small compared to those the schools face. We have had an interesting couple of days out and about.

We began yesterday with a visit to the local education office where we met with the Education programme manager and 6 of the 10 cluster supervisors. The clusters are a relatively new thing – the 50+ primary schools in Gondar and divided into 10 clusters geographically and each cluster has a supervisor. I think the supervisors are responsible for teaching and learning and for training within their cluster – I don’t yet have a very clear picture of what they do. Some training has taken place already – the usual cascade system – and the supervisors are supposed to support and monitor. Anyhow, we have decided to follow up on the English training that was given over the last two years and to begin to work in Maths and Science. We took the first step by agreeing that the supervisors would designate key teachers in each school and setting aside time to meet with them next week to try to identify more precisely their needs. The supervisors gave us some ideas – active learning, making and using resources, continuous assessment etc. One of the real challenges is trying to adapt the things that we know work well to this environment – i.e. to classes of 60 – 75 and to schools with no resources and no money.

We also visited two schools in the town centre yesterday and this afternoon we visited two more schools – one in a nearby town and another in a more rural area out near the airport. The more rural one was interesting – lots of space and beautiful views of the mountains but the buildings are so poor. We saw a science lab and really it would make you weep. When I think of the resources that are squandered in UK schools…. It wasn’t appropriate today but I will get some photos of classrooms so you can see the reality. A lot of schools in Ethiopia work a shift system where children attend either in the morning or in the afternoon because there just aren’t enough school buildings for them.

We have also talked with the local manager of Link Ethiopia, a UK charity which links up schools in England with schools here in Gondar. The idea is that pupils write letters to each other and learn about each others culture and the UK schools also fundraise. It doesn’t cost much to build a classroom for one of the schools and it can make so much difference. We are going to find out if there is any way we can support their work.