Warwick in Africa Teaching Success
From July to September 2009, 46 Warwick students travelled to Africa to teach in secondary schools in Johannesburg townships and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as part of the Student Teaching Project.
Warwick students with teacher training experience, gained in Warwick’s Institute of Education and local schools, are selected from maths and science disciplines to assist in the areas that African teachers report that their pupils have most difficulty.
The project is funded by donations from Warwick alumni, foundations including Barclays Capital, and friends and this is the fourth consecutive year that students have taught in South Africa and the second year in Tanzania.
During the visit, the University also formally launched the International Gateway for Gifted Youth in South Africa by welcoming 43 new members from the townships.
In autumn 2009, four maths teachers from Warwick’s partner schools in Johannesburg will attend Warwick to participate in the Teacher Exchange Visit. The two week programme of activities, seminars and school visits will enable participants to deepen their subject and pedagogical knowledge through opportunities to observe and discuss teaching methods with UK professionals and subject specialists.
Physics Undergraduate, Ruth Garratt, took part in the Warwick in Africa project in 2008. She said “Our impact was evident in the compliments we received from the learners, their increased attendance to class, and the improvement in environment within the classroom.
“In every case that Warwick students were given a topic to teach a class, the test marks at the end of the month were considerably better than any other assessment tests the pupils had taken previously in the year. This was not just evidence for us that our time there had been of benefit to them, it also served as a significant boost to the confidence of so many pupils, and I watched this translate to a heightened interest and enthusiasm for mathematics, bringing obvious value and sustainability to the project.”
For more information, please view the Warwick in Africa webpages or contact Mary McGrath.