Teacher forges links with Iraq

Donna Furey met counterparts from the Iraqi schools that they will be working with over the next three years as part of the British Council Connecting Classrooms programme. She met with Iraqi teachers at an introductory seminar in Jordan, where they began to plan projects they and their students will be working on together.

"As teachers within the Integrated Education sector we deal with diversity within our communities on a daily basis. This trip offered us the opportunity to consider cultural similarities and differences in an international context," Ms Furey said, adding: "This was our first trip to the Middle East and working with our Iraqi colleagues has given us valuable insight into their education system, the challenges they face and the excellent work they do. This project not only offers an exciting prospect for communication between our students but is an opportunity for sharing good practice on a global platform."

The partnership also aims to build strategic links between district education authorities in the two countries. The teachers were accompanied by Paula McIlwaine from the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education, who met with representatives of the Iraqi Education Ministry.

Through their Connecting Classrooms partnership students and teachers from Northern Ireland will work together on classroom-based projects with three schools in Baghdad and Sulaimania, in the north east of Iraq. Their work will focus on themes involving culture, language and identity. The activities aim to broaden pupils' and teachers' international horizons, increase motivation in the classroom and prepare young people for life in a global society. Through learning about their partners' lives and culture, pupils and teachers in Londonderry and Coleraine will also learn about their own communities, heritage and identity, working with parents and local community groups.

As well as working on joint projects, teachers involved in the scheme can attend professional development workshops to help them make the most of their partnerships, and schools can enter for awards to recognise their achievements in internationalism.

Connecting Classsrooms, which launches globally this year, already connects hundreds of schools in the UK with their counterparts in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and aims to link 30,000 schools and two million you