NEWS: Building linkages

SARAWAK will be the first state in Malaysia to pilot a three-year project that will see schools in the country link up with schools in the United Kingdom.

The move will not only broaden pupils’ and teachers’ horizons but also give them the opportunity to work together with their UK peers on school-based activities and other areas of common interest.

Called Asian Dialogues, the project, an initiative by the British Council and the UK’s Department for Children, Schools and Families, will first be implemented in Sarawak with the support of the State Education Department.

“The vision of the British Council is to have a connected world of global citizens,” says British Council Malaysia's director of education and training, Susana Galvan.

»The vision of the British Council is to have a connected world of global citizens« SUSANA GALVAN

“A global citizen is a confident, creative independent thinker who is interested in and understands other cultures, who develops himself or herself through education and lifelong learning, who speaks English and other languages, and who engages in debates and collaborates with other people locally and internationally on key issues facing the world,” adds Galvan.

The young in both the UK and Sarawak can benefit from school linkages because this puts them on the right track for global citizenship, she says. The collaboration is the latest effort between the British Council and Sarawak authorities to help local pupils and teachers gain an international outlook.

Other existing projects which have facilitated knowledge exchange between teachers and pupils from the two countries include the Teacher’s International Professional Development (TIPD), the International Placement of Headteachers (IPH) and Dreams + Teams.

Asian Dialogues will be an online collaboration involving pupils aged 12 to 15. Participating schools can choose from any of seven themes – climate change, sports and health, global citizenship, environmental science, enterprise, tomorrow’s world, and science and invention. Activities can range from discussions on a theme with local and UK input, to getting role models from the region to give their perspectives at a conference, setting up multi-country group tasks to get feedback on curriculum projects, live webcasting or video-conferencing with UK cluster schools.

Delegates from schools and education authorities from the UK, Thailand and Sarawak recently converged in Kuching to discuss details and future plans.

Although the project is managed by British Council Malaysia, ownership and sustainability will be driven by local school principals, with facilitation by district education officers.

“The project is also a platform for continuous professional development for principals and teachers,” said Galvan. – By KAREN CHAPMAN