Is it important for the world's teachers to work together? Why? How?

[Noble Kelly]

The harder part of this question might be the "how". Is there value in educators traveling to work with colleagues from one country to another, from advantaged to disadvantaged, from access to isolation, etc. ? How can we be able to help colleagues whose realities can be quite different from our own? We are hoping to publish some of the responses to this question in our next newsletter which will be out on October 5th, World Teachers' Day. We are looking for responses from many countries. Please respond before Oct. 1st.

[Mirjan Krstovic]

Canada has one of the world's best education systems, especially Ontario. Many countries around the world (China, Korea, South Africa and USA, just to name a few) look to us as a model of great education. Educators from around the world visit our schools to learn what we are doing that is making a difference in our students' learning. I believe that we have a moral responsibility to continue to build a culture of collaboration with our colleagues in Canada as well as to extend that culture to the rest of the world. The culture of 'global teacher collaboration' is one that requires teachers from around the world to work together towards common goals that are supported collectively and recognized as the goals that would close the global education divide. So is it important for the world's teachers to work together? I don't see any other way that we can create and sustain a culture of collaboration that is absolutely necessary for the prosperity of our nations and for the health and success of our children around the world.

Mirjan Krstovic, OCT

[Mirjan Krstovic]

Now you've added the HOW part to this question : ) Great! In reference to what I was mentioning in my last response, I think that there is definite value in establishing a global collaborative culture amongst educators in different parts of the world. The one advantage of such a global culture is that is gives educators from around the world an opportunity to share stories of success and failure, and to dialogue about some common or uncommon challenges. Although we may have different realities, it does not mean that we cannot gain new insights about teaching and learning. There are some common denominators when it comes to teaching children, no matter where we are in the world. The importance of nurturing children's emotional, physical and intellectual growth should be universal; however, not all school systems are created equal. We know well enough that there are parts of the world where there are some major issues with safety, malnutrition, lack of clean water, diseases and poverty. How do we help our colleagues who live and work in school systems that are plagued by these challenges (or others)? I wish there is a simple answer.... We must not stop searching for the answers to these global education issues. Raising awareness about such issues in our own classrooms, schools, communities and the Boards is the first step. Teaching our privileged students, who study in one of the best education systems in the world, to understand that they too have a social responsibility towards the less privileged in our world is equally important. Empowering our colleagues to share their expertise, to open the doors to their own classrooms and to give their time to make a difference to the less privileged children in countries with a large education divide is critical to building this global culture of collaboration that I am talking about....these are just some of my thoughts...not even sure if I am answering the question, but I am reflecting...

[Dan Andrew Otedo]

Having participated in TWB-C workshops in Africa, I cannot but help see glaring differences between teachers in developing countries and those from the North. Exchange programs enables teachers explore creative and interesting ways that they are leveraging technology to make teaching and learning more exciting and responsive to the needs in the contemporary society.

In a world whose boundaries are closing in fast and increasingly dependent on computer technology, answers to the question of how to prepare students for the workplace of the future are not easy to come by.Combining theoretical and applied learning, can greatly help break the education and digital divide.

Today, the education system in most developing countries seems ill-suited in helping young people develop their creativity, initiative, team-working, problem-solving and reasoning skills, which they need as they pursue higher education and at the workplace. It only makes sense to go where the problem is, understand the challenges and work collaboratively with teachers and students in closing the Education Divide One Teacher at a Time