Connecting Classrooms: Morocco + N. Yorkshire Partnership

What is Connecting Classrooms?

Connecting Classrooms is a British Council global programme in over 50 countries (100 by 2010) that creates partnerships between clusters of schools in the UK and clusters of schools in other countries. These partnerships bring an international dimension to young people’s learning, to improve their knowledge and understanding of other cultures and prepare them for life and work as global citizens. Partnerships last for three years, initially, and participating schools are eligible for funding to support activities and projects that sustain the link during this period.

North Yorkshire Local Authority is working closely with the Moroccan Ministry for Education and the British Council in Morocco to tailor this programme to match the needs of secondary schools in Morocco and North Yorkshire and to respond to some of the issues identified in the Moroccan “Emergency Plan for Education” and the North Yorkshire Children and Young Peoples’ Plan (developing the global dimension and community cohesion).

The diagram on the next page represents the project principles in the outer circle and the range of proposed activities organised around 3 core components.

Principles for the N. Yorkshire - Morocco Partnership

  1. Engagement and Commitment
  2. Collaboration and Communication
  3. Resourcefulness and efficiency
  4. Open to other cultures and embrace change
  5. Working SMART
  • Specific -Clear purpose, defined outcome
  • Measurable –it will be clear when objective has been met
  • Achievable -realistic and sustainable within existing resources
  • Relevant - adds value to the organisation + reflects its priorities
  • Time-bound - clear deadlines for achieving objectives
  1. Sustainability

Overall aims of the Morocco / North Yorkshire Connecting Classrooms Partnership

  • To respond to the priorities in the Moroccan National Charter of Education (Citizenship and Openness to other Cultures) and the 2009-12 Emergency Plan for Education
  • To support changes to the delivery of the National Curriculum in both countries through establishing intercultural dialogue and joint curriculum projects.
  • To build the capacity of Partner schools to respond to 5 key priorities
  1. Develop Leadership skills in students
  2. Develop “l’école du respect” (improving behaviour in schools, developing students’ ability to respect others, tolerate and value differences and avoid violence.)
  3. Develop Global Citizenship and the global dimension in education
  4. Develop foreign language teaching
  5. Develop the capacity of schools to drive improvement through self-evaluation
  • To encourage schools to work towards the International Schools Award

Key Components of the Partnership

  1. Professional Development: training in running international partnerships, setting up Teacher Learning Communities, formative assessment and coaching;
  2. Collaborative Learning: support for virtual and actual Teacher Learning Communities;
  3. Recognition and accreditation: professional learning portfolios, HEI evaluation,
  4. Policy dialogue and partnerships with ministries and government agencies, curriculum bodies, local authorities and Academies
  5. Use of online ICT tools for collaboration and communication
  6. Teacher / Head Teacher / Inspector / Ministry Exchanges

Expected benefits from the Partnership (outcomes generated by project partners)

  • The Partnership gives a focus, fresh impulse and direction to developmental priorities in both countries
  • Collaboration between partners at 6 levels (Ministry, Local Authority, Community, School, Teacher, Student) creates the conditions for larger-scale impact and change
  • Teachers working in Teacher Learning Communities improve teaching and learning in a sustainable and systematic way and are no longer isolated
  • Students and teachers gain valuable 21st Century skills – collaboration, problem solving, complex communication, organising, leading
  • The focus on improving conditions for learning raises students’ standards of attainment
  • Joint work on common themes and topics – sustainable development, active citizenship, environmental awareness, community cohesion, healthy living – inspires students and leads to positive change, locally and globally
  • Experiencing different teaching environments creates new insights and creative approaches
  • Cultural exchange breaks down barriers and changes the ethos and culture of schools
  • Participants acquire new skill in using technology
  • Students form real relationships with students from other countries
  • Widens the horizons of students and teachers and draw in families and the local community
  • Provides opportunities to share good practice within both countries and abroad
  • Generates more enthusiasm and motivation for learning
  • Cultivates an openness to new thinking and ideas
  • Lays strong foundations for Education for Global Citizenship
  • Strengthens the evidence base for schools’ application for the International Schools Award
  • Students will use their foreign language learning for real purposes

What is Active Citizenship?

Active Citizenship is the title of our Connecting Classrooms Partnership. The concepts of active citizenship underpin the way we aspire to work with each other and with our students, schools and local communities.

Active citizenship is about empowerment and change. It is a progressive concept that is central to our project and to the way we aspire to work. There are 4 steps involved, each step leading to the next one:

  1. Students need to understand their context and surroundings. They develop skills such as how to collect and organise information, how to compile a portfolio, how to evaluate information and classify it in a suitable order and how to display or present it to a range of audiences.
  2. Students then take this awareness and understanding of their context and surroundings to the community or to the targeted audience to make others aware. Through transmitting their knowledge and understanding, students acquire the skills of giving presentations and organising campaigns to make others aware of the problems in their immediate context.
  3. The following step is for students to explore solutions to specific problems related to their surroundings and immediate context. Through this step students acquire problem solving skills and presentation skills to convince others of the efficiency of their solutions. Students make a project plan. Students learn how to build up a project and understand the different steps and stages needed; they learn how to create an action and communication plan and present a convincing case for action.
  4. Students implement the action plan. They learn how to conduct campaigns and to contact, convince and involve a range of parties. They have to look for the resources they will need to implement the action plan. They learn how to evaluate the impact of their action plan on their community and focus their energy and efforts on solving the problems they think are worth solving.

What are Teacher Learning Communities?

A TLC is a group of 8-12 teachers that meet monthly throughout the year to collaborate in a focused and structured way on improving outcomes for learners. They focus on improving their professional practice in applying formative assessment and use specialist inputs of knowledge, combined with peer observation, video and coaching to support each other to develop innovative approaches to teaching and learning.

A fundamental aspiration of our partnership is to improve teaching and learning by learning together about formative assessment and effective languages teaching through collaboration and disciplined classroom-based innovation and action research. In order to support this process, we are setting up Teacher Learning Communities (TLCs) in the areas where Connecting Classrooms schools are active. Teachers who are not directly partnered with N. Yorkshire schools will also be invited to join the TLCs. We are providing training and resources for the leaders of these groups in setting up and running a TLC, Formative Assessment, peer coaching and action research.

Organisation and Funding

There are 3 Connecting Classrooms Clusters in each country, each comprising of 4-6 schools. Each Cluster has a Coordinator. The British Council is supporting the Partnership in Morocco with approx £60,000 per year.

There are 2 Clusters in Souss-Massa-Draa, in the south of Morocco (from Agadir to the border with Algeria), coordinated by M. Mohammed Hassim and M. Abdellatif Zoubair, and one in the coastal city of Kénitra, coordinated by M. Omar Marzouki.

Debbie Wallace (Skipton Girls High School), Kirsty Moat (Harrogate Grammar School) and Kathy Robson (Lady Lumley’s School) coordinate the N. Yorkshire clusters and Simon Cowton coordinates the partnership for N. Yorkshire LA.

Collaborative projects will initially be developed together by members of the Moroccan Association of Teachers of English and French teachers in North Yorkshire with the aim to involve teachers of other subjects in cross-curricular work and professional development.

Organisational Chart

Role / Communication
Project Manager
Morocco / Amina Elabdellaoui (AE)
British Council in Rabat.
Overall project management / Weekly teleconference with SC
Reports monthly to the Regional Project Manager in Egypt.
Project Manager
North Yorkshire / Simon Cowton (SC).
Consultant for Learning and Teaching, Q+I Service, N. Yorkshire
Coordinates Clusters in North Yorkshire and provides advice, support and training in both countries. / Weekly teleconference with AE
Cluster Coordinators
Morocco / M. Mohammed Hassim and M. Abdellatif Zoubair (Souss-Massa-Draâ)
M. Omar Marzouki (Kénitra)
Secondary Inspectors of English
Coordinates Cluster of 6-7 secondary schools. / The Cluster Leader reports monthly to AE
Cluster Coordinators
North Yorkshire / Debbie Wallace (SGHS), Kirstie Moat (HGS), Kathy Robson (Lady Lumley’s)
Supported by an Advanced Skills Teacher (AST). Coordinates a Cluster of secondary schools. / The Cluster Leader reports monthly to SC
School Coordinator / Each school involved will have a CC Project Coordinator. / Reports at set intervals to the Cluster Leader

Project Toolkit

Self-evaluation processes will be built into the project organisation, implementation, delivery and evaluation. We are developing a project management and communication Toolkit containing all the relevant project documents and templates.

Online Tools for communication and Collaboration

North Yorkshire LA has provided space on its virtual learning environment (Fronter). Each school partnership has its own “room”. We will use Fronter for online training, communicating, sharing and disseminating impact of the project and for the uploading and downloading of templates, plans, reports and resources. Resources that are useful for school coordinators, such as project documents, minutes of meetings, reports, templates, guidance and training resources will be kept in the Information Room. For details of the functions of the other “rooms” please refer to the table below.

Elements / Audience / Purpose
  1. Information Room (the library and photocopier)
/ All, except guests / Central store of resources, pages, templates, weblinks, etc
  1. My CC project
/ 2 classes + 2 teachers from each partnership / Interaction, debate, etc. the “Connected Classroom”.
  1. All CC Projects
/ All CC teachers / All teachers, but not students, in the project can see each others’ progress
  1. Show Room
/ Everyone including guests
(there will be a guest login that we can give to anyone) / Finished products are published here (once they have been quality assured by Project HQ)
  1. Staff and Resources (the staff room)
/ For all staff involved in CC project / For informal sharing between teachers; teachers can discuss and give feedback; teachers can share resources here. Self managing, good for work in progress
  1. Project HQ
/ LA level access; coordinators, NENA project manager / Planning area, records of meetings and discussions, reports on progress; strategic documents
  1. CC Owners Room
/ Top level secure access / For sharing and storing confidential information, sensitive or confidential documents.

Links to N. Yorkshire and Moroccan development plan priorities

An important feature of this partnership is to ensure that activities are aligned to national, Local Authority and school priorities expressed in the relevant development plans.

Kénitra and Souss-Massa-DrâaAcademy / We will endeavour to respond to the priorities in the Moroccan National Charter of Education (Citizenship and Openness to other Cultures) and the 2009-12 Emergency Plan for Education
  1. Developing languages
  2. Promoting active citizenship
  3. Creating opportunities for intercultural exchange
  4. Contributing to the professional development of teachers
  5. Improving schools to promote community involvement (“L’école du success”)

North YorkshireLocal authority / We will ensure that the CC project contributes to our capacity to respond to the following priorities in the N. Yorkshire Children and Young People’s Plan:
Priority 1.4.1: Contributing to school and community life;
Priority 2.3.6: Improving Networks and Partnerships;
Priority 3.2.3: Combating prejudice and discrimination
Overall Objective:
Improve the learning about the global dimension for children and young people, providing them with the knowledge, skills, values and understanding through a range of experiences, to be active, responsible global citizens
Relevant Action Plans:
AP 83.1: Develop a coordinated strategy to deliver the global dimension in N. Yorkshire LA effectively, working together with our partners.
AP 83.2: Support schools to deliver effective learning about the global dimension.
AP 83.3: Further develop learning opportunities in schools around sustainable development
Success Criteria:
  1. Increased % of schools achieving a good or better OFSTED judgement for Community Cohesion
  2. 50% of schools with a school linking partnership by Dec 2010. (DCSF target - 100% of schools by 2012).
  3. 30% of schools registered and working towards or achieved the Global Schools Award or International schools award by Dec 2010.
  4. 10 pilot schools achieving Rights Respecting Schools Award by Dec 2010.

Skipton Girls / Students lead learning and take ownership, using a wide range of new technologies in their learning
To meet the global dimension agenda
Nidderdale / Community cohesion
Strengthen interest and uptake of French as a foreign language at KS4
Harrogate Grammar / To improve teaching & learning across the school – sharing ideas & resources with Moroccan colleagues
School vision: To become a world class school is part of this – international links, increased global awareness
Developing staff & leaders across the school – opportunities for staff to be involved in whole school projects, linking with colleagues in other countries, sharing of pedagogy & resources.
Developing links & activities to support the International School Status – with a view to Full Award.
King James / Community cohesion
Strengthen interest and uptake of French as a foreign language at KS4
Bedale / Submission of International schools award for July 2009.
Each Faculty/department to look at how they can integrate one or more of the 8 sustainable doorways into the curriculum at either KS3 or KS4. These are * Inclusion And Partnership * Global Dimension *Food and Drink * Energy and Water *Travel and Traffic *Purchasing and Waste *Local Wellbeing
*Building and Growth
Rossett / Strengthen teaching and learning in French + Global education as context for MFL learning
Work towards achieving ISA
Malton / SDP: “Making students and staff more aware of global issues surrounding them and trying to extend and enhance this across departments for a wider appreciation of the world. Applying for the Foundation stage of the ISA and progressing to the intermediate stage. Improving teaching and learning by exchanging and sharing good practice in the delivery of MFL teaching.”
Lady Lumley’s / SDP: “Widen horizons – the global dimension. Develop links with schools in other countries in order to increase awareness of students to global issues.”
Filey / Further development of global citizenship.
Projects will encourage students to develop personal, learning and thinking skills through research and working together in groups. Students will develop communication and presentation skills through the sharing of information with other groups.

ACTION PLAN AND TIMELINE 2008-2010

SEPTEMBER 2008 - MARCH 2009 Pre-Project Phase: Prepare and Engage Partners

  • The British Council (BC) conducted a series of meetings with the Moroccan Director of Curricula, Directors and Inspectors, Head teachers and Teachers about how the objectives of the projects could meet the Moroccan government’s educational reform agenda, in particular developing the international dimension in education, creating an ethos of respect, collaboration and tolerance in schools and stimulating a competitive spirit between schools to strive for excellence. Strong support for the project as it responds to the priorities of the 2008 Emergency Plan for Education.
  • Cluster Coordinators and Schools recruited in Morocco
  • N. Yorkshire LA committed to support the project with Consultancy, training and project management.

APRIL 2009 – OCTOBER 2009 Phase 1: Getting ready for action

  • BC and UK Project Managers conducted workshops in Kénitra and Agadir to agree the overall aims and main components of the project, priorities for collaboration and training needs. Project Action and Budget Plan agreed in principle.
  • Application forms received from Moroccan schools

MAY 2009

  • UK Consultant delivered training in Morocco on running effective partnerships, using ICT tools to communicate and collaborate in international projects and workshops on formative assessment(Assessment for Learning). Plans in place for further training on integrated coaching.
  • VLE initial set up.

JUNE 2009

North Yorkshire schools received briefing documents and invitation to participate

JULY 2009

Briefing for North Yorkshire schools:

OCTOBER 2009

  • Contact seminar in UK: North Africa and Near East delegates + 5 representatives from North Yorkshire.
  • October 20-22, Moroccan delegation of 5 visit N. Yorkshire
  • Second CPD workshop in Morocco: Phase 2, Formative Assessment, Teacher Learning Communities and Peer Coaching.

NOVEMBER 2009 – MARCH 2010: Phase 2 – “Getting to know you”

Implementation of partnership plans under common theme: “Active Citizenship”

Schools begin to work together on their joint projects: the first product is a school partnership profile, following an agreed theme. Monthly communication and collaboration is maintained through the virtual learning environment, blogs and email. Teachers try out new ideas in the classroom and engage in their first coaching cycle (Morocco) prior to setting up TLCs (Teaching and Learning Communities).

First activity

Pupils and teachers in all partner schools complete the activity “What do I know and about or partner country? What are my first impressions?” (Baseline information gathering activity)