The first month

We have been here in Uganda now over a month and I am into my 4^th week at work. I have progress to report!

We are getting used to the 40 minute trek to and from work each day. Steve has been doing all the driving but now we have moved to our house and he has housekeeping responsibilities I will have to start driving myself at least a couple of days a week. The thought terrifies me!

Yesterday we thought we had car problems  - when we went to leave work the car wouldn’t start.  All the warning lights and electrical things worked, so not a flat battery, but turning the ignition key gave nothing. Turns out the car has a “don’t start” button.  If you push it in the car doesn’t start. We had no idea such an immobiliser thingy existed and no idea how it was activated. But it did make us think what we would do if we were stranded in the middle of nowhere with a car that wouldn’t go. First thought – ring Bosco! He is School for Life’s procurement officer and has been invaluable in finding us accommodation, car mechanic, water purifier and other essentials. He rang to apologise he hadn’t explained about the “don’t start” button. We were just glad to know about it and that there wasn’t something serious wrong.

The "don't start' button is the one on the right

I feel like I’m making progress at work too.  This week I’m finalising the first round of observations to establish baseline levels of proficiency. I’m no expert on pre- and early primary education but I recognise keen and engaged learners when I see them whether in English or Luganda and that’s mostly what I see. I’m still trying to get my head around what the students have to learn but as that is something I will have no control over it is in some ways irrelevant. Yesterday Steve could hear students reciting names of British sheep breeds.  If that’s what they have to learn then learn it they will to pass the PLE (Primary School Leaving Exam) but we have to find a way to make it active and fun!

I had a break of one week from observations while the students in all classes from ECD (Early Childhood) to Primary 6 sat their mid-term exams. These are essential! Community expectations are that students will sit three lots of exams every term – beginning, mid and end, and this being the “promotion term” they are indispensable. Parents will be at school for consultations with teachers this week to find out to what students will need to pay extra attention to do well at the end of the term. It is wonderful that the students get the feedback that exams afford – it didn’t happen in the schools in Tanzania where I worked in 2010/11. The difference is that the teachers at Katuuso feel confident to mark the exams and return them. The teachers in Bukoba District sometimes didn’t know the answers and didn’t return the mock exams in case their corrections were shown by the students to be wrong.

Last Friday Steve and I visited GEMS Cambridge school in Kampala. It is very grand and very expensive! There is a fish tank embedded in the foyer floor. A friend from Bukoba teaches there and gave us a short tour. The school is also the Uganda central office for the Varkey Foundation – a charitable foundation that supports teachers in government and low fee private schools to become more student centred in their teaching methods. My head teacher has had the Varkey training and has run workshops for the teachers here. They use all the strategies they’ve been shown and I have seen one or more demonstrated in all the lessons I have observed. The lessons all run to a pattern with explicit learning intentions, group work then individual practice. The teachers use an assortment of encouragement and praise techniques and short, active warm ups and wake ups during lessons. The children seem happy with this consistency of approach so any changes will be small and gradual.

THRASS Charts in the windows donated by Baimbridge College Hamilton

I have surveyed the teachers to find their perceptions of professional development needs and their expectations of me. The consistent response has been they want ideas for active learning and behaviour management so that’s where I’m heading.  We will have a seminar on Adolescent Behaviour and Management soon and I will introduce the upper primary teachers to Bill Rogers – my secondary school colleagues in Australia know him well! We will be looking at the effectiveness of students taking responsibility, and ‘consequences’, as opposed to the good talking to with no consequences, that we have now.

As I said earlier, we are in our house now – more on that with pictures next blog.  Jenny

Bed being delivered