| School Contact Seminar – Cheshire |
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UKIERI Contact Seminar for the second Cohort of clusters participating in the Cluster School Partnership Programme was held at Wychwood Park, Cheshire, UK from 21-25 September with 27 Indian delegates and 26 UK delegates. |
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“I think UKIERI is great in
bringing together schools across the two nations to help them exchange the ethos of UK and India related (over the last 300 years) through cultures
and the educational systems
and tools for mutual enrichment. The spirit of UKIERI is worthy
of praise.” |
Mr Ravi Kumar
Tata-BP Solar, Bangalore |
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Two Interaction Facilitators (Emilia Arthur and Christine Essien) ran the sessions on Friday and Saturday, focusing on activities like speed-dating, ice-breakers, power of questions, assumptions of great partnerships, discussions on cluster priorities and aspirations, etc. On Day 3, Ray Kirtley (University of Hull) provided substantial inputs to make all the delegates understand what constitutes a good and successful partnership. On Day 4, Baldev Singh (Imagine Education) ran a two-hour session on the use of ICT to enhance collaborative work, after which the cluster representatives discussed the broad outline of their project plans.
The first two days of the Contact Seminar was filmed by Teachers TV (www.teachers.tv) and featured in their news bulletin on
28 September 2007.
Seven of the UK clusters were able to take the Indian cluster partners they had matched up with to visit their schools. This was not planned but resulted because of the enthusiasm of the UK cluster representatives to make full use of the opportunity of introducing their partners to others in the cluster.
Overall, it was a successful seminar, with partnership equity and some real dialogue. The Partner Fairs put up by the schools were both attractive and informative. |
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| Leadership Development |
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Seminar – Delhi |
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The Leadership Development component of the UKIERI school strand was one that grew out of a series of consultative meetings held in the UK and India. The time and energy spent on developing the strand became worthwhile as 61 heads and potential heads of schools came together at the Atrium Hotel, Surajkund from 3-7 December 2007 to deliberate, debate and discuss all aspects of school leadership. The seminar was facilitated by Prof Marmar Mukhopadhyay, Ex Director, National University of Education Planning and Administration, and Jackie Kearns, School Leadership Advisor, British Council, London.
Speaking on the occasion, HNS Rao, Deputy Commissioner Academics, Jawahar Navodaya Vidalaya said, “UKIERI has enhanced the self esteem and the social skills of our students. The quality of their work has improved as they are sending their work to another country. It has given them an opportunity to learn about the culture, way of life, and curriculum of another country – UK. UKIERI is built into the life of our schools and we are proud to be associated with this initiative.” |
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The participants engaged in wonderfully interactive sessions where they realised that often in a group situation the leader was unable to use all the resources available to him and the quietest member of a team may be capable of very
significant contributions. He also laid great stress on delegation and preparation for delegation as the greatest factor for building institutions.
Jackie Kearns introduced participants to standards of leadership in the UK. She also introduced the concept of mentoring and coaching through demonstration and role play. The participants' feedback showed that 95% of their time during the seminar was useful, exciting or inspiring!
Mr C M Sharma, Principal, JNV Chandigarh said it was “One of the most useful and excellent session that I ever attended.
It gave me tremendous understanding of my own self and many important aspects of leadership”. |
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