Sunday morning we got going early in the morning. Michael came by with a JGI van and picked me up from Gately about 8 am. We drove to Kampala where we picked up both Edna and Aidan. Kampala is a crazy busy city with roads doing in all directions and cars driving in 3 lanes where there are really only supposed to be two! Many kudos to Michael and his driving skills – avoiding the people and taxis that came from no-where – and most of the bicycles. However, there isn’t much a driver can do when a cyclist is determined to turn and cross right in front of you!
We made it to the town of Masindi about noon, and to the Hotel Arabis – a pretty place just off the main road with a large compound of fields and trees and palms. Of the two conference rooms, we got the best one! It’s a bit smaller, but round and filled with windows (think breezes coming through windows!).
A good number of the teachers were already there waiting comfortably in the shade getting to know each other. After the teachers registered we went across the veranda for lunch: Matoki (of course), rice, fish, greens and some veggies. EXCELLENT!! Sitting outside in the shade and the breeze while eating lunch beats being stuck indoors anyway.
After introductions, and a pre-workshop questionnaire, the teacher participants were introduced to the Environment, reviewed the Ugandan education system with respect to the Environment then Environmental Education.
The Ugandan primary curriculum is very packed and heavy. In addition, all of the students have to write an end-of-year exam set by the Education Ministry – which is very challenging. The elementary schools are called primary and go from primary 1 through primary 7. The P7 students have to write a Primary Leaving Exam, the results of which have huge ramifications for the students, teachers and schools. The highest pass is a “first”, and the more “firsts” that occur in a school has a lot to do with the school’s reputation and credibility. More parents will bring their children to a school which has a reputation for achieving many “firsts” and those teachers will also be popular and well known. What is not mentioned though is that some schools can run 2-3 P7 classes while smaller rural schools will only have one class which can have more than 100 students (one teacher. Not surprisingly, there is a huge pressure for the teachers to teach to the exam – as in all countries that have exit exams (e.g., Germany, some US States). It is very important that those students who are capable of earning firsts on these exit exams do so – for themselves, their teachers and their school’s reputation.
Aidan, with her 10 years of teaching experience, made a point of emphasizing that what we will be doing in this workshop is something the teachers are already doing to some degree, and this is not creating more content to be addressed, but involves integrating Environmental Education (EE) into lessons already happening.
The Education Ministry wants EE to be integrated into all of the curriculum. This exactly like Ontario, where the Roberta Bonder report has been and is being incorporated into all of the Curriculum revisions. All courses and subjects in Ontario, from grades 1 through 12 must now have and EE focus for at least one of their units.
It’s important to make clear that the teachers do not to add more to their curriculum, or to make huge changes in what they do with their classes. We are here to give them additional “tools” to put into their “toolbox” of teaching skills. We are also here to make everyone more aware about Environmental Education and how to incorporate it into the lessons they already do – and show how the books and posters created by JGI can be used in their classrooms.
The teachers examined the role of posters in communicating information about the Environment. Then, they had a few moments to see the types of posters provided on the JGI packages that can be used in P5, P6 and P7 classes.
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