|
School partnering has the potential to be a greatly worthwhile enterprise for students, teachers and volunteers alike. Indeed, it is difficult to overstate the value of providing young people with exposure to other cultures, and enabling them to communicate and interact with their peers from other, sometimes vastly different, parts of the world.
The educational benefits to students’ skills and attitudes gained through international school partnerships is worthy of its own article, but for the time being let us concentrate on how to build and maintain a successful school partnership.
If we all agree that these types of partnerships are hugely beneficial, how can we ensure that a school partnership is as successful as it can possibly be?
Below, you’ll find 5 essential tips that aim to ensure a successful school partnership.*
Being partnered with a school in another country is a unique opportunity, so it is definitely worth putting in the effort to ensure everyone involved gets the most out of it.
*Note: when we mention ‘school’ here, we are referring to all educational institutions.
1. Be open, be flexible
Countries in different parts of the world have different customs. The way in which people do business, and generally interact with one another, can be quite varied from culture to culture.
Keep this in mind when communicating with your partner: if you feel that your partner is being particularly forward/aggressive, or particularly passive and timid, their behaviour may be completely normal in their own country. This difference can be prominent even between countries that speak the same language – for example, Britain and America.
It might be useful to do some background research on the culture that you’re partner is from. This doesn’t need to be too extensive, but a little bit of effort in this regard can go a long way to a more fruitful and successful partnership.
Be flexible, and be aware that your own behaviour may have a similarly confusing effect on your partner. The ability to step outside of yourself and place yourself in someone else’s position is a great virtue to have in life, and is particularly useful in these types of situations.
2. Communicate
The importance of regular communication between partners cannot be stressed enough. There is probably nothing more fatal to an international school partnership than lack of communication between partners.
Partner-finding services such as Achievers International will also act as a point of contact for both partners throughout the partnership, so if you have access to such a resource it is vital that you keep in contact with them, as well as directly with your partners.
Communicating with your partner is the foundation of the partnership, and can be the most exciting and fun part. Moreover, there are a variety of ways in which you can communicate: video-conferencing through programs such as Skype, ooVoo etc. is perhaps the best way of allowing students to interact with one another. E-mail is very useful and easy to use, but make sure you check your inbox regularly and reply promptly!
Don’t forget about the other more conventional ways of communication; telephone, letters etc. are all very useful and may be more appropriate if your partner school is based in a less developed country, and lack certain resources such as reliable internet connection.
Keeping in regular contact with your partners will foster a stronger relationship, paving the way for a possible exchange visit in the future!
3. Complete and exchange a formal agreement
Each school has different views on what they want to achieve through their partnership. It is important to define your goals at the beginning, and to inform your partner of what those are. It is extremely useful to complete a formal document and exchange it with your partner at the beginning of the partnership.
For example, in the Achievers International programme, participating schools are strongly encouraged to complete the Service Level Agreement and exchange it with their partners at the beginning of the academic year.
If you do this you will find that the partnership will run much more smoothly, as everyone knows what the goals of the partnership are from the outset. Furthermore, if there are any disagreements or discrepancies between what each school wants to achieve, it’s better to get this out in the open at the beginning, rather than halfway through the partnership!
4. Anticipate challenges
If you can anticipate a problem or challenge you will be less disturbed by it and generally be much better equipped to deal with it.
Look ahead and see if you are busy during a certain period. If so, let your partner know in advance so that they know contact will be infrequent during this period. Anticipate that a teacher either at your end or at your partner school may have to leave unexpectedly. In such a scenario there may be little you can actually do, but by anticipating the problem you are in a better position to mitigate any resulting issues.
5. Take time to reflect & evaluate
Keep track of how the partnership is progressing. It may be helpful to develop a milestone plan. You may like to set out certain times of the year where you anticipate you will be less busy, in order to reflect on the progress of the partnership, and evaluate whether things are developing as you would hope.
Dedicating time to reflect on how the partnership is progressing, and ways in which you could improve things/take things forward, will most certainly help you to get the most out of your partnership.
A chance to interact with and possibly visit another part of the world is one that should not be passed over. However, to ensure that a school partnership is as successful and beneficial as it can be does require some effort. If you remember and put into practice the 5 tips in this article, it is almost certain that every person involved in the partnership will remember the experience for years to come.
|
