Our commitment and work to implement EducAid values
EducAid has always been focussed on the impact of the change we make rather than on the number of people that we work with. We would prefer to have a major impact on a few than to have a minor impact on many; it is our vision to create a democratic, dignified and prosperous Sierra…
Read MoreHow to we teach young people the rigorous critical thinking and research skills to distinguish news from propaganda?
How do we ensure the next generation is one which communicates civically, values honesty and recognises reality? Most of our students are accessing education in their third language, having been raised in one of the wealth of local languages as small children, acquiring the lingua franca Krio as they meet others from other language groups…
Read MoreSierra Leone: A Nation’s Journey
Binta Bah, a female student, Mohamed and myself attended a workshop at Makeni which was organised by Charlie Haffner and Sorious Samura. The theme is Material Development workshop, SIERRA LEONE: A NATION’S JOURNEY. The project is about changing the narrative inspiring the people owning the future. This workshop also focused on discussing problems that are affecting…
Read MoreWhat is the best gift you would recommend for your students this holiday season?
All across the western world, children are excited about the coming of Santa, about the different promises of gifts and goodies due at Christmas. The deeper message of Christmas, being one of self-giving, comes with a significant contradiction and clash with the materialistic preoccupations of most at this time. New Year too offers the opportunity…
Read MoreAll we want for Christmas…
Sometimes it’s nice to know how your donation is going to be used and appreciated. We try to tell you how we use your money, but over the Christmas it can be really rewarding to send out items that are in constant need and use in our schools. We’ve compiled a short list of things that we really…
Read MoreHow do you as teachers support children who are confused or frightened by events going on in their world?
When it’s ‘all going crazy’ out there, what are we to do, as educators? We have to provide an alternative rhetoric, other ways of seeing and doing things. To quote the American First Lady, ‘When they go low, we go high!’ When the rhetoric around us is full of hatred and vitriol, scorn and derision,…
Read MoreHassanatu Sheriff – A Role Model
In Sierra Leone women are rarely offered the opportunity to study, to learn and eventually to excel. It is widely recognised that female empowerment is crucial to unlocking national potential – both social and economic – yet in many parts of Sierra Leone, and indeed the rest of the world, this information is still not…
Read MoreHow do we better engender a healthy, happy, and productive school environment where both teachers and students can flourish?
The EducAid vision: A dignified and democratic Sierra Leone where poverty is eliminated by educated citizens! It is difficult to create a productive school environment without a clear vision so, for us in EducAid, this is our starting point; we are ready to be as radical as we need to be in order to achieve…
Read MoreHow can we maximise the value of art and music in education and how can it be blended with more traditional subjects?
“The greatest scientists are artists as well.” – Albert Einstein One of the most difficult battles in education in Sierra Leone is to get parents and students to understand the vital importance of art and the creative subjects within the curriculum. In the Sierra Leonean context I would say that it is hard to…
Read MoreWith a heavy heart, I will be stepping down as chief executive of EducAid
After my two year tenure, I have informed the Board that I will be stepping down as chief executive in March 2017. It has been an absolute privilege to support the growth of the organisation and under our inspirational Country Director, Miriam Mason-Sesay, I am proud to say that we have delivered on our promise…
Read MoreHow do you help students accept and work well with people of different beliefs, cultures, languages, socio-economic statuses, education backgrounds, and learning styles?
Sierra Leone is composed of 17 major tribal groups, all speaking different languages. Muslims make up the majority of the population, but Christians account for approximately 30% of the population. There are not so many foreigners from other African countries: a few Liberians and the occasional Guinean who have ended up in Sierra Leone, but…
Read MoreWhat are the important skills, behaviours, and attitudes that students need to become contributing global citizens?
If by contributing global citizen we mean someone who sees themselves as having a part to play in deciding how the world works, we must surely be talking about moving on from the very individualistic approaches that our largely capitalist and materialistic world currently encourages. If the state of humanity is more important to us…
Read MoreBike Ride: What a day!
The EducAid team had been busily preparing for the Bike Ride for weeks and weeks; Farah had been organising registration with the event organisers and a stall to host the riders, Amelia had been contacting companies to get hold of some products for our goodie bags and general well-being, whilst Adrian and I were busy in training (*cough*).…
Read MoreOpening of the New QEP4E Buildings
We started working with EU in April 2016, this relationship has enabled us to significantly scale up our teacher training outreach programme as well as getting support for some construction. The EU has created a big impact in supporting EducAid and in educating vulnerable Sierra Leoneans. The opening of the QEP buildings commenced on Tuesday…
Read MoreHow do we inspire the best and brightest to become educators?
The short answer: By engaging them in a new paradigm! In a world that defines success in $$$ signs, cars, houses and material possessions, none of the best or brightest will want to pursue teaching as it is never going to be among the highly remunerated jobs. If we can enable our youngsters to realise…
Read MoreWhat is the QEP?
As a follower of EducAid you may have heard about the QEP, our Quality Enhancement Programme, but you may not know exactly what it encompasses. In this blog post I hope to give you an introduction to what is our biggest reaching programme yet. Fundamentally, the QEP works with schools around the country to train…
Read MoreHow do we do a better job of cultivating young readers?
In an increasingly screen-filled western world, we have seen the obvious love of books dying off for some decades among the younger generations. My own father claimed to have seen a massive rise in average reading ages among the children he was teaching since the arrival of the television in the average British living room. …
Read MoreGlobal Teacher Blog: what are the best example you have seen of teachers using social media to enhance learning?
Sadly, on the face of it, the answer has to be ‘none in Sierra Leone’! But this is not due to a lack of will on the part of the educators! Surely there is no clearer place where the big divide is seen than…
Read MoreGlobal Teacher Blog: Closing the gender gap with the Women’s Project
In every way, girls and women are on the back foot in Sierra Leone. Education is no exception. Girls are told that they are ‘only girls’ and that their ‘heads haven’t come for books’ etc. from day one and it is only the lucky few that get taught to rethink or who dare to challenge…
Read MoreUK Trip for Sierra Leonean Teachers and Leaders
In February 2016, 10 of our Sierra Leonean staff came to the UK for teacher training, courtesy of the Steve Sinnott Foundation. Widad Worneh, Malikie ‘Leo’ Barrie, Stephen Momoh, Fatmata Bangura and Mohamed ‘Cobra’ Bangura told us what they’d learnt and how they would take their experiences back to Sierra Leone to improve…
Read More