Primary teacher and Foundation founding Director, Mary Sinnott, and Penny Clayton and Nicky Anastasiou from the Thank Goodness it's Monday (TGIM) Group, together prepared the following which the Foundation has adopted as core guidelines for its work.

Educating for Education

These are our principles for working with communities to achieve Millennium Development Goal 2.

The rationale behind ‘Educating for Education’ is to:

Equip communities to meet Millennium Goal 2
Provide a process which enables:

i) access to ideas and support for teaching and learning
ii) engagement in professional dialogue between and across communities
iii) educators worldwide to have links with a range of organisations and on-line services.

Key Considerations.

1. The vision underpinning the recommended approach is based on the belief that communities the Foundation works with already have experience, skills and wisdom. The Foundation will respect and work with the local contextual and cultural knowledge of those seeking support. The approach will not be prescriptive or ‘top down’ but will have a facilitative style. We believe such an approach will further the realisation of Steve Sinnott’s passion for:

every child having access to education
people having a better understanding of the world around them
the building of resourceful communities to alleviate poverty

2. We envisage two strands in operation.

Strand 1: to create a process whereby people can access expertise from a range of sources worldwide such as:

Relevant charities
Teacher organisations
Government departments
Educational establishments
Teacher training organisations
On-line facilities

as well as recognised individuals in the field of teaching and learning

Strand 2: to have a process for individual community projects in keeping with the values underpinning the Foundation. The approach to this strand would include understanding…

and respect for the contextual and cultural background of the area
what is in place and working well
what the needs are and how they are best met

3. We expect this to be a partnership approach between the community seeking support and development and those able to offer help. Sustainable development would be promoted through approaches that encourage networking between practitioners at levels both local and worldwide.

4. The word ‘resources’ should be used in its wider context. It is proposed that resources for teaching and learning that would support the Foundation in meeting the Millennium Goal are categorised as follows:

a) Ready-made such as: on-line / off the peg lesson plans and worksheets, videos such as those available from Teachers’ TV or similar, books of photocopyable lesson plans, worksheets and teaching aids. These all may have their uses, especially if there is a careful match with the project and community.

b) Teachers together. Formal and informal opportunities created for teachers to talk together, exchange ideas, develop strategies and offer mutual support. These may take the form of a face-to-face meetings, on-line forums, peer observations, visits to each other’s schools, Skype-type conversations in pairs or groups or even facilitated conference calls.

c) Links with related organisations. The findings and research from other projects and organisations such as the Steve Sinnott Fellowship should be gathered and made available to those accessing or providing support within the Foundation.

d) Customised support. Recognised individuals in the field of teaching and learning may be required to design specific resources and support for a project. This would be in partnership with the project members.

5. Sustainable development should be at the heart of all support with facilitators from the Foundation acting as enablers, fostering independence and interdependence.

6. Key components for a minimal primary education for all should consist of basic skills of literacy, numeracy and IT together with a range of life skills such as understanding how to learn, conflict resolution and the attributes of motivation and emotional intelligence.

Essential Requirements

7. It will be essential to have the following in place.

Website with access to wide number of links
Researchers to consider appropriateness of ready-made resources and add to the database /website.
Someone skilled in project development to receive requests for support and make decisions on the elements of the process.
Fieldworkers to gather information
Layers of support for fieldworkers consisting of training in process and information gathering; knowledge of the community; back-up support and bank of practical ideas from which to draw.
Small teams in place to consider ‘best fit’ for communities seeking support
Internet access
Training and induction for those working directly with communities
A list of people / agencies who are on call and who share the Foundation’s values.