The Lesotho Teacher Educator Exchange Programme took place from the 5th of April to the 19th April 2010. The Teacher Exchange participants from Ireland were:

• Dr. Conor Galvin, UCD
• Dr. Dolores Corcoran, St. Patrick’s College, Dublin
• Ms. Maria Campbell, St. Angela’s College, Sligo
• Ms. Stella Long, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.

The first phase of the Teacher Exchange Programme took place in Lesotho College of Education (LCE) from April 5 to 19, 2010. Four teacher educators from Ireland worked with four colleagues from LCE. Prior to travelling to Lesotho, the Irish team members attended a Planning Day in MIC. Week 1 of the Teacher Exchange Programme overlapped with the SEN Research Project Data Analysis Workshop. Two of the Irish teacher educators (including myself) and one of our LCE colleagues (my exchangee) were involved in both projects.

Me’ Phela, a Lecturer in SEN in LCE was my exchangee. She lectures on the Advanced Diploma in Special Education (ADSE) in LCE. This was a successful pairing of partners as our job specifications are quite similar. At our initial meeting a schedule of work was drawn up. It included the following:

• School Visits (Special schools, primary schools,  past student of the ADSE)
• Lesson Observations
• Micro Teaching Lesson
• Visit to LCE Library
• Lectures to the ADSE cohort by myself
• Meetings with Me’Phela to allow for exchange of ideas, dissemination of course structure and content etc

This schedule was collaboratively designed to allow me to gain insights in to all aspects of the ADSE. This is a new course to LCE and is being presented this year for the second time. A meeting of all the Teacher Educator Exchangees at the end of the first week allowed for further clarification of the programme and provided a forum for presenting the work completed to date.

The second week of the Teacher Exchange Programme provided opportunities to work with my exchangee both inside and outside of the classroom. Initial discussions on the content of the return exchange visit took place. A final round up meeting at the end of the second week allowed the group to share their experiences of the programme.

On a personal note, I gained both  professionally and personally from my participation in the teacher exchange programme and I look forward to a further sharing of expertise and friendship with Me’ Phela in Ireland later this year.

Written by Ms. Stella Long, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, on the 29th April 2010