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The Welcome Kind of Global Warming
Teaching combines the mind and the heart, and its successful delivery relies on the two working together. Those charged with “delivering the goods”—teachers—are the bridge between the cerebral hemisphere (brain work) and the cultural hemisphere (soul of teaching). So, too, as you’ll discover in the issue of the ATA Magazine, teachers play a vital role as the bridges linking the Earth’s hemispheres.
Over the years, the Alberta Teachers’ Association has expanded its partnerships with other educational organizations and jurisdictions. Whether ATA staff or members are exchanging ideas with top-performing education jurisdictions, such as Finland and Singapore, or digging foundations for a new school in Kenya, they are creating robust global connections that will benefit not only students and teachers, but ultimately humanity.
Connecting globally is the theme of this issue of the magazine. For ease of discussion, content is divided into two sections: “International Stories” and “Stories from Overseas.” The international stories are by educators from Finland, Norway, Singapore, Alberta and the United States. The articles are hopeful, insightful and inspiring. Alberta’s teachers can be proud that their public education system is attracting the attention of other top-of-the-class public education systems. And after reading the articles, I hope that teachers will feel energized to look to the best for ways to enhance their own teaching. Teachers and ATA staff involved in these partnerships report that our public education system is on the right track but it can still learn much from our colleagues worldwide and these colleagues express the similar view that Alberta is top-notch and can teach them much about teaching and the delivery of education.
Of particular interest to readers who are keen to know how “others” see us are articles by Roar Grøttvik (Union of Education Norway), Kelvin Lee (Ministry of Education Singapore) and Tiina Saarenketo (special education teacher and administrator from Finland). These three observed Alberta teachers in action and provide an outsider’s view of what we do well as well as giving us ideas to improve what we do. Grøttvik delivers a salient piece of advice for all Albertans: “save a portion of your oil revenue for hard times, as Norway has done with its oil money.”
“Stories from Overseas” describe initiatives undertaken by the Association. We have a longstanding partnership with Canadian Teachers’ Federation’s (CTF) Project Overseas. Since its inception in 1964, Project Overseas has played a vital role in ameliorating the skills of teachers in developing countries, with more than 450 Alberta teachers participating in the international volunteer work program. In addition to Project Overseas, the Association recently expanded its partnerships to include Alberta-based international initiatives—the Caribbean Union of Teachers Young Leaders Program, the Pan African Teachers’ Centre ITC Website Project, and Pan African Teachers’ Centre Literacy Development in Ghana and Uganda. Funding has been earmarked for the Palliser Dominica IT Project (a joint initiative with Palliser Local No. 19), Tools for Schools, the Africa Foundation, and the ATA Me-to-We PD pilot project and Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan Lantern Fund.
Other international partnership opportunities are highlighted in an article by Carolyn Freed. The International Education Exchange Program (IEEP), which is affiliated with the ATA, offers teachers the opportunity for short-term or long-term one-on-one exchanges with colleagues from other countries. This hands-on approach offers insight into other teachers’ daily experiences and rewards participants with the chance to take in the culture and geography of another country.
Keeping alive connections to friends and colleagues meeting and making new ones is a heartening experience. Colleagues become friends, friends become communities and communities grow into networks that link us together to make the world better. The global connections described in this issue of the ATA Magazine are a sure sign of global warming—the welcome and desirable kind.
