2023 Educator Exchange Programme

TWA Exchange

Global Teachers Institute (GTI) is excited to see the exchange programme happening again after the challenges posed by COVID-19. The Educator Exchange Programme hosted by Teach With Africa (TWA) and Global Teachers Institute is a valuable opportunity for both South African intern teachers and US teachers.

The commitment to reciprocity and learning from one another is a core value that is essential for the success of the programme. It seeks to afford interns who are committed to teaching and learning to share their experiences and learnings with others. The emphasis on personal growth and confronting challenging situations is also admirable in interns who have previously participated in the programme. These experiences can be transformative and lead to significant professional development.

GTI aims to facilitate an authentic platform for South African and American teachers to learn from one another, improve their instructional practice, and shift the international engagement paradigm from one of “giving and taking” to co-creation and sharing. This approach promotes mutual respect, collaboration, and reciprocal learning, which are essential for the development of effective and equitable educational systems.

By providing teachers with such opportunities to learn from one another, we hope to bridge the gap between different cultures and educational contexts. It can also foster the development of new teaching strategies, approaches, and the use of technologies that can be shared across borders and applied in a variety of settings.

Our internship for 2023 will see a selected group of our FLP interns joining our Head of Education, Hassiena Marriott on a 3-week trip to San Francisco. They will be hosted in TWA partner schools and will also be part of the TWA’s 15-year celebration. They are also doing a research-based project that they will undertake and present at the Axis Summit.

We wish all participants in the programme the best of luck and hope that this will continue to strengthen the bonds of international education and collaboration globally.