The Influence of North South School Partnerships

We believe that unless global learning is incorporated into the everyday learning experiences of our young people through different curriculum areas, education is not going to help to bridge the cultural and economic divides that are prevalent today.

As the gap between rich and poor widens within and between countries it is also starkly apparent that learners from poor backgrounds achieve less through education. Developing global citizenship through mutually beneficial school partnerships, we believe, is one way of bridging the divide and looking forward in the 21st century. But we are also aware that partnerships do not always meet their objectives. Consequently it is vital to identify the ingredients for successful partnerships so that these can be propagated in other schools.
We need to understand the impact of the partnership on teachers, learners and the wider community in schools at both ends of the partnership, and to explore what the non-UK partner schools think of their relationships with their UK partner.

This research explores our questions.