Vanessa Dunstan, Guyana - VSO
27 May 2010
On her VSO assignment, Vanessa Dunstan used her primary school
skills to achieve Guyana's professional development vision to
tackle severe teacher shortages.
A contribution that brings a lifetime of difference
Guyana's government is investing in the professional development
of its teachers to tackle the issue of severe teacher shortages in
rural areas through in-service training courses. It is an
initiative that also aims to reduce class sizes, increase
attendance at school and improve literacy rates.
Often these courses take place in colleges some distance from
the schools, so children are left without teachers for one or two
weeks at a time.
A national volunteering program is set to change this, with
Guyana's young people playing a crucial volunteering role in the
country's classrooms. VSO has teamed up with Youth Challenge
Guyana. The program has drawn on VSO expertise in volunteer
management to recruit and train a team of 12 young national
volunteer teachers to work in rural schools across the country.
Eighteen-year-old Valessa Harding is one of the programs first
recruits. After leaving school she wanted to become a teacher, but
she decided to participate in a volunteer position at the Aranaputa
Primary School first, to see if it was the profession for her.
"We have 86 children here, six classes and just two teachers,"
Valessa said. "When Miss Leona goes for her training, it's just
Miss Camelia and me [managing the classes]."
Valessa is not just gap filling, she is also giving children the
opportunity to learn in a fun, interactive way. To do this Valessa
has received training from Australian primary school teacher and
VSO volunteer Vanessa Dunstan.
"We ran some hands-on, practical workshops for the national
volunteers," Vanessa explained. "Some of them were having problems
with pronunciation, so we got them practising the 'a', 'e' and 'o'
sounds so that they'll be confident in delivering phonics
lessons."
With the headstart and experience Valessa has gained through
volunteering, she now plans to attend teacher training college.
"I already do a lot of what the teachers do, like writing lesson
plans and making teaching aids, so it will be a great help at
college," she said.
Vanessa hopes that Valessa will work in a rural school when she
finishes college.
"These young volunteers are so eager and have so much to offer.
If they manage to stay in rural areas and enthuse other people,
that will create a knock on effect."
Through the AVI / VSO Partnership, AVI recruits Australian
health, education and fundraising professionals for long-term VSO
assignments in Africa, Asia and South America. Find out more about
the partnership.