Four education administrators from across the Communion will start a fellowship scheme in London next year following the success of the Anglican Alliance bid for Commonwealth funding.
The four the Caribbean, Nigeria, Ghana and the Solomon Islands will be the first fellows in the scheme set up by the Anglican Alliance and funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.
They will spend eight weeks visiting UK education services and specialist education institutions to see what lessons they can learn for delivering education services at home.
The four to take part in the fellowship scheme are:
• David Agbo from Nigeria
• Jacqueline Glasgow-Browne from St Vincent
• Joe Takeli from the Solomon Islands
• Seidu Adam from Ghana
David, Joe and Seidu all work for church education services, whilst Jacqueline Glasgow-Browne liaises with church schools on behalf of government education services.
The innovative scheme, the first of its type for the Commonwealth programme, will see the four spend two weeks studying local authority education services and workshadowing senior officials, and have similar experience with diocesan education services in two English dioceses. They will spend time in schools, and also visit some specialist services supporting early years education and curriculum development.
They will also visit Nottingham University which has a special unit that works on leadership in education and especially on the role of faith schools.
During their time in the UK they will also work with a facilitator to produce some resource materials so that other education administrators across the Communion can get the benefit of their experience.
Sally Keeble, Anglican Alliance director said: “This is a ground-breaking scheme, that will provide a good opportunity for education administrators across the Communion to extend their experience and expertise. Education is the biggest driver of development, and the Church is a major provider of education in developing countries. It is excellent that the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission has given us this support and provide such an excellent opportunity to build on our education services. “