The school I work in has a long-standing partnership of over a decade with a school in Ghana. It is considered a ‘successful’ partnership in that it has been sustained and is based on professional trust and genuine community friendship. However, I cannot help wondering if it is truly reciprocal or if it is a partnership where we, as the Northern school, are still ‘leading’ our partner school. I aim to explore the Ghanaian school perspective through a post-colonial lens and dig beneath the polite and politically correct answers.

Over the next few months I will be undertaking some research which is funded by the Connecting Classrooms Global Learning (CCGL) Research Fund. This work will be supported by Dr Frances Hunt and Dr Nicole Blum. I understand that one of the criteria of submitting an abstract is that there should already be some data; I had originally planned to travel to Ghana in the summer to undertake my research but, due to COVID, I have had to alter my methods and timeline.

Plans are in place to start interviews in January 2021 and data analysis will have been done by the ECER conference. The findings will also feed into my doctorate thesis.

My research questions are:

1: What do Southern teachers understand about ‘global citizenship education?’

2: How do they apply their understanding to their learning and teaching within a global partnership?

3: What are the benefits and challenges of partnership learning from a Southern school perspective?

The research will take the form of a qualitative case study within the theory of auto-ethnography, due to my personal and professional involvement in it.

I will use a range of methods to triangulate data i.e. a document analysis (of Ghanaian civics curriculum), semi-structured interviews and participatory activities (diamond ranking statements and photo reflections).

I hope that findings will highlight any North/South tensions and/or assumptions and help inform the British Council and other bodies on issues around global partnerships with a view to improving or enhancing North-South school partnership working.

Bourn, D. & Cara, O. (2012) Evaluating partners in development: Contribution of international school partnerships to education and development. Development Education Research Centre Research Paper No. 5, DERC. Bourn, D. & Cara, O. (2013) School linking – where next? Partnership models between schools in Europe and Africa. Development Education Research Centre Research Paper No. 10, DERC. Bourn, D. (2014) School Linking and Global Learning – Teachers’ Reflections. Development Education Research Centre Research Paper No. 12, DERC. Brown, K. (2006) School Linking, Produced by citizED (supported by the Training and Development Agency for Schools) Disney, A. (2008?) GeogEd Volume 2, Issue 2 Article 2, The contribution of school linking projects to global education: Some geographical perspectives. http://geography.org.uk/ Leonard, A. (2012) The ‘Aston-Makunduchi partnership’: South- North School Link – In-depth Case Study, Development Education Research Centre Research Paper No.8. Martin, F. (2007) Mutual learning: the impact of a study visit course on UK teachers’ knowledge and understanding of global partnerships, In Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices, 2:1, 60 – 75. Martin, F. and Griffiths, H. (2012) Power and representation: a postcolonial reading of global partnerships and teacher development through North-South study visits, In British Educational Research Journal, 38:6, 907-927, DOI: : 10.1080/01411926.2011.600438 Martin, F. and Wyness, L. (2013) Global Partnerships as Sites for Mutual Learning, In Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review.