Maureen Miller, head teacher at Keiss Primary School and the former head at Canisbay, and Roger Bamfield, an advisory teacher for the autism outreach service in Dingwall, decided to spend five weeks in the African country as part of the Global Teachers Programme run by the international agency Link Community Development.
The couple, who undertook a similar venture last year, have almost reached the halfway point of their trip.
They have just completed over two weeks in the remote Matundu zone in the rural district of Dedza carrying out classroom observations, followed by training for all 30 teachers in the area's six schools.
Just like the Malawian teachers they have been working with, Maureen and Roger travelled around the district by bicycle on dirt roads, cycling up to 20 miles a day, apart from one visit to remote Jentcherere school when Maureen had to travel on the back of a motorcycle.
While there, they were living with two different host families. "Both of our families have said that we are now part of their history because we were the first Europeans ever to have worked and stayed in this remote part of Malawi," Roger said this week.
The couple are now working to support the group of 14 Scottish teachers who are involved in delivering in-service training to nearly 200 Malawian teachers in Dedza as part of the long-term educational improvement project LCD is running in partnership with two district departments of education in the country.
Maureen and Roger are due back home early next month.
Last summer they lived and worked in two village communities in Malawi – Namikango and Kanyama – where conditions were basic, with no running water or electricity. They worked with staff at their village schools, helping to develop leadership and teaching practices as well as supporting areas of curricular development.
At the time, Maureen described the experience as amazing and said she would "not have missed it for the world".
A few months after returning home, she and Roger received an honour for their work in Africa when they were awarded a certificate of Professional Recognition in Global Education by the General Teaching Council (GTC) for Scotland during a ceremony at the Scottish Parliament.
They were among 17 teachers who were recognised for their volunteering efforts in Malawi.
The couple were presented with their awards by May Ferries, convener of GTC Scotland, and Karen Gillon MSP, co-convener of the parliament's cross-party group for Malawi.
The Global Teachers Programme in Malawi supports the Malawi School Improvement Project which aims to improve schools and the standard of education offered to children there.
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