Inverness woman returns from month-long post in Africa

Teacher at Gaelic school shared her skills with staff and pupils during classes in malawi

An Inverness Gaelic teacher has returned to the Highland capital after a trip of a lifetime to Africa, where she shared her schooling skills with teachers and pupils.

Kirsteen Wells, 28, who is a teacher at Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis (Inverness Gaelic School), said she enjoyed her month-long spell in Malawi which had now encouraged her to strengthen links between her own school and the one she taught at in Africa.

Mrs Wells was chosen as one of two Global Teachers in Highland to join a group of 12 other teachers from Scotland to work in Malawi by charity Link Community Development. She stayed with a family who had prepared for her stay for three months. She said: “It gave me the opportunity to see the community from the grass-roots level. They even built me my own toilet and shower room.”

The school she taught at had more than 1,000 pupils with each class having up to 400 pupils.

Mrs Wells largely taught maths and English.

She said: “The teachers are so dedicated and the children were very eager to learn. It has made me really appreciate the resources and training we get in Scotland. It has given me time to reflect on our own practice.”

She said as the children had little resources they had come up with a host of their own playground games which she would pass on to her pupils, including making a football from plastic bags and string.

Mrs Wells has no immediate plans to return to Malawi but said she would definitely like to visit again in the future.

She said that previously anyone who came to speak to her pupils about Africa had to do it in English as they could not speak Gaelic, but now she can share her own experience with them through Gaelic.

The work improves the quality of education given to more than 500,000 children, giving them the chance of a better future.

The Global Teacher Programme is funded by LCD, the Educational Institute of Scotland and the Scottish Government as well as individual teachers and schools. For details log on to www.lcd.org.uk