Teacher Training Course

This page gives full details about the course, for the use of educationalists and funding trusts.

Purpose

To set up training in democratic education for 90 Palestinian educators from 30 independent and UNRWA schools in the West Bank cities of Bethlehem and Hebron, together with a core-group, a support-network, a body of material and the necessary follow-up mechanisms for this work to continue when this project ends.

Background

Problem: Palestinian demography and the need for peace and democracy. Fifty percent (50%) of the Palestinian population is under 15 years old. Creating a peaceful, democratic culture begins with schools and youth. Education for democracy can be achieved only when the learning process emphasises independent and creative thinking, not commonly found in the standard Palestinian curriculum. A school must apply democratic practices and leadership development with students, teachers and parents. They then become autonomous and responsible citizens with a commitment to society and peaceful resolution of conflict.

Education for peace and democracy is the best vehicle to ensure that the next generation of Palestinians will have the skills, knowledge and motivation to create a truly peaceful and democratic Middle East. Hope Flowers School has successfully taught children how to survive in times of conflict. Now Palestinian children must be provided with the skills and knowledge to live in peace and create a mutual respect and understanding that will enable them to transform their lives and this region into one of cooperation, prosperity and freedom.

Context: an embedded culture of conflict and frustration in Palestinian society, passed down to succeeding generations. 'Every act of violence is a result of an unhealed wound'.

Complementary initiatives: this model has been developed at the Hope Flowers School, Bethlehem, and ad hoc training of teachers from other schools is beginning.

Expected impact

This project will help create a culture of peace in Palestinian society, in which human rights and tolerance to ethnicity, religion or language increasingly become the norm. We hope to help young people manage frustration and become more effective in society, helping them transform 'resistance' into peace-building.

We anticipate reducing disaffection and radicalisation amongst the young, and making publicly available tools for social dialogue and conflict resolution - later to extend into relations with Israelis and other cultures.

A further objective is to lay tracks for future peace- and democracy-oriented developments across the Palestinian education system.

Expected outputs

1. Training of 90 teachers and educators in peace and democracy techniques, and forming a core group of future trainers to continue the work;

2. A follow-up support system for participants in the training;

3. A network of teachers and schools who have participated or are interested in future involvement;

4. A body of knowhow and online working material;

5. A system of knowledge-transfer from trainees and their schools to new teachers and schools;

6. A system for running empowerment-based peace and democracy workshops for youth, women and other members of society, outside schools or in schools' local communities;

7. An English language teachers' club, linked with English language teachers in UK and Commonwealth countries;

8. Connections made between schools and teachers in the network with Palestinian state schools, Israeli and international schools, with a view to opening up joint activities when circumstances permit.

Main activities

- Creating a growing culture of peace and democracy by extending democratic education into schools in Bethlehem and Hebron;

- training of 18 core trainers, to train a further 90 teachers;

- workshops for school directors (head teachers);

- building a support system and Network of Palestinian Democratic Schools (NPDS), to reform the educational process and school structure in schools, transfer knowledge to other teachers and act as liaison for the project;

- building online links between schools, with creation of online interdisciplinary content;

- creating an English-language teachers' club;

- evaluation of results.

Context

We are not aware of other projects in Palestine or worldwide which approach peace and democracy education in the way proposed here.

The current Palestinian educational system. Palestinian schools provide a sound formal education, but democratic values are not integrated in the school curricula. Learning processes are formal (classical) - students learn mainly to be good students. Schools do not apply democratic values in relationships between students, teachers and parents, nor do they include students in decision-making or give them responsibility for organising activities, field trips or self-governance. Students have no right to elect a student leadership. The majority of schools do not have school councils by which to organise their governance.

Need for innovative democratic education. Palestinian society needs an education system that values democracy, social justice, human rights, women's and youth empowerment, together with training for peaceful resolution of conflict. Students need to develop a capacity for independent, creative thought as well as understanding of different varieties of human experience. Teaching these concepts will not suffice: what is needed is an integrated program that nurtures such values in the school and broader community. This is a matter of urgency to assist future peace-building between Palestinians and Israelis.

To promote intercultural understanding and to learn from elsewhere, this project will incorporate international consultants in its training programme, and an English-language teachers' club will be formed, together with a Network of Palestinian Democratic Schools.

Previous initiatives. Hope Flowers School was founded in 1984 to develop educational attitudes and skills that foster peaceful resolution to conflict. The school seeks to cultivate positive values and build relationships between Palestinian children and those of other cultures as a basis for creating understanding and peace. Arising from our work and experience and from changing circumstances in the West Bank, we are now being asked by other educators to disseminate and further develop what we have learned. We hope one day to assist the eventual integration of these methods into the Palestinian schools system.

These methods include:

• Progressive educational methods (Montessori and male/female integrated classes);
• Interfaith understanding (Christian and, previously, Jewish teachers have joined in);
• Intercultural understanding (bridge-building with Israelis, exchanges with progressive Rabbis; 'sister school' relations with the Democratic School of Hadera in Israel);
• Peace activities (peace curriculum, networking, community projects);
• A Community Development Project (youth development and community empowerment);
• Educational Development Projects (professional development and teacher training);
• A Centre for Psychological Support and Training (war-trauma counselling and treatment for children and their families).

This project proposal represents an extension of the work carried out over the years at Hope Flowers to encompass other schools and to build up a body of thinking, material, trainers and graduates who can take this a step further - initially on a voluntary basis amongst independent and UNRWA schools in Bethlehem and Hebron. Ultimately we hope the Palestinian Authority will adopt such methods in state schools.

We are aware that, internationally, educationalists and experts have noted our work and watch with interest, in some cases giving assistance. Necessity and circumstances in Palestine have prompted development of cutting-edge methods which, in a global context, now stand at the forefront of developments in human rights-based education.

Institutions

Implementing organisation. The Hope Flowers School has been functioning since 1984, and the school and its community centre have accumulated valuable experience in project management and organising professional training for teachers. The school operates a Centre for Educational and Community Development for parents and children.

The school has thus far survived two intifadas, bombardment, threats to school property from the building of the separation wall, local pressures concerning 'collaboration', economic downturn (affecting school income) and community tensions. It has been helped by moral, educational and financial support and expertise from individuals, trusts and institutions worldwide.

The Hope Flowers School and Centre for Educational and Community Development are officially licensed by the Palestinian ministry of education. A number of projects have been implemented in coordination with international NGOs. The followings are examples of previous projects carried out by the school during the last two years:

1. A series of Palestinian-Israeli teachers' workshops for building common ground between Palestinian and Israeli teachers, focusing on topics such as democratic and interfaith education and bridge-building between different cultures;
2. Training of teachers in supporting war-traumatised children. Teachers from 15 schools have been trained;
3. A series of empowerment trainings for adults from various backgrounds;
4. A Compassionate Listening programme with training for teachers from Hope Flowers and other Palestinian schools;
5. Listen to My Voice, a psychological support programme for children and their families;
6. A series of interfaith seminars organised with the Israeli Interfaith Encounter Association;
7. Educational development courses in the field of learning disabilities;
8. A national media campaign promoting integration of students with disabilities into Palestinian society;
9. PeaceTrees Bethlehem, an international conflict-transformation project, with 60 participants (Palestinian, Israeli and from 12 countries including UK), planting trees as symbol of peace, coexistence and environmental improvement.

Project management. The Hope Flowers School has gained significant experience in implementing community-based projects and is recognised by USAID as a professional organisation implementing community-based projects.

Internationally, Hope Flowers School is member of organisations such as the International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC), Alternative Education Resources Organisation (AERO), International Education and Alternative Resources Network (IEARN) and Catalysta (a worldwide students' forum).

Regionally, the school is the first and only Palestinian school to adopt an educational philosophy of peace and democratic education. We are affiliated with two Israeli organisations which might play a future role in this project: the Israeli Interfaith Encounter Association and the Institute of Democratic Education. The school has partnership and sister relations with several Israeli schools and organisations such as the Democratic School of Hadera.

Locally, the school currently seeks to sign a partnership agreement with Palestinian Ministry of Education to enable the school to train teachers and counsellors from government schools. Through our involvement with other schools and community bodies in the West Bank, as specified above and below, we have established connections which we now seek to formalise as the project proposed in this application.

Participation of beneficiary organisations in project planning. The Hope Flowers School has built a network of local partners in Palestine with whom we are in regular consultation. In 2006 we trained teachers from 15 private and UNRWA schools in Bethlehem and Hebron. These teachers and schools have been involved in the formulation of this proposed project and will play a significant role in implementing the project. The Hope Flowers School will be in charge of planning, contracting, employing, implementing and monitoring of various project activities.

The Hope Flowers School is accustomed to consulting with international, regional and local partners when designing its training programmes. It is consulting with the Directorate of Education, Ministry of Education and local organisations involved in training of teachers.

The school will also consult with national and international experts in democratic education through its personal connections and membership of international organisations.

Government Support. Under current circumstances formal support from the Palestinian Authority is difficult to obtain. We will first implement the project in independent and UNRWA schools to raise awareness of the virtues of human rights-based education and generate results which the government then can study and evaluate. In this way we hope such education will rise higher in the priorities of the ministry, and that changing political circumstances will lead the government to perceive its importance. Our ultimate intention is for the Palestinian Ministry of Education to adopt peace and democratic education as part of the national curriculum for citizenship education.

Risk Analysis

Risk - Internal: consultation with local organisations already involved in teacher training fails to gather sufficient information about the learning needs of teachers. Probability: slight chance. Impact: possible weakening of project outputs and project success. Management: the chief trainer should assess the needs of teachers by organising a focus group of teachers.

Risk - Internal: members of the core group of trainers and trained teachers fail to take part in support meetings or drop out of the programme (owing mainly to difficult circumstances or travel restrictions). Probability: likely - depends mainly on the scale of the problem. Impact: possible weakening of project outputs, even if the project is otherwise succeeding. Management: the commitment of school counsellors, trainers and teachers can be reinforced by contract. A motivational allowance and the support network might assist their presence.

Risk - External: deterioration of the political situation. Probability: Major risk, though in the longterm our goals will still be achievable. Impact: might prevent participants from attending meetings or raise awkward social and political issues. Management: re-organising trainings on a more local or discreet level and on Internet can help - we have experience in handling such circumstances.

Risk - External: the Ministry of Education blocks participation of government schools in the project. Probability: significant risk. Impact: state teachers will not learn about democratic education and government schools will not participate. Management: the training will then be implemented in independent and UNRWA schools only - results from these might eventually affect state policy.

Cross Cutting Effects of Project

Human Rights. We anticipate no detrimental effects on human rights. On the contrary, this project seeks to contribute positively to the further development of human rights in our country, in an immediate and a longterm rights-building sense.

Gender. The proposed project, being rights-based, seeking to further intercultural understanding and operating within the educational system, will have a constructive effect on gender relations and women's opportunities. More than 50% of teachers joining the project are likely to be female, and the net effect of the project is likely to have a positive effect on improving the situation of women in Palestinian society.

Environment. We anticipate an environmentally neutral immediate effect from the project. Travel will be affected, but travel restrictions already apply in the West Bank and, to insure against this, much of our networking and provision of working materials will be online. Longterm, we expect an overall positive effect on the environment in Palestine, since positive values will be generated amongst the children affected by the project, and education in making a contribution to society will also have a positive longterm environmental effect.

Other. We anticipate positive generalised outcomes to arise from this project, and specific positive outcomes in the areas of counter-terrorism, youth crime, justice and public diplomacy.

Project promotion activities

The school will take responsibility for promoting and publicising this project. During the pilot phase, there will be TV spot shows and media campaign to attract the attention of the community for the importance of this program. In addition, the school will involve the community in this project through local workshops, TV reports, brochures and leaflets. Publicity will be carried out sensitively, as appropriate to social and political conditions at the time.

Project objectives and benefits

The overall purpose of the project is to contribute significantly to creating social conditions favouring peace in Palestine, particularly amongst the younger generation. This will be done through:

• Deepening participants' understanding of the principles of peace and democracy;
• Promoting understanding of 'the other' and the distress suffered by 'the other', as the basis of human rights;
• Creating a central body for control and evaluation of programmes for peace to be activated in Palestinian school systems;
• Creating a core group of Palestinian trainers in democratic and peace education;
• Disseminating concepts of democratic and peace education into Palestinian schools and thereby into wider society;
• Establishing a follow-up and support system for Palestinian teachers who have participated in the training;
• Establishing a network of schools whose teachers have participated in the training;
• Organising empowerment workshops for youth, women and other members of society to foster a culture of peace and democracy;
• Establishing conditions for future cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis in the field of democratic education.

Indicators of success

Establishing of students' associations in schools. Students become more engaged in community activities. Students become more active in school life. Students and teachers become observably more tolerant and open to people's differences. Information source: field visit reports by project staff, school administrators and trained teachers. Reports from teachers in the schools involved. Baseline data: baseline data will be derived mainly from behavioural and attainment data obtained from participating schools, before the project starts.

Formation of a network of schools participating in the training. Information source: the project organisers. Baseline data: No network is currently present. Peace and democratic education is not on the agendas of schools, educators or even the Palestinian Authority.

Monitoring and evaluation

How the project will be monitored? There will be three kinds of monitoring:

Administrative Monitoring:

1. The project director, project coordinator and staff will report to the director of Hope Flowers School.
2. The project coordinator will submit activity reports, financial reports and progress reports at appropriate intervals to donors and the Hope Flowers School board of directors.
3. Project documentation will be available at the Hope Flowers School and presented to the funding/overseeing organisation as required.

Qualitative and quantitative monitoring: materials used and expenditures made during the different project phases will be checked by the project director and should be consistent with this proposal. Quantitative evaluation will be difficult to assess, but key indicators will be numbers of trainers and students completing the training to the satisfaction of the project director. As with all extracurricular studies, outcomes will take time to emerge, but a qualitative assessment will be possible by the end of the project, derived from participant feedback and trainer assessments.

Financial Monitoring will be done in three steps:

• Monitoring bank account: the Hope Flowers School will create an account for financial management of this grant and all expenses will go through this bank account.
• The Hope Flowers accountant will monitor financial management.
• External auditors will monitor all transactions for an auditor's report for each financial year and the project as a whole.

When and by whom will the evaluation of the Project take place? Evaluation will be carried out by the Hope Flowers School with the working team and staff of the project. The specific methods of evaluation and data collection will be designed in collaboration with an external evaluator or evaluation team (to be hired via contract), appropriate to the project's objectives. The evaluation plan will include a qualitative survey of teacher and student experiences, as well as parent and community support, including the manner and level of support on the part of the school administrations whose teachers have participated in the workshops, collected at the end of the project period. Measurement of outcomes will provide quantitative data reflecting teacher and student progress and accomplishments. These data will prove invaluable in terms of our longterm objective of encouraging the Palestinian Authority to adopt peace and democracy education.

External and independent auditors will be responsible for financial monitoring.

When? Internal monitoring by Hope Flowers School staff will take place continuously. External evaluators will be contracted for the whole project. External auditors will be contracted at the end of the project.

Sustainability

What benefits will last beyond the end of the project and how will the project ensure these benefits are sustained? This is a training programme providing participants with the necessary skills to implement peace and democratic education at their schools. At the end of the project, teachers and school directors will be able to integrate peace and democratic education concepts into their schools. This will not require further funding and will not incur extra financial burdens for the schools.

The longterm benefits, as with education as a whole, will emerge over a period of years, in general social terms and also in the lives of participating individuals.

An observation: amongst Palestinians and Israelis, it is observable that those who are most tolerant toward people on the other side have in most cases experienced significant early-life contact with members of the other side. We expect this project to have a similar longterm effect on tolerance and understanding. We believe such education to be an integral part of longterm social peace-building in our country. This belief is consistent with data and experience worldwide, concerning conflict-resolution.

Implementation Steps

Step 1: Develop a training programme for teachers.

Activity: The trainers will consult with local, national and international schools and organisations already involved in the training of teachers in peace and democratic education. The consultation is intended to yield two training models: one for training of Palestinian core trainers and the other for training of teachers. One manual for core trainers and another manual for the training of teachers will be produced. Parallel to preparing the training manuals, demographic information about all involved schools will be compiled. Schools will be selected on a basis of analysis of this demographic information.

Input needed. Fees for trainers, international experts and supporting staff. Communication and transportation costs.

Output. One training manual for core trainers and one for teachers. Indicator of output. HFS sends a copy of the training manual to British Consulate before the end of the first three months.

Step 2: Train 18 Core Trainers from different schools to become trainers of teachers.

Activity: (three seminars each day, for three days). Training of core trainers. Training to be conducted in five parts: Part 1: the art of presentation; Part 2: the art of giving feedback during training; Part 3: teaching techniques. Part 4: leadership training. Part 5: team-building.

Input needed: Hall reservation, laptop computer plus portable printer, flip charts and markers, training material, stationery, refreshments, transportation, meals, fee for chief trainers.

Output: a group of 18 core trainers. At the end of month 5, each of these will have worked as a trainer for at least two to three days in teacher training seminars.

Indicator of output: a list of names of the trained trainers and a written report describing the training, will be sent by Hope Flowers School. Hope Flowers School will send an overview of training courses presented for teachers, specifying place, dates, names of trainers and participants every three months.

Step 3: Ensure the cooperation and support of school directors (pilot programme).

Activity: A two-day workshop for 30 school directors.

Input needed: Hall reservation, meals, fee for the trainer.

Outputs. School directors who will support the project.

Indicator of output. A list of school directors supportive of the project

Step 4: Conduct pilot programme, training 30 teachers working at 10 schools in Bethlehem, 3 teachers from each school.

Activity: The pilot programme will check the validity of the training model made by the trainers and further develop the training model before implementing the programme on a larger scale. Each training will be conducted by a chief trainer and 2 co-trainers (new trainers). There will be two training seminars, each consisting of 3 days. Teacher training will preferably take place during school vacations.

Input needed: Hall reservation for conducting courses and meetings, flip charts, markers, training material, stationery, refreshments, transportation, meals, fee for the chief trainers, fees for co-trainers.

Output: By the end of month 5, at least 30 teachers will have participated in 2 training seminars each. Indicator of output: HFS provides a list of participants and a written report on the training seminars specifying all items presented.

Step 5: Train 60 teachers working in 20 schools, 3 teachers at each school.

Activity: First training of teachers aimed at increasing existing skills in democratic education, by chief trainers and 2 co-trainers. The co-trainers are selected by the chief trainers. Four seminars of 3 days each.

Input needed: Hall reservation for conducting training courses and meetings, flip charts and markers, training material stationery, refreshments, transportation, meals, fee for the chief trainers, fees for co-trainers.

Output: 60 teachers will have participated in all 4 training seminars.

Indicator of output: HFS provides a list of participants and a written report on the training seminars specifying all items presented.

Step 6: Establish a support system for trained teachers acting as trainers of teachers.

Activity: Bi-monthly support meetings for co-trainers (newly-trained trainers) facilitated by the chief trainers.

Input needed: Hall reservation, stationery, refreshments, transportation, meals, fee for the chief trainer.

Output: After one year the co-trainers will have participated in at least 6 support meetings of 3 hours each, in which they discuss their experiences during the implementation process in their schools.

Indicator of output: A concise written manual for conducting support meetings for co-trainers, based on the experience of the chief trainers.

Step 7: Establish a support system for the trained teachers.

Activity: four support meetings for teachers and 30 x 3 support visits to the schools where the teachers are working. The visits are carried out by the Palestinian co-trainers and supervised by the chief trainers (who are present at the first two support meetings only).

Input needed: Hall reservation, flip charts and markers, stationery, refreshments, transportation, meals, fee for the chief trainers, fees for the school counsellor-trainers.

Output: At the end of this step, the trained teachers will have participated in at least four support meetings of three hours each, in which their experiences with the implementation of democratic education models have been discussed. Teachers will have been visited three times on location by their trainers.

Indicator of output: A concise manual for conducting support-meetings for teachers.

Step 8: Develop and carry out a method for trained teachers to share their knowledge and skills with their untrained colleagues.

Activity: three visits each to 30 schools (10 schools in pilot programme and 20 in the regular programme) = 90 teacher sharing-meetings, two of the 90 facilitated by the chief trainer and the other 88 by core trainers, and 3 x 30 support visits in schools by core trainers during months 9-12.

Input needed: Hall reservation, flip charts and markers, stationery, refreshments, transportation, meals, fee for the chief trainer, fees co-trainers.

Output: After 12 months, all 30 schools involved in the project will have had at least two sharing-meetings, during which trained teachers transfer their insights to their colleagues.

Indicator of output: A concise manual for conducting sharing-meetings.

Step 9: Evaluate the effect of teacher training after the first training course is finished.

Activity: The evaluation will be carried out by the chief trainers, co-trainers and teachers following the training.

Input needed: Transportation, meals.

Output: Suggestions for improvement of the project.

Indicator of output: An evaluation report describing lessons learned.

Step 10: Create a Network of Palestinian Democratic Schools

Activity: Create computer-based projects or summer programmes for students in each participant school, to encourage networking between national and international democratic schools.

Input needed: Two teachers who are willing to coordinate educational projects between their school and other schools.

Output: Educational projects between participant schools in the same or different areas.

Indicator of output: Students and trained teachers and their students build contacts together and use each school's existing resources (such as computer centres) in youth development programmes that serve the general purpose.

Network of Palestinian Democratic Schools

In order to strengthen the new model of democracy in participant schools, students, teachers and community members from across the region will be linked through a Network of Palestine Democratic Schools (NPDS). The members of this network will include schools whose teachers followed the workshops in peace and democratic education, schools that reformed their structure and schools that started to integrate peace & democratic education into their curriculum.

This Network of Palestinian Democratic Schools (NPDS) will bring together preparatory and secondary students, home-schoolers and youth organisations in Palestine and worldwide, to promote a hopeful vision of humanity's most pressing social concerns, inspire community service and encourage personal reflection. NPDS delivers online interdisciplinary content and a framework for project-based learning that will accentuate peer communication and local community interaction.

HOPE FLOWERS SCHOOL

EDUCATION FOR PEACE & DEMOCRACY

PO Box 732, Bethlehem, Palestine

Tel: +972 2 274 0693 / 4975  Fax: +972 2 274 747084

E-mail:

www.hopeflowersschool.org