Newsletter and Annual Report 2023
HELGA TODD FOUNDATION Newsletter and Annual Report
November 2023
This newsletter is an update to the newsletter of March 2023 and incorporates an overview of the last 2 years and the activities that the Helga Todd Teachers’ Education Foundation (HTTEF) has undertaken since the onset of Covid over three years ago.
Trustees and associates have spent the period since the death of the foundation’s founder, Ram Todd, in January 2020, (which also coincided with the arrival of Covid) exploring and developing both new partnerships and alternative ways of working whilst maintaining our focus on the mission so dear to Ram Todd’s heart, namely “to advance education by the promotion of teaching in India, Nigeria, Indonesia, the UK and Germany ……. firstly to women students and teachers and secondly to colleges, other institutions and charities”.
Previously, the charity had concentrated its focus on working with partners in India, undertaking and supporting teacher training across all phases though, more recently, with a strong focus on the early years. Until the onset of Covid, this involved volunteers spending periods of time in India working on and delivering initial teacher training or continuing professional development {CPD] programmes. As a result of the impact of Covid, this changed and we have since continued to support training/run courses by deploying remote learning. These courses have proved to be rich sources of activity and in one case, has led to a formal partnership with another charitable organisation, the Commonwealth Education Trust.
Working with Calcutta Rescue and Commonwealth Education Trust 2030.
https://commonwealtheducationtrust.org/
Calcutta Rescue have two educational centres teaching 650 children with 18 teachers and two counsellors. As well as a Headteacher/School Administrator Each centre has a supervisor.
The headteacher recognised the need for in-service training to develop active pedagogies especially as the majority of his teachers were not trained, though may have completed a variety of diplomas. The Commonwealth Education Trust [CET] 2030 course offers a structured programme with good quality and accessible materials which involve a manageable level of English. Shared learning is a feature of the course and teachers are encouraged to work collaboratively in pairs. The course and its mode of learning appeals to our foundation and we have provided both funding and personnel to support local facilitator and coaches. HTTEF has provided two advisers who support the facilitator and coaches remotely from the UK and they meet together online with the teachers on a roughly monthly basis. The local trainer co-ordinators and our advisers all experience the course modules in advance of the sessions and collaborate over planning and debriefing. The course units have included: Fresh thinking for your classroom; Growth mindset for teachers and learners; Planning lessons to reach all learners; Practical active learning for your classroom (all in 2 parts).
This model has proved highly successful and has encouraged both HTTEF and CET to establish a partnership and a way of working to take forward with other schools and organisations. To that end, we have embarked on the same whole school programme, in working with two schools in India (Him Jyoti in Dehradun and Shri Sain Vidya Mandir, Kaithal, Haryana). We are also in the process of seeking a third school with which to work.
In addition to working with CR, HTTEF has collaborated with 2 other NGOs in India through the period of Covid. All three organisations were confronted with many challenges not least school closures, adapting to remote learning and bringing back pupils once lockdowns were relaxed. Accordingly, we adapted our support to the conditions of the time.
Working on Early Years education with Key Education Foundation in Bangalore
https://www.keyeducationfoundation.org/
During lockdowns, HTTEF undertook bespoke training sessions for the Key Education Foundation ( KEF) training team via Zoom on a range of topics directed towards the early years (EY). Sessions aimed to develop a collaborative method and sustainable way of working with the KEF trainers so that they would develop the skill level of co-ordinators working on the ‘the Affordable Private Schools programme’.
- Teaching and Learning in the Early Years – a five session online course including: How children learn in the early years and the place of play; learning through movement and play; resources for learning from practical activity; environments, routines and set ups; learning through stories.
- Mentor training (this has yet to be developed)
KEF visit to London
Subsequent to the on-line continuing professional development (CPD) programme, HTTEF invited KEF personnel to visit the UK to observe early years practice in a wide range of early years settings. In January 2023, three KEF representatives arrived in London and spent the next fortnight visiting a number of EY settings in the company of HTTEF volunteers and trustees. Most settings were within the M25 area but a couple took our visitors outside London. One was to Wiltshire and the other to St Albans, Hertfordshire. There was scope within the fortnight for social occasions, sightseeing and meeting with HTTEF trustees. Both organisations (HTTEF & KEF) intend to take this working relationship forward and are in the process of formulating plans for the future. The development of EY training standards is one area of interest together with developing support for mentor training.
Delivering a remote CPD (continuing professional development) programme on behaviour management to Peepul.
In 2021, HTTEF planned and delivered a 5 session course on Behaviour Management for teachers of Years 1 – 5 (5 – 9 year olds) – again via Zoom.
We had been tasked to present Peepul trainers with a series of courses. The initial course was on behaviour management and comprised 5 sessions @ 1.5hrs each. The trainers wanted to focus on the age group 5-10 years. The Peepul trainers were presented with our programme. They then used the materials as a basis for their own course, translating the content into Hindi and making their own examples of PowerPoints and videos.
The course addressed the following areas
Day 1 – what is behaviour?
Day 2 – behaviour management
Day 3 – why do we need good behaviour management? Teacher creating an inclusive classroom environment
Day 4 – how to involve children in behaviour management
Day 5 – review of everything learnt
A second course on Talk 4 Learning was planned but, due to local covid conditions, did not take place.
Other initiatives
Him Jyoti is a school in Dehradun that HTTEF knows well. Over the years, it has hosted newly qualified UK teachers the summer before they took up their first teaching jobs in the UK. During the pandemic, the HT approached HTTEF to support the establishment of a cadet corps in the school. This was given serious consideration as it would feed into enrichment and the type of experience that would potentially enhance career paths for young women. HTTEF provided funding for the two initial years – enough to get the corps off the ground.
Young Volunteer Teachers
Before Covid, HTTEF had decided to suspend the YVT programme for one year. This was the foundation’s earliest initiative and has involved newly qualified UK teachers spending the summer prior to taking up their first job in a range of schools across India. The suspension of activity has necessarily extended as a result of Covid. Plans are currently afoot to reopen the programme which may re-start in August 2024 and extend to incorporate a teacher exchange programme (a proposal for the latter is currently under consideration).
Memorial event for Robert Ram Todd, founder of the Helga Todd Teachers’ Education Foundation.
In July 2022, family and friends met with trustees and past and present volunteers to remember and celebrate the life of ‘Ram’ Todd. The event took place at the Benslow Music Centre in Hitchin, Hertfordshire on a sunny summer Saturday. Those present learned about past and current projects and initiatives, the foundation’s achievements and the central role played by Ram Todd. Guests from the Kalgidhar Trust in India attended together with representatives based here in the UK. The Kaldgidhar Akal Academy was an early partner in the work of HTTEF. Other associates were able to join the memorial via a virtual link and the event was recorded and made available for absent friends to access later. Whilst the cause of this event was sad, the day did bring together many people committed to the work of the foundation and affirmed the will to continue its work in the founder’s absence.
We welcome suggestions from our friends and supporters via [email protected] for ways in which we may move the charity and its work forward.
Kate Moorse for the HTTEF trustees