27 May 2010

On her VSO assignment, Vanessa Dunstan used her primary school skills to achieve Guyana's professional development vision to tackle severe teacher shortages.

A contribution that brings a lifetime of difference

Guyana's government is investing in the professional development of its teachers to tackle the issue of severe teacher shortages in rural areas through in-service training courses. It is an initiative that also aims to reduce class sizes, increase attendance at school and improve literacy rates.

Often these courses take place in colleges some distance from the schools, so children are left without teachers for one or two weeks at a time.

A national volunteering program is set to change this, with Guyana's young people playing a crucial volunteering role in the country's classrooms. VSO has teamed up with Youth Challenge Guyana. The program has drawn on VSO expertise in volunteer management to recruit and train a team of 12 young national volunteer teachers to work in rural schools across the country.

Eighteen-year-old Valessa Harding is one of the programs first recruits. After leaving school she wanted to become a teacher, but she decided to participate in a volunteer position at the Aranaputa Primary School first, to see if it was the profession for her.

"We have 86 children here, six classes and just two teachers," Valessa said. "When Miss Leona goes for her training, it's just Miss Camelia and me [managing the classes]."

Valessa is not just gap filling, she is also giving children the opportunity to learn in a fun, interactive way. To do this Valessa has received training from Australian primary school teacher and VSO volunteer Vanessa Dunstan.

"We ran some hands-on, practical workshops for the national volunteers," Vanessa explained. "Some of them were having problems with pronunciation, so we got them practising the 'a', 'e' and 'o' sounds so that they'll be confident in delivering phonics lessons."

With the headstart and experience Valessa has gained through volunteering, she now plans to attend teacher training college.

"I already do a lot of what the teachers do, like writing lesson plans and making teaching aids, so it will be a great help at college," she said.

Vanessa hopes that Valessa will work in a rural school when she finishes college.

"These young volunteers are so eager and have so much to offer. If they manage to stay in rural areas and enthuse other people, that will create a knock on effect."

Through the AVI / VSO Partnership, AVI recruits Australian health, education and fundraising professionals for long-term VSO assignments in Africa, Asia and South America. Find out more about the partnership.