University project awarded funding to improve early childhood education training in Indonesia

University of Gloucestershire has further strengthened its longstanding partnerships in Indonesia after being awarded £29,900 by the British Council’s Going Global Partnerships (GGP) programme to support a new collaborative project.

The funding from GGP – supported by the British Council to connect education institutions around the world – will support the University’s learning exchange project with Universitas Ahmad Dahlan (UAD) in Indonesia.

The project is aimed at enhancing early childhood and inclusive education training, with a particular focus on Inclusion and Special Educational Needs (SEN provision).

The University’s School of Education and Humanities and the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education at UAD will build on their expertise in teacher training and provision of Early Childhood and Education courses, to share best practice and knowledge.

The project will include visits by teaching staff and students to each university and the development and implementation of a bespoke online course. It will build on the highly successful cross-national peer-to-peer mentoring scheme between Education students at the University and the University of Girona in Spain, partly funded through the Janet Trotter Trust.

It also aims to spearhead the roll-out of opportunities for University students to take part in collaborative online international learning with students from other countries, helping them to develop transnational competencies and cultural literacy.

Dr Alex Masardo (pictured), Academic Subject Leader for Education within the University’s School of Education and Humanities, said: “We’re very grateful to the British Council and their Going Global Partnership programme for the award of £29,900 for our project with Universitas Ahmad Dahlan that will help to support improvements in education.

“One of the main goals is to support the implementation of Indonesia’s policy to ensure that inclusive education courses support students with disabilities by drawing on the University’s teaching and research focus on Inclusion and Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND).”

Since 2015, the University, which is a partner in the UK’s Skills for Prosperity Programme in Indonesia, has built networks and partnerships focused on working with Indonesian universities on student employability, enterprise, business support and economic development.

As well as building capacity and skills in this emerging economy, these partnerships have developed new programmes with students and staff to promote stronger employability, greater resilience, leadership capacity, and closer engagement with local business communities. 

The wide-ranging impacts of the University’s partnerships in Indonesia were presented to the Indonesian Ambassador on a visit to the University’s Oxstalls Campus in 2021 and to delegates from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, the British Embassy Jakarta and the International Labour Organisation in November 2022.

‘Enhancing early childhood and inclusive education training through developing cultural literacy: a UK – Indonesia HEI transnational blended learning exchange’ is supported by a UK-Indonesia Going Global Partnerships (GGP) Grant 2022 from the British Council’s Going Global Partnerships programme. The programme builds stronger, more inclusive, internationally connected higher education and Technical and Vocational Education and Training  systems.

Main image: A Teacher Training student from University of Gloucestershire student on placement