TEACHERS Alan Vian and Chris McConnell from Hooke Court study centre have set off for Africa for the second time in a year to pass on the skills they use in their everyday jobs.

The duo, who go as unpaid volunteers, left for Malawi last Thursday following a successful trip this August.

Mr Vian said: “It went incredibly well this summer. We worked with more than 1000 children and 50 teachers with a team of two of us from Hooke Court and three others from a primary school in Banbury.

“We did a whole lot of activities both inside and outside the classrooms.

“It really was to take the things we do at Hooke and use that in Malawi to see if we can modify it so they can do outdoor education there.

“Obviously they have very large classes and some of the rooms they work in are fairly small so the idea was to show them they can do things in a bigger space outside of the rooms which would be more effective.

“It went down incredibly well. The teachers and children were very responsive and it was a very exciting time and we learnt a lot.

“As a result of what we did in the summer I am going out for another six weeks to work in a much more concentrated way looking at the teaching approaches and classroom and school management, working with about 10 schools in a very rural area.”

He will also be setting up plans for another visit in the summer of this year when another team – not including Mr Vian – will go again.

Mr Vian said he would be very busy in Lyme with events during the summer.

He added: “And there are so many people who have much greater skills than I have and they will be going out and developing further approaches with their skills.”

Hooke Court has set up a trust fund to develop education in Africa which helps fund the scheme but volunteers pay their own way.

Mr Vian said: “It is a very little thing that we can do and if I felt that going out there way going to be a waste of time I would not go.

“We are not going out there with any money for them. It is not a question of handouts it is a question of developing educational approaches so they go beyond the Year 8 phase because few go beyond that which means they are tied to what they can actually do within their communities.

“It is an amazing experience and I am very honoured to go.”

This time Mr Vian will be accompanied by his wife Lynne who will be helping plant 2,500 trees to help with a re-forestation project.