Roisin plans Guyana trip to train teachers

English teacher Roisin Morrison is slightly worried about spiders '“ but it won't stop her helping at a teacher training camp in Guyana in the summer.
Teacher Roisin Morrison with Shuttleworth students Courtney Keeton and Thomas Travis (s)Teacher Roisin Morrison with Shuttleworth students Courtney Keeton and Thomas Travis (s)
Teacher Roisin Morrison with Shuttleworth students Courtney Keeton and Thomas Travis (s)

Roisin (24) teaches at Shuttleworth College and will spend four weeks in South America in the summer through the charity LRTT - Limited Resource Teacher Training.

It’s the first time she has made a trip so far but she is determined to help to boost the level of education taught in the remote villages near the Amazon Rain Forest.

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“In Guyana, teachers receive little or no training when they leave school and the standard of education therefore is poor,” said Roisin.

“The charity has been asked by the Ministry for Education in Guyana to work in the more remote villages in the country, to train teachers and work with the schools that exist there, as there is only one teacher training college in the whole of Guyana.

“I will be going with a team of 20 teachers from all over the UK and we will spend the summer observing classes taught in various villages, teaching lessons there ourselves, running various workshops for the teachers and providing specific training.

“There are no text books, white boards or writing equipment and the children have to memorise everything – as well as the classrooms being packed.

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“It’s an incredible opportunity and one which I think will develop me personally and professionally.

“I have had to have a number of vaccinations and we will be near the Amazon so there will be spiders, snakes and all kinds of creatures when we sleep in our hammocks.

“I am not scared of spiders although I don’t know which poisonous ones there are out there so I might be soon!”

Roisin will pay for her flight but is hoping to raise around £1,000 to fund the project.

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“It will be an eye-opener for me and I hope to establish links there with Shuttleworth to make sure it is an education for everyone.”

To raise funds, Roisin is going to cycle the Leeds/Liverpool canal which is around 128 miles and she also has other plans which Shuttleworth students are helping with.

“I am planning a Caribbean Mile – where students, staff and parents run a mile around Shuttleworth with a Caribbean theme – a non-uniform day and perhaps an Amazon nature trail for our enrichment students. I am nervous but want to make a difference.”

To help Roisin go to crowdfunding.justgiving.com/roisininguyana

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