Geraldton applauded for intercultural programs

Geraldton was the only regional city in Australia to host a professional development day for teachers involved in the Australia-Indonesia BRIDGE Partnerships Project.

Development days were held in every capital city and Geraldton was selected as a location for the event due to the large cohort of schools involved in the project.

Asia Education Foundation international programs manager and Australia-Asia BRIDGE Partnerships Project manager Aaron O’Shannessy was in Geraldton last Monday to hold the educational session.

Mr O’Shannessy said the purpose of the development day was to bring teachers together to share partnership experiences and introduce them to new resources.

He said Geraldton schools had a strong approach in regards to their relationship with Indonesia.

“There seems to be a strong community approach and the schools really support each other,” he said.

“It is really good to see successful partnerships and schools sharing advice, tips and the challenges they face in their partnerships with each other.”

During the session teachers focused on Asian cross-curriculum priorities in the Australian curriculum and learnt about new social media tools.

Project teachers from Mount Tarcoola Primary School, Geraldton Grammar School, John Willcock College and Bluff Point Primary School were all in attendance.

Allendale Primary School and Waggrakine Primary School are also part of the program.

Geraldton Primary School is set to join the program in 2013.

BRIDGE stands for Building Relationships through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement.

There are 80 Australia-Indonesia school partnerships.

The project aims to build intercultural understanding through innovative partnerships and direct engagement.