Text
of an open letter from Christina Preston to the E-Mulan Community following
their visit in January 2003
I would like to thank both the UK and the Chinese teachers for their excellent response to the suggestion that we might do some school exchanges. The Chinese teachers' presentations were such a help in understanding what Chinese education is like at the moment. I know UK teachers were struck by similarities in our approach rather than differences.
It was also particularly pleasing to have a mixed group of heads and senior teachers as well as classroom teachers. Running a good school or college is a question of teamwork. It was very clear that each of you has an important role to play in moving your schools forward.
We do not want these warm feelings of friendship and the opportunity for long term exchanges to dissolve away. Most of you had made excellent contacts and had plans for projects. The MirandaNet Fellowship would like to give these plans a boost by providing a MirandaNet web page for the Mulan Community.
On this page we have put a list of the participants and their emails. We would like you to add your website if this is appropriate. I have written a short report on the project and added some pictures. Please send any reports and photographs you would like put on this page to the web editor. This is as far as we can go until decisions have been taken about further funding for the project. These long term funding decisions do not need to affect your enthusiasm to work together on projects that already fit in with your school or college development plan.
I have attached an article that I have written for the Times Educational Supplement about Chinese Education. I would be delighted if you send comments and perhaps additions to this. Josephine Kingsford will also be contributing an article on teaching and learning styles. We would love to hear from the Chinese their observations about our education. Remember we agreed we have much to learn from each other.
I would like to extend our appreciation and thanks to Actis and Promethean who funded the school visits and the reception at the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Without this funding we would not have been able to build the relationships that we have. I applaud these companies' imaginative gesture. I have put the company logos and web sites on the Mulan page in case you would like to contact them directly.
I would also like to thank the guides you had for the visits, Josephine Kingsford, Amy Scott-Baker and Marion Scott-Baker. I am sure the schools would be very interested in any reports and pictures our Chinese colleagues can put on the web page for us.
Warmest thanks also go to the UK teachers and heads who hosted these visits. The four schools involved were Cheam School in Reading, Blue Gate Fields Infants and Junior Schools in London, Waldegrave Girls School at Twickenham, and Chafford Hundred Campus in Essex. Each of these schools put extra time and effort into making the Chinese welcome and encouraging them to ask questions. This time was very much appreciated by the visitors. Thank you.
Please let us know if we have let anyone off the list of participants. Your contact for this is Anne Dobson , MirandaNet Fellowship Secretary.
Christina Preston, Director of MirandaNet
Mulan Webpage
UK/Chinese Curriculum Exchange
(TES Article)
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