International study visits

Target audience: primary and post-primary practitioners with a responsibility for supporting young people with special educational needs (this includes SENCO in mainstream settings as well as practitioners in special schools and units)

Location: Canada (Vancouver)

Objective: to improve further teaching and learning for young people with special educational needs by:

• understanding the policy and local context relating to young people with special educational needs
• observing and learning from the experience of others who are working with young people with special educational needs
•  learning from the challenges and the successes which practitioners have experienced
• sharing observations and
• planning actions on return

Target audience: primary practitioners with responsibility for the teaching of Modern Languages

Location: France

Objective: to improve further the teaching of Modern Languages at primary level in Northern Ireland by:

• understanding the policy relating to ML at primary level
• observing and learning from the experience of others who are introducing an ML in schools to children of primary school age
• learning from the challenges and the successes which practitioners in France have experienced
• seeing ML teaching in a variety of contexts including a new bilingual teaching initiative
• sharing observations and
• planning actions on return

Deadline to apply: Monday, 6th January 2020, 23:59 GMT.

Target audience: post-primary practitioners with a responsibility for introducing relevant LGBTQ examples into the curriculum and addressing issues of discrimination

Location: USA (San Francisco)

Objective: to increase understanding of ways to include LGBTQ inclusion within schools by:

• understanding the policy relating to LGBTQ 
• seeing LGBTQ examples within the curriculum including in social and emotional learning contexts
• observing and learning from strategies to address issues of LGBTQ discrimination
• learning from the challenges and the successes which practitioners in the USA have experienced
• sharing observations and
• planning actions on return

Applicants must:

• Hold a position within their school where they can influence change on their return
• Have permanent or fixed term employment status within a school in Northern Ireland. They must be contracted to remain in post in their current school until the end of the 2020-2021 school year.
• Applicants must not have participated in any other Department of Education NI funded British Council international study visit in the past five years

Please note:

• Participants must be eligible to travel to the relevant country during the visit dates (16-21 February 2020). Subcover is not provided.
• Permission to participate, if successful, must be obtained in advance of application from the Principal. 
• British Council will provide the costs for flights, accommodation, travel in host country and some meals. Participants and/or their school will be responsible for the costs of insurance, relevant visas/waivers, travel to/from airport in home country and some meals.
• Participants must be available to attend a mandatory pre-departure briefing in January in the British Council office in Belfast
• Participants must deliver a mandatory dissemination workshop on their study visit with their group in the Autumn term 2020

Application Deadline – Sunday 8 December 2019 23:59 GMT.

Please email any queries to iepni@britishcouncil.org