Childcare students share ideas in Africa

Lecturers Pam Torry, Chris Hope and Penny Borkett, and 17 second-year students are on a 25-day trip, beginning with the three-day conference at the British Council in Ghana's capital, Accra.

Ghana's minister for women and children's affairs, Honourable Juliana Azumah Mensah, will speak about the country's vision for young children.

The conference will also be attended by the director of the National Nursery Teacher Training Centre, Evelyn Quartey-Papafio, and national co-ordinator for children Ruth Addison. They will be joined by the government's advisory board, university lecturers and early years practitioners from around the country.

Lead lecturer Pam Torry said, 'The conference focus is on how children learn and think through play, change management and the inclusion of children with special needs, as there is no training at the moment for this.'

Ms Torry said there are similarities between the UK and Ghana's national policy on early childcare and education. 'Ghana's national policy is clear on the importance of learning through play and parent participation,' she said. 'The issue for them is implementation, so they are keen to have support with practitioner knowledge such as our team has.'

Childcare student Louise Pratt, from Hull, said, 'We will also be doing a lot of observational work.

I'm looking forward to see how they approach things and hopefully bring back some ideas to settings in the UK.'

Ms Torry added, 'We hope to make an impact on the way Ghana's strategies are implemented in the future and to develop a closer partnership with the developing world, through regular exchanges.'