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Where we do it > Namibia - Derek Angood, NAHT Partnership
Derek Angood is one of eight teachers taking part in the International Extended Placements for School Leaders programme, a joint initiative led by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and VSO. The programme offers NAHT members the opportunity to work in Rwanda and Namibia for 3 months, making significant contributions to the work undertaken by VSO’s long-term volunteers.
Derek has just completed his ninth year of headship at Appleton Roebuck Primary School, a small village school in Yorkshire. He’s now working in Namibia, where for the next 12 weeks he’ll be developing the management skills of head teachers in the Oshana region.
In a school with little ethnic diversity, Derek and his colleagues are always looking for innovative ways to explore a global perspective. In the past they’ve had stories from other cultures in assemblies, modules on Kenya in the geography course and books from a range of cultures in the library. A personal link with another school will take the school’s global perspective much further. So the VSO/NAHT project is a great opportunity for the school as well as for Derek.
Derek’s colleagues have been very supportive of the project. Some will have a rare opportunity to step up and gain management experience in his absence. Derek is confident that the placement will have a positive impact on his own skills too: ‘I expect that this programme will benefit my professional development and that I will return to school in the new academic year revitalised and with a fresh focus to face the ever increasing challenges and expectations of English schools today.’
Having worked in Africa before, Derek had some idea of the challenges he’s likely to face. ‘Going on previous experience, I can imagine I’ll come up against communication and language barriers – and of course problems with water and electricity. But nonetheless I’m looking forward to returning to Africa and getting to know new people and a new culture.’ He’ll have a lot to achieve in the three months he’s in Namibia. ‘I just want to help, and know it’s been worthwhile. I want to improve something that will last.’
Volunteering with VSO is a long held ambition for Derek. A short-term placement is a perfect taster for what he may do when he retires. Before he left for Namibia he told us, ‘The short nature of this secondment means that there’s minimum disruption for my own school. It also allow me to explore the longer term possibilities that I’ve always hoped to undertake in the future.’
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