A government-backed education charity holding a three-day conference for headteachers wouldn’t normally rock too many boats&hellipbut the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust event is
being held on a palm-fringed beach in Mauritius. Twelve state school heads from England and one from Scotland have already signed up for the conference at the five-star Hilton Mauritius Resort and Spa (pictured), which costs &pound1,100 per person not including flights. There are a total of 20 places available for teachers from the UK and a total of 100 attendees are expected. The conference is part of the ‘iNet’ membership scheme, an international network designed to allow schools from around the world to share ideas. Every one of the 470 primary and secondary school in Mauritius has signed up to iNet, and the event follows an invitation from the country’s Prime Minister. A spokesman for the SSAT, which last year received more than half of its &pound61.8m income through grants from the Department of Children, School and Families, told Charity News Alert the event is “not education tourism”. “There will be three days of workshops from 7.30am, until 9pm or 10pm at night. The idea is that schools from around the world can share best practice on what they are doing with their education system and Mauritius can share what it is doing to transform its education system.” He said the teachers would not be “out and about looking at lots of things”, before adding that the conference would include one school visit. “We hold events across the world because it is an international scheme. It would be rather wrong to hold every event in England,” he added. “It is not educational tourism. They will be working very hard during their time there.” Sue Williamson, the director responsible for iNet, added: “If the English education system is to become world class, then we need to look at other countries and discover innovation and improvement wherever it can be found. “This working event provides the opportunity for school leaders from around the world to identify the skills and knowledge young people need to succeed in the 21st century and support the global economy.” 6 May 2009 Social bookmarking buttons are located at the bottom of each story webpage on Professional Fundraising website. Use these buttons if you want to save a story or share it with friends and groups online. Click on the preferred button and this will take you to the appropriate webpage where you can register for free. Once you are registered you can store, share and organise your information across the internet.
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