Volunteering
Volunteering
Case study: Helen Collinson
After four years teaching in St. Sylvester's Infant School in Malahide I felt it was time for a new adventure so I'm off to do two years of voluntary work with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas). VSO is an international development charity which promotes volunteering to fight global poverty and disadvantage.
I will be living and working in a rural town named Zebilla which is in Northern Ghana, very close to the border with Burkina Faso. I will be working for the Ghana Education Service which has given me the fancy title of "District Teacher Support Officer". This involves travelling around on my motorbike to schools in the district promoting literacy and providing inservice training in different methods of teaching English for the teachers. Only 9% of pupils in the area completing Primary School can read with understanding. Our goal in VSO is to break this cycle and to offer education to try and ensure that an increased number of these children can read with understanding by the time they leave primary school.
In this way I will reach many teachers, which in turn will have a positive effect on the classroom experience of even more children, so my work will be sustainable and help in a small way to build a fairer world. I know that I will also learn and that I stand to gain so much from this experience.
- Contact the VSO Ireland office to find out about opportunities with VSO.
- Find out if VSO recruits professionals with your skills.