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Background...

Since 2006 Living Earth has been working with the communities on the North Slope of Alaska to help to promote the sustainable development of the area. We have been working in particular with the schools to promote effective education for the local communities.

 

Living Earth has developed the 'Polar Pairs' School Exchange programme for schools on the North Slope and in Aberdeenshire, Scotland to promote shared learning between teachers, students and the wider community in both regions.


Although these two regions are poles apart, they share a number of similar issues and challenges, namely rurality, the importance of traditional local culture, the impact of the development of the oil industry in the regions, and the various social environmental and economic issues that arise from that.



Barrow, Alaska

Banff, Aberdeenshire

Scottish, American and Alaskan flags

The Polar Pairs programme aims to facilitate an exchange of ideas and realities to promote effective education for the local communities, encouraging the development of confidence and self-esteem amongst the young people and promoting cultural understanding and awareness of and in both regions

The programme takes a 3-pronged approach incorporating academic, cultural and vocational elements. Within the programme there will be self-sustaining ‘pockets’ of teacher-to-teacher interaction, incorporating exchanges of resources and ideas, as well as actual teacher exchanges to both regions every year; in time this will incorporate a student exchange.

The programme recently celebrated its two year anniversary. Read an evaluation of the achievements and challenges to date here...

The school exchange visits so far...

Living Earth has so far facilitated six visits in the Polars Pairs programme (and one virtual visit following volcanic disruptions...)

The first visit took place in October 2007, when five education professionals from the North Slope travelled to Aberdeenshire to share their teaching experiences and to gain first hand knowledge about schooling in North East Scotland.

Read a full report of the October 2007 visit here.

In February 2008, Aberdeenshire teachers returned the visit, developing the links between the schools and participating in artistic workshops which attracted the attention of the local North Slope paper 'The Arctic Sounder'.

Read the press article here.

Read a full report of the February 2008 visit here.

Engaging with youths in Barrow
The success of these first two visits paved the way for a third exchange in May 2008 as five more teachers from the North Slope ventured to Aberdeenshire. The visit built on the success of the previous trips and the visitors were teamed up with different host schools, enabling them to immerse themselves in the Scottish education system.

Read a full report of the May 2008 visit here.

Visiting Banff Academy, Aberdeenshire

Learning about traditional activities such as skin sewing

The fourth trip took place in November 2008 as a second group of teachers from Aberdeenshire were welcomed on the North Slope, visiting schools and learning centres and building on the relationships that have been developed over the course of the last two years.

Students, teachers and community member took part in a photography project, exploring issues of identity and the visitors were welcomed at the district wide Inupiat Culture Day that coincided with the end of the trip.

Read a full report of this trip here.

The fifth trip took place in May 2009 as six teachers from the North Slope braved the British spring and visited the participating schools in Aberdeenshire. Living Earth was pleased to welcome the addition of a new school into the programme, the Torry Academy in central Aberdeen.

The trip gave teachers the opportunity to explore areas of particular interest such as the issue of vocational education and the trip attracted the attention of one of Aberdeen's local papers; as 'The Banffshire Journal' discussed the similarities that the Scottish and Alaskan eduaction professionals shared.

Read a full report of the trip here.
Read a copy of the article here.

In July 2009, the Polar Pairs School Exchange Programme featured in the 'Times Educational Supplement Scotland (TESS)'.

Read the full article here.

Six Scottish teachers embarked on the sixth exchange visit to Alaska in October 2009, also marking the two year anniversary of the Polar Pairs Exchange programme.

Read a report of the trip and an evaluation of the programme to date here...

The teacher exchange visit planned for April 2010 was postponed after a group of six teachers from across the North Slope Borough were forced to turn back and head for home in the face of the volcanic eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull. However, the Scottish schools were not defeated, and whilst pupils at Banchory Academy got creative making a short film about their school and community to share with their Alaskan peers, Alford Primary held a day of storytelling and comic book creation based around the Doric tale ‘The Skinny Coo’. The Alaskan teachers will have the opportunity to appreciate the fruits of all this labour during their rescheduled visit in September.

For more information on the project please contact Laura Whitby, Living Earth's Programme Coordinator for Alaska.

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Alaska in a Nutshell

News

Alaska - Background

School Exchange Programme

Polar Pairs Map

Long Conversation

Contact

 

 

Visit the Polar Pairs website to find out more about the Exchange Programme

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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