Training Lecturers Throughout the African Continent

The Teaching and Learning for Higher Theological Education (TALHITE) team had a busy August,running two training courses for lecturers with support from the Local Leaders International Africa Mile Deep Strategy. From the 15th to the 19th of August, lecturers from eight colleges affiliated with St Paul’s University (Kenya), plus two new lecturers from GWC, met online to complete the TALHITE short course, which they started at the beginning of the first semester. This third and final phase offers the lecturers an opportunity to reflect on the teaching experiments they tried during the second (classroom-based) phase and deepens their understanding of wisdom in theological education, student learning, and reflective practice. The group is currently completing their portfolios and will be awarded certificates of participation through the GWC registry.

Then, after only two days turnaround, the team boarded a flight to Cairo, where they’d run the first phase of the lecturer training at Alexandria School of Theology (AST). This was the first time TALHITE had run in person since early 2020. The lecturers at AST are part-time and teach over the Egyptian weekend (Thursday evening to Saturday evening), so the 30-hour course had to be delivered in just 15 hours between the 25th and 27th of August. To ensure that the outcomes are reached, there will be further Zoom sessions over the next three months to help them think through the practical implications of what they learnt. It was wonderful to be back working face-to-face. One lecturer commented,

“I feel blessed in the course because I … not only got the good materials, but I met those cheerful people who do everything with love and humility. I felt that they taught us with Christian spirit; they had a mission, not just a professional take.”