DFID Global School Partnerships (DGSP) programme received the inaugural Steve Sinnott Special Award for Commonwealth Teachers at the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards in Malaysia last week. The ceremony was in recognition of the programme’s contribution to the professional development of teachers in global education.

Andy Egan, Team Leader of the Edinburgh based DGSP team, who attended the awards ceremony, said: 'Teachers are the heartbeat of our programme, and I am very honoured that the efforts of our global team in supporting the professional development of teachers have been recognised in this special way.

'Winning this award will give a great boost to the programme across the Commonwealth, and help to raise our profile further. It gives recognition for the innovative professional development and accreditation opportunities that we provide for teachers engaged in a global school partnership.'

The award follows on from the team's recent success alongside its consortium partners, in being awarded a new three year contract to continue their successful DGSP programme.

The new three year contract, worth £22.4 million, will allow the team to continue to promote and support partnerships between schools in the UK and schools in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Megan Jones, 17, from Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni in Wales and Isuru Aminda Vithanage, 16, from Nalanda College in Sri Lanka made keynote presentations at the Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers.

They stole the show when they told Commonwealth leaders about their schools' involvement with the DGSP programme.

'It was brilliant to be able to tell Commonwealth Ministers from around the world how important partnerships like ours are,' said Megan, who spoke about her school’s partnership with Gowrie Technical School in Ghana.

'Our teachers have been incredibly enthusiastic about the partnership and have done so much work to make it a success. It’s important for young people to share their experiences of DGSP as they are the ones who are really benefiting from the programme,' she added.

The programme was also honoured as one of nine finalists for the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards 2009 which give governments, civil society and non-governmental organisations from around the world an opportunity to share their innovative work.

This award adds to previous recognition that DGSP has received, including a Council of Europe World Aware Education Awards in 2008 for excellence in networking, partnerships and co-ordination to increase and improve global education.

DGSP supports teachers and learners from the UK to learn about global development issues together with partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The British Council is the lead partner in the consortium that delivers the Department for International Development (DFID) funded programme, which also includes the Cambridge Education Foundation, UK One World Linking Association and VSO.