The Turing Scheme supports Global Britain by providing an opportunity for UK organisations from the higher education, further education, vocational education and training and schools sectors to offer their students, learners and pupils life-changing experiences to study or work abroad.
Turing Scheme funding offers many benefits for schools and their pupils. In this piece, we look at some of the key reasons why your school should apply.
The first and most obvious reason is that your pupils will gain first-hand experience of different cultures, societies, environments and heritages – sometimes vastly different – expanding their world view far beyond the borders of the UK.
What they see and do and who they meet while experiencing these types of trips is experiential learning at its best. It will support and add relevance to the subjects the students learn about in your classrooms back home in the UK, creating better engagement and enthusiasm and raising aspirations.
Trips abroad foster a greater rapport and closer personal connections between pupils and their teachers, their peers as well as the new relationships they form during their visits. This can lead to increases in learning motivation and collaboration.
As well as the academic aspects, undertaking these types of trips see pupils grow personally and emotionally – developing empathy for new people and cultures and soft skills such as communication, increased confidence and self-esteem, teamwork and, where relevant, language skills too.
With additional support available for pupils from defined disadvantaged backgrounds, the Turing Scheme also means that your school will be able to offer these life-changing opportunities to those whose social and economic circumstances might otherwise have been a barrier to participation.
Funding can be used to support regular trips, which your school may already have in place, possibly removing the need in any given academic year for parents to contribute or for alternative funds to be used.
Of course, it is not just the pupils who gain from Turing Scheme placements. Accompanying teachers are also exposed to new pedagogical practices and curriculum approaches, working formally and informally alongside their counterparts in receiving organisations. They return with fresh ideas and having had their own enthusiasm boosted, leading to enhanced innovation in your own school.
From an organisational perspective there are significant positive outcomes. The relationships developed on a personal and institutional level with hosting partners when planning and during Turing Scheme placements will enable your school to internationalise itself – creating, or enhancing, an ability to look beyond the UK when developing curriculum and teaching strategies. Think about the kudos your school will gain with parents, pupils and the wider community if it is seen to be offering such enriching international opportunities. It’s certainly not going to do your reputation any harm!
Comments: