Curious Minds

It’s now five days since I returned from Oman, inspired by the warmth and hospitality of the people and determined to develop a more internationally focussed flavour within our work. It has been hard readjusting, not just to the cold, but to several days of catching up with e-mails and administration, so I’ve had little time to digest my experiences.

It would be far to simple to make direct comparisons between the UK and Oman and the ways in which we approach the challenges that are common to us all – our contexts are so different. Forty years ago, under the inspirational leadership of its leader Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, Oman started to emerge from a terrible period of isolation and stagnation. At the time there were only three schools in the entire country – now there are over one thousand. So there has been much catching up to do, and the Omani people continue to demonstrate an admirable level of commitment and hard work to further developing educational provision. Their philosophy is straightforward – to look around and take the best from wherever they spot excellence and innovation, while maintaining their commitment to Islamic and National values. I was fortunate to meet with senior Government representatives who were very interested in developing more creative approaches to teaching and learning, having concluded that there are many lessons to be learned from our experience of the Creative Partnerships programme as well as the other areas of work in which we are engaged. So let’s hope for the best with regard to a long term partnership with this wonderful country. Do get in touch if you have experience of working in the Gulf region or have ideas for collaborative activity – we’re hoping to set up exchange programmes for artists and young people sometime in the near future.

I feel very fortunate at the moment to be participating in  Community Exchange programme organised by the British Council and VSO, between Pennine Lancashire and Oman. A group of 13 people from a variety of professions related to education and social care are visiting the capital Muscat and living with Omani Families for 3 weeks. While we are naturally concerned about our friends back in the UK who are experiencing so many problems with the weather, we have to be honest and say that it is wonderful here and about 28 degrees (it’s the coldest time of year in Oman).

There is a huge amount to be learned from these wonderful friendly people and you’ll become accustomed to me singing the praises of Oman. My main learning is about about Islam and how this faith is practiced here with a spirit of openess and modernity that is truly inspiring. I  am learning that so much of what we know in the West about Arab culture is filtered by a worrying Islamophobic bias and that we can only really understand the nature of others’ faith my travelling and meeting with a wide range of people from different countries. It’s a statement of the blinding obvious of course, but the experience is very powerful and inspirational.

So what does this mean for Curious Minds? Well, I hope we can develop a wide range of contacts with international cultural partners. This link with the Gulf region is only a beginning. Most importantly I hope we can create opportunities for young people and cultural practitioners in the North West to participate in exchange programmes so that we can explore what global diversity really means. These people love education and the children are hungry for it – can we learn from Oman how we can generate that sort of appetite among our young people?