Working Together

While working as a teacher in the United Arab Emirates, I was asked to create a football league to promote a healthy lifestyle and shared sense of community within the catchments of several schools. To ensure this worked, I needed the engagement of schools and parents.

I began by discussing the project with teachers from several schools to understand what challenges the initiative might face and request support in building awareness within their schools. Their feedback was that parents would not back the initiative without the endorsement of headteachers, so I wrote to the headteachers explaining the scheme, outlining the benefits it could bring to their schools and offering to discuss ways we could work together to make it a success.

Most headteachers responded positively, but one reported concerns raised by parents and asked for support. I set up meetings with the parents and spoke with the headteacher beforehand so I knew what issues might come up and tailor my input accordingly. I developed materials focusing on the positive benefits of the scheme and cleared these with the headteacher.

The meeting went well, but some parents still had reservations about their children mixing with other communities, so I invited them to join a physical education lesson to see first hand the positive benefits of this interaction.

As a result, I managed to unite parents, teachers and headteachers, all of whom were fully bought into the scheme and ended up dedicating a lot of time and energy to ensure its success.

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