The Australia-Indonesia BRIDGE Project aims to increase knowledge and understanding between Australia and Indonesia through school-to-school partnerships that link students in both countries.

63 schools across Australia have partnered 62 Indonesian schools from eight Indonesian provinces since 2008. 11 of the Indonesian schools are Basic Education Program (BEP) schools, an Australian Government initiative aimed at building 2000 schools in disadvantaged areas across Indonesia.

The Australia Indonesia Institute (AII) has received funds from The Myer Foundation and AusAID to support the BRIDGE project. The Asia Education Foundation (AEF) manages the project.

132 Australian and 127 Indonesian educators (259 in total) from 63 Australian and 62 Indonesian schools have joined the BRIDGE Project since 2008.

18 schools from across Australia have partnered 18 Indonesian schools drawn from four Indonesian provinces in 2011. Of the Indonesian schools, 2 are Basic Education Program (BEP) schools. Two teachers from each school participated in the 2011 BRIDGE Project professional learning program and continue to engage with their Indonesian/Australian counterparts and connect their classrooms through the school partnerships.

Here is a brief overview of some of the content that can be found on the Project’s website:

Training Materials

• Instructive materials to assist teachers and students with the use of new technologies in the classroom.
• Includes ‘How to’ sheets and some of the theory underpinning school partnerships and cross-cultural interactions.
• All materials are freely available for download.

Collaborations

• A suite of information and online collaborative activities developed for the BRIDGE Project to support Australian and Indonesian schools to collaborate.
• Collaborative activities range from 4-10 weeks in duration and focus on a variety of themes to suit many learning areas.
• Format of collaborative activities templates provides teachers with a ready-made lesson plan that incorporates new technologies in the classroom. There is even a template to assist teachers in designing their own collaborative activity.
• We suggest teachers start with the Getting Started activity.

Discussion Forum

• A meeting place for BRIDGE Project participants to discuss key issues and share learning experiences.
• This is a closed discussion group for BRIDGE Project participants only.

Online Tools

• Guides to assist teachers and students to use online tools to undertake collaborative activities and online interaction.