Professional Development & Consulting
Bhutan Place-based Education
Bhutan Place-Based Education Partnerships
he Jim Petersen Bhutan Education Trust Fund, with an endowment, was established with Teton Science Schools in Wyoming, USA in 2008 for the purpose of developing place-based education in Bhutan.
Since that time, the impact of the partnerships has included:
- 6 delegations of Bhutanese visiting Teton Science Schools, and 10 delegations of Teton Science Schools’ representatives visiting Bhutan
- Thousands of Bhutanese educators trained in Place-based education
- 7 Bhutanese educators completing the TSS Graduate Program and 3 alumni of the TSS Graduate or AmeriCorps program serving as Place-based Fellows in Bhutan
- About 40% of the curriculum in Bhutan revised to include Place-based education
- Bhutanese Master’s programs revised to include place-based education training.
3 Phases of Teton Science Schools Partnerships
in Bhutan since 2008
Phase One
2008-2012
Bhutanese coming to TSS – graduate students & teacher delegates:
- Seeing place-based education in action
- Training teams of teachers
- Graduate education for Bhutanese at TSS Graduate Program
Phase Two
2013-2018
TSS to Bhutan – training teachers and building capacity in Bhutan:
- Training more teachers & lecturers
- Developing teacher leaders
- Laying the groundwork for Bhutanese-led place-based education trainings & curriculum re-writes
Phase Three
2019-2024
Deepening capacity & impact:
- Fellowship – for an alumnus of the TSS Graduate or AmeriCorps program to live and work in Bhutan for 1-2 years
- Alternating years of exchange visit – TSS to Bhutan or Bhutanese to US
- Providing direct funding to our partners in Bhutan – for place-based activities, curriculum, training, and studies
- With Covid, adjusting to virtual PBE courses and more funding to partners; amended agreements.
"Ever since we have brought in the approach of Place-based Education, it greatly impacted the learners in many different ways. It impacted the learners ability to connect themselves to the places where they live and they have showed great improvement of academic achievement."
~Kinley Zam, teacher at My Gadikh Village School
Fellowship in Bhutan
Since 2008, Teton Science Schools has been supporting the integration of place-based education into Bhutan. Our fellows have the opportunity to further our work and partnership in Bhutan by living and teaching in a year abroad. Fellows will teach Master’s and undergraduate students, as well as elementary age school-children (~5-9 years old).
