A PARTY of teachers from Jordan went on a tour of local schools this week as part of an information exchange between the two countries.

The group of four teachers and two head teachers from the Salt region of Jordan spent the week in the region's schools as part of a British Council-sponsored Information Communication Technology pilot project.

With the party were two IT trainers from Jordan, along with director of the British Council in Jordan Rebecca Waltons.

The trip follows a visit made by local teachers and officers from the LEA to Jordan earlier this year.

Since the first visit teachers in both the UK and Jordan have been

exchanging lesson ideas for ICT, maths, english and science via e-mail.

Cumbria County Council education spokesman Coun Joan Stocker said: "Cumbria Education service is

recognised nationally as being in the forefront of ICT development and I am delighted that we are now using our skills internationally.

"This project is aimed at improving IT in less privileged schools in Jordan but it is very much a collaborative effort between Jordan and

Cumbria with both learning from the other."

As part of their tour, the Jordanian teachers visited Heron Hill Primary School in Kendal, as well as schools in Keswick, Barrow, Cockermouth and Whitehaven.