On 14th January 2026, Rosi Smith had the privilege of visiting Havana’s prestigious Enrique José Varona Institute of Pedagogical Sciences to meet course leaders and experts in primary practice and special educational needs, facilitated by Yanay Cortes Diaz, Deputy Dean of Post-graduate Study and Research at the Varona’s Faculty of Childhood Education.
In addition to planning for future training to be delivered by Cuban partners on our sensory exchange project, we discussed potential collaboration between The Varona and De Montfort University’s Education Studies team, including virtual student exchanges, comparative studies, development of sensory practice with families, sharing pedagogical materials for flipped classroom learning, and joint publication to support these national best-practice leaders to share their research internationally.