Basseterre, St. Kitts: On April 07 and 08 the Ministry of Education, hosted its Easter In-service Training Programme for the new staff who began teaching at the start of the 2020-2021 school year in September. The sessions were held at the Immaculate Conception Catholic School Auditorium.
The primary focus of this professional development session as noted by Minister of Education, Honourable Jonel Powel was the continued promotion of professionalising the teaching cohort in the primary and secondary schools in the Federation.
“I see it as two-fold. I see it as an opportunity for us [Ministry of Education] to help to further develop you as teachers and your ability to pass on the knowledge and teach the children…but at the same time we see it as important for your own personal development”, he said.
The teachers were exposed to many core values and guiding principles that are outlined in the Education Sector Plan which includes classroom management, the writing of behavioural objectives, and inclusion in the classroom amongst others.
Ms. Denisha Abbott, a teacher at the Basseterre High School in speaking on the content learned about Inclusion in the classroom explained that teachers should ensure that the content being taught is received by all students regardless of their different learning styles and abilities.
Mr. Wricherley Gumbs, a trained teacher at Verchilds High School expressed how timely, necessary and advantageous the presentations were. “I have benefited tremendously from being apart of this training course specifically as it has been a refresher…the content and experiences gained help to reinforce some concepts that I would have learned in Teacher Education.
The Ministry of Education continues to invest in the professional development of its teachers as a mobilizing force to improve the development of education within the country.
