As thousands of Belizean youths and their parents prepare for the annual back to school ritual, hundreds of educators are already in the classroom preparing for their return. More than four hundred of them from the Belize District are meeting at the Edward P. Yorke High School this week.
They are participating in the Ministry of Education's annual professional development workshop, designed to assist teachers who come from pre-schools, primary and secondary schools with hopefully new and improved tools to better equip them for the 2010 Academic year.
Cheree King, Deputy Education Officer
"The main focus is what we called CAPS which is looking at the curriculum which is the main focus of any educational institution, then we have assessment which is how we go about evaluating and assessing what is being done. Then the pyramid of intervention; what you had plan is not working, what can you do as a teacher, as a school, as a management a community and even with the parents involving. So all stakeholders assist in the pyramid of intervention as the need arise and
spirituality is also a part of it. Many denominational schools have spirituality as part of their focus but we know today for different reasons some schools were not focusing so much in this aspect. So I ask that they put it in back especially with all the needs that we have in our community today and all negative influences we need to put that spirituality aspect as a main focus again."
Indeed, the reintroduction of some spiritual education into the wider curriculum, as King describes it, indicates that Belize's educators are just about ready to grab at any and all lifelines available as they struggle to keep up with the ever changing challenges of the 21st century.
Jim McFazean
"In 2010 the challenges for teachers are way far much greater than lets say 10 years ago. are these challenges being discussed at this workshop?"
Cheree King, Deputy Education Officer
"Yes these challenges are being discussed because beside CAPS which we are looking at we are also looking at classroom management and this will include positive means of discipline, you know that corporal punishment is out so we have to find positive ways managing our classes and we are not saying that we need a discipline plan but we need a management plan which will be looking at the positive more than the negative and also literacy is also a part of the focus because if we can read and we can write we can do our math, then we will be able to become better educated and make better and wiser decisions."
Working with the Ministry of Education to facilitate in the development and improvement of the teacher/student relationship in Belize, are a group of Rotarian educators coming out of Canada.
Rebecca Riddell-McKay, Canadian Educator
"We are bringing some of the latest and most tested strategies to work on in the classroom with the students and with the teachers. One of that topic that was my topic that I was really close to what I do at home is Balanced Literacy. We were talking about Balanced Literacy and I was really please to see that some classes are already onboard with a Balanced Literacy approach, other classes for some teachers it was new. I was good to be getting everybody on the same page."
Jim McFadzean
"What is Balanced Literacy?"
Rebecca Riddell-McKay, Canadian Educator
"Balanced Literacy is an approach to literacy that uses a phonics approach and a whole language approach. So you are doing some direct instruction as to how the sounds work, how the letters go together to make certain sounds and then also you are using good literature, and guided writing time and independent writing time and independent reading time and then guided reading is a really big component of it where the teacher work with small groups of students while the other kids are doing some independent work and she helps them to improve their reading."
There is little or no divide amongst countries when it comes to education, most of the challenges are the same, except for one!
Rebecca Riddell-McKay, Canadian Educator
"We've had many discussions where I say 'wow, you sound like Canadian teachers' because we are talking about the same issues. Resources in Belize is something that is a huge topic, the teachers know that they don't have a lot of resources here. The same can be said for some of the teachers in Canada, but for the most part we have a lot of resources we are very fortunate, but some of the commonalities that have are the parents issues that we have; how do you deal with parents in a situation?; what do you say? And then with administrators; how do I get my administrator onboard with this thing that I want to do in my classroom. Also just time, nobody has enough time to do what they want to do to get all the materials ready to do all the planning that they are expected to do and then to still have time to work with all those children in the classroom."
With Belize's literacy rate on a downward slide and crime amongst Belize's youth on the rise, the challenges of 2010 are far greater than a decade ago. And so it's hoped that this body of educators meeting this week here at the Edward P Yorke High School, will be better equipped to face some of these challenges for the upcoming 2010 Academic Year. Reporting for Seven News, I'm Jim McFadzean.
The workshop ends tomorrow...
