The Ministry of Education recently hosted a workshop for Mathematics teachers aimed at strengthening their skills.
A Government Information Agency (GINA) press release said the workshop was based on a non-graduate certificate in Mathematics that was developed by the National Centre for Education Resource Development. Sixteen teachers from across the country participated in the three-day workshop.
GINA said the exercise was led by Dr Pier Junorclarke, Assistant Professor and coordinator of a teacher education programme at Georgia State University in the US. Junorclarke said it is of primary importance that teachers have a strong subject content knowledge. “What we noticed, even abroad is that sometimes teachers would have the attitude of doing mathematics, that is, taking on the exams and getting very high scores but, when it comes to teaching the mathematics that is problematic,” she said.
In order to address this issue, Junorclarke introduced the ‘reflective teaching model’ which focuses on teachers not only reflecting on students’ achievements but on the quality of their teaching based on the knowledge of the subject. Junorclarke said too the workshop did some reflective thinking based on the needs of the local mathematics syllabus.
Junorclarke said based on the teachers’ response she was encouraged to continue the workshop and as such one has been planned for next year.
According to GINA, until then the documents used during the programme and other materials will be provided to all 279 teachers who applied to undergo the training.
Also, contact with the current group of participants will be maintained, “this is important work because mathematics, science and technology are very important skills, a nation without this is in jeopardy,” she said.
