On July 21 the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) embarked on Continuous Professional Development (CPD) courses and this year 1,000 teachers from all 10 regions of the country will participate.
A release from the Ministry of Education said that the programme which is now entering its fourth year is designed to enhance teachers’ capacity to deliver the school’s curriculum. The programme targets teachers at the Nursery, Primary and Secondary levels.
The release said that more than three hundred teachers were in attendance at an opening ceremony, held at NCERD for Georgetown and Regions 3, 4 and 5 teachers. The gathering of educators was addressed by Jennifer Cumberbatch, Director of NCERD and Melicita Bovell, Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Education.
According to Cumberbatch, the courses are being delivered to update teachers’ knowledge, enhance content areas and introduce new methodologies necessary for an effective and efficient teaching/ learning process.
This upgrading programme will focus on the following subjects in the school’s curriculum -Literacy, Mathematics, Special Needs Education, Classroom Management, Teaching of Composition and Comprehension, Guidance and Counselling, Drama and Physical Education, Portuguese, Multigrade Teaching/Differentiated Learning and Health and Family Life Education among others.
The release said that this year the programme will be expanded to cover all ten administrative regions and Georgetown. Sessions will be conducted at the North West Secondary School in Region 1, Anna Regina Secondary School in Region 2, St Aloysius Primary in Region 6, Learning Resource Centre Region 7, Paramakatoi Secondary School Region 8, Department of Education and Arapaima Primary School in Region 9 , Mc Kenzie Primary Region 10. NCERD and St Stanislaus College will host those teachers from Regions 3, 4, 5 and Georgetown, the release added.
This is the first time that NCERD will have its July/August CPD programme in all the regions across Guyana. A total of approximately one thousand nursery, primary and secondary teachers will participate.
The programme will be presented by a team of experienced head teachers, senior and qualified teachers in Nursery and primary and secondary and officers of the Ministry of Education who have had several years of teaching experience.
The programme started on July 21 and will conclude on August 8, 2014.