Patrick Hilbert
13 May 2008
Port Louis — The professional mentors have submitted to the ministers of Education and Finance an in-house training project for their younger colleagues. In small groups, the latter would be constantly coached and reskilled.
Primary teachers at the "Bridging the Gap" workshop last November. To motivate teachers, more than workshops are needed. They must feel connected to a network where they can find help.
Changing habits. A system that produces an average failure rate of 30% at the level of the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) each year doesn't serve Mauritius. Our education system desperately needs to evolve from an examination-driven system to a curriculum-driven one. Yes, it has been said a million times by experts from different corners, but once more is never too much.
In his paper, addressed to the vice-Prime minister & minister of Finance as well as the minister of Education and his Chief Technical Officer, which he sent yesterday, Ashik Junglee, president of the Association of Professional Mentors (APM) proposes the setting up of in-house Teaching/Learning Stations in every educational zone of this country.
The aim is to empower teachers to teach differently and promote innovation in education. "Every child needs a different approach. Until now, we were used to teach the same things to everybody in the same traditional way. However, it is bare fact that our present curriculum is not producing the desired results and there is a mismatch between what we teach and what our country needs", he says.
The Primary Curriculum Framework, finalized in 2006 by the ministry of Education, comes to the same conclusion. This document, to which the ministry is trying to give shape, aims at "empowering the children of this country to realize their full potential and to optimize their innate aptitudes and to think, act, reflect, create and take risks, and by developing a commitment to values such as integrity, responsibility, respect for the workplace, efficiency and creativity".
Changing mindsets
Another objective is to "foster the overall growth and development of our children, while, alongside, ensuring that no child is excluded". But, to materialize these objectives, a deep change at classroom level is needed. Long-lasting habits have to be scrubbed off.
The setting up of an In-house Teaching/Learning Station could be a way to change mindsets. "A Teaching-Learning Station is a cozy breeding place for ongoing teacher professional development based on hands-on activities and skills-oriented training", writes Ashik Junglee in his paper. Its physical set-up is a class-size, 25m x 20m, fitted with technological equipment, a mini-pedagogical library and a multimedia corner and it should be large enough to fit five groups of five teachers.
"It is an inspirational learning center which spurs motivational ingredients for capacity building programs and promotes team building and pedagogical enhancement of teaching staff." In other words, it is the pedagogical laboratory in the re-skill training of teachers for the implementation of the national curriculum. It should also organize cut-to-size training programs in different areas of remedial education, language teaching and student performance analysis. Challenges like developing a child's creativity, motivate pupils or adopt differentiated instruction are also topics which should be dealt with.
At least once a term
How does it work? Ashik Junglee proposes to spread the programs throughout the school calendar year. Teachers in small groups of 25 would then be referred to the Teaching-Learning Stations at least once each term for re-skill training, re-inforcement and feedback.
He also suggests to find trainers, chosen from Mentor & Inspectorate grades, to dispatch the hands-on training. "Those stations will be places where a teacher will be able to talk about his experience, to talk about his problems in the classroom and find solutions to do better", explains Ashik Junglee.
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