Good school leadership is key to successful schools -Minister Henry to Leadership conference

(April 9, 2018)-In the Ministry of Education’s quest to raise the standards of schools across the country, a three day Education Leadership conference commenced today at the Duke Lodge in Kingston to help in this regard.
The conference has drawn 50 primary school headteachers and Regional Education Officers (REdo’s) who will benefit from the intervention.

In her feature address, Minister of Education Nicolette Henry said she is excited about the endeavuor since it (conference) is part of the ministry’s strategy to close the gap that exists in leadership and systems thinking in the Ministry of Education (MoE).
“This training should provide you with foundational information of leadership concepts, theories, and approaches frequently utilized in the delivery of public education.

Additionally, Minister Henry said the training will introduce participants on how a system thinking approach within education delivery is vital to leadership.
She said although leadership involves power, authority, and vision, a system thinking approach to leadership focuses on a leader’s ability to connect with a broader structure of resources for solving problems.
“Leaders who use a system thinking approach access necessary resources both inside and outside an organization to motivate others toward goals and solutions” Henry noted.

Further, the Minister of Education told the gathering that as leaders in the education system, it was important for them to keep the needs of the public at the forefront when making decisions that might affect local, national, and regional issues in education.

Ms. Henry underscored the importance of collaboration in the education sector and urged the participants to embrace this mantra.
“It is through the collaborative efforts of a team, that individual talent becomes a collective excellence. The benefit of teamwork is immeasurable. With teams, individuals come together to support one another”.

The workshop facilitator, Ms. Dennise Hilliman a Guyana born London based scientist in her address to the workshop said that it was important for the education sector to work closely with the business community to ensure the education system works effectively.
She emphasized the importance of educators maximizing the instructional time they spend with the children since it was her view that this time is a ‘one-shot’ experience.

Hilliman said that although change will not happen overnight it was imperative for the education sector to establish collective practices around teaching and learning.

Towards this end, Hillman, the founder, and CEO of the Leadership in Education Services Ltd said there must be a symbiotic relationship and not a top-down approach to address the issue of good leadership.

Hilliman believes that this approach will foster increase school performance since information will be shared in an uninhibited manner as a new paradigm shift is embraced.

The Ministry of Education is working towards ensuring that overtime all headteachers benefit from the said leadership training. The workshop saw the attendance of Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson and University of Guyana Vice Chancellor Dr. Ievlaw Griffith and other senior functionaries of the MoE.

The three-day workshop is being held under the theme “Leading schools in a changing world and the challenges change brings with holding people to account”