LRTT to take high-quality teacher training to Region One 

DPI, Guyana, Thursday, April 05, 2018

Thirty highly qualified teachers from the Limited Resource Teacher Training (LRTT) Global Moment, will soon be conducting voluntary training and teaching exercises in schools across the Northwest District in Region One (Barima-Waini).

This was disclosed by Director of the School of the Nations, Dr. Brian O’Toole at the Caribbean Conference Educational Leadership workshop. The teachers, he said, are from England, Canada, and Australia.

According to Programme Manager of the LRTT, Emily Finnegan the global movement has been carrying out voluntary work in Guyana for the past three years in the Georgetown, Berbice and Rupununi Districts.

Finnegan said they aim to provide quality teacher training for underdeveloped and developing countries around the world.

“We believe the quality of teachers is the key to ensuring that every child has a rich education…Our teachers come and work in groups of four to five with local teachers. They do observations in the classrooms and then they co-plan and co-deliver at teachers training conferences.”

Guyana is the only country in the Caribbean the group has been working with; however, there are plans to expand its reach throughout the Caribbean region.

Finnegan said, “many teachers, Guyana included do not have access to quality training or are looking for more support in those areas. So, what we do is partner with teachers from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom to partner with local education agencies.”

The LRTT program seeks to address the issue of low-quality teaching and learning in countries, by providing a high-quality and voluntary teacher training. The programmes are based on tested strategies which use international practice while considering local challenges and context. In 2017, a total of 136 local teachers participated in the LRTT training exercises in Guyana.

Meanwhile, Director of the National Centre for Resource Development (NCERD), Jennifer Cumberbatch expressed the need for head teachers of schools to create a school culture that will nurture students to produce quality work across the regions.

She said, “for there to be real change in the life chances of our students throughout our country we need school leadership to show strength and depth in the conviction to make this happen”.

The Ministry of Education in collaboration with the British High Commission sponsored a two-day Educational Leadership Caribbean Conference at the School of the Nations, which aims to boost leadership skills among teachers across Guyana and the Caribbean.

 

By: Crystal Stoll