Special needs educators consulted in development of holistic curriculum

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• forms part of education sector improvement project

DPI, GUYANA, Tuesday, June 12, 2018

The Ministry of Education today consulted special needs educators as part of developing a more holistic curriculum.

Director of the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD), Jennifer Cumberbatch said the review of the national curriculum across the nursery, primary and lower secondary levels aim to be more inclusive.

Consultant Paula Cook Mackinnon (far right) engaging educators during consultation. Also, at head table are consultants Joanne Thompkins and Jeffrey Orr and GESIP Project Coordinator Quenita Waldron-Lewis.

Director of NCERD Jennifer Cumberbatch.

NCERD and consultants engaging special needs educators.

“We are looking at not just subject areas but thing that we want not just to have involved in the subject areas. We know that [special education needs] … has to be included in all areas,” Cumberbatch said.

The consultations are part of the curriculum development component of the Guyana Education Sector Improvement Project (GESIP). Previous consultations have engaged parents, the business community and regional authorities.

The deliberation is led by Mind Bloom Consultancy and the St Francis Xavier University out of Canada. Paula Cook Mackinnon, one of nine consultants, said the nation-wide outreach seeks to provide a better understanding of the priorities of educators.

“Through these consultations and continuous consultations that you develop a framework that looks at the values that you have for your curriculum how you anticipate that it would be structured, the philosophy that you have and that would be the foundation,” Mackinnon said.

Mackinnon noted that Guyanese educators will be the drafters of the new curriculum while her team provides resource and other technical assistance. A complete revised curriculum is expected to be piloted in schools in the next three years’ time.

Curriculum development is a major component of the GESIP.  The five-year project aims to improve the curricula and teaching quality across levels benefiting some 146,000 children. The project is being funded by the World Bank at a cost of US$14.3Million

By: Tiffny Rhodius.

Images: Jules Gibson.