Since teaching is akin to nation building, it is imperative that the education sector seek to recruit only the best and brightest personnel. Added to this, it is important that teachers be screened not only for their intellectual ability but their attitude and character as well before they are brought on board.
The foregoing concepts were brought to the fore during an ongoing teachers’ forum being held in Montego Bay, Jamaica under the theme: ‘Strengthening teacher education, a prerequisite for quality teaching, training and learning’.
The forum, the 11th Policy Dialogue Forum for the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030, is being attended by key education officials – Chief Education Officer, Mr. Marcel Hutson, and Principal of the Cyril Potter College of Education, Ms. Viola Rowe.
The five-day forum, which commenced on November 5 and is set to culminate today, has as its objective to ensure teachers and educators are empowered, adequately recruited, well-trained, professionally qualified, motivated and supported within a well-resourced, efficient and effectively governed system.
Moreover, CEO Hutson is convinced that the concepts shared at the forum will position Guyana’s education sector to benefit exponentially.
In an invited comment, he said that Guyana’s education system will benefit tangibly with some key takeaways being: “teachers and teacher educators must be creators and facilitators of learning; teaching is akin to nation building; the best and brightest should be recruited for the job and teachers must be screened for attitude and character.”
Added to this, Hutson also stressed that since teaching is about service each teacher must be asked to map out a plan for their own development an approach the education sector is likely to embrace in the near future.
