Basseterre: St. Kitts, February 5, 2021: The final technical review session of the enhanced Curriculum for Grades 4 and 6 took place Friday 5th February at the Customs Conference Room.
Today’s session was aimed at “further sensitizing and enhancing the understanding of the educators in the use of the pedagogy associated with the Science Curriculum” as expressed by Science coordinator at the Curriculum Development Unit and facilitator of the session, Mrs. Sherry Walters.
Mrs. Walters, explained that the pedagogy used – (Constructivism), reinforces the focus of the Enhanced Curriculum which is a student-centred classroom and learning environment. Students are expected develop the skills of scientists as they engage in exploration and investigations.
Mrs, Walters further clarified that “at the end of the session the teachers would be more equipped to harness the love for science and technology within each child, as they actively engaged in the implementation of the teaching strategy.”
Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Education, Mr. William Vincent Hodge, voiced his satisfaction to the Curriculum Development Unit for the work that it has been doing by assisting teachers to effectively use the Curriculum, though it is still a work in progress.
The Ministry of Education continues in its drive to fulfill the objectives of Program 8 (Curriculum and Assessment) subjection 8.3 of the 2017-2021 Education Sector Plan, which focuses on the development, implementation and evaluation of the national curriculum. P. S. Hodge indicated that a significant finances were invested in support of a curriculum that equips the students to excel regardless of the situation in which they find themselves.
Teachers were then encouraged to transfer the information received from the session and integrate it across all subject areas. Integration is one of the main features of the Enhanced Curriculum
]]>
(EMU) – St. Kitts, Friday, January 15, 2021: Curriculum developers along with the Monitoring Implementation and Support Team (MIST) gathered on January 15th to review the ongoing piloting of the enhanced curriculum that Started in September 2020.
Director of the Curriculum Development Unit, Amanda Edmead explained the purpose of the MIST session. “The purpose of this session was to receive feedback from coaches, who are charged with the responsibility of monitoring and guiding teachers in the use of this curriculum.”
The enhanced curriculum is a student-centered document which directs the quality of teaching and learning framework within the classrooms to ensure that each child develops their full potential personally and academically. This curriculum is being piloted on Grades 4 and 6 within selected Primary Schools across St. Kitts and Nevis.
According to the Principal Education Officer (NIA) Zahnela Claxton
the quantitative data gathered during this session will be used to guide the decision making process to ensure that there is a curriculum of and for St. Kitts–Nevis that contributes to effective schooling.
Such a workshop is a testament to the strides that the Ministry of Education is making as it advances the Federation’s education system.
]]>
Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 9, 2020 (ZIZ News): Coaches from the Department of Sports and others that work within the primary school system are learning more about the new curriculum guiding health and wellness education.
Health and Wellness Coordinator in the Ministry of Education, Michelle Sutton, is sharing the information with about 30 coaches attending a two-day workshop at the Media Centre at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium. The workshop which began on Tuesday September 8, 2020 is organised by the Ministry of Sports.
The new curriculum was developed by the Ministry of Education and is a core component of the Education Sector Plan 2017-2021. The component, called Physical and Health Education, emphasises children developing and leading healthy lifestyles.
Sutton said it was designed to cover the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, but is being piloted at the primary level.
This is expected to result in reduced cases of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and other lifestyle ailments as children transition into adolescence and adulthood.
Communicable diseases are also covered in the new curriculum. Ms. Sutton said that there is a section which covers measures to protect against the flu. This section has been modified to cover COVID-19 as it has similar symptoms as the common cold.
A similar workshop for coaches on the new Physical and Health Education curriculum will be held in Nevis.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 11, 2020 (SKNIS): From August 10 to 14, and August 17, 2020, the Ministry of Education will be finalizing the preparations to pilot its enhanced curriculum, says Chief of Education Planning, Dr. Neva Pemberton.
Dr. Pemberton stated that over the past two years the Ministry of Education has been working with multiple stakeholders to develop a curriculum that is student centered, responds to all the interests and needs of its learners, does a much better job of assessing students’ ability and measuring their successes.
During the week, the ministry will be training its pilot implementation team, which is comprised of education officials, curriculum officers, as well as curriculum writers, said Dr. Pemberton.
“It’s this pilot implementation team that is going to be responsible for also training our principals with the kind of leadership skills that they need to monitor the new enhanced curriculum and also to train our teachers in how to implement the various components of this enhanced curriculum,” she said.
The ministry will be piloting the curriculum this year at Grades four and six, said Dr. Pemberton.
“For those of you in the viewing audience that are not aware of the enhancement process to date, we now will have five core subjects in which students will have exposure to,” said the Chief of Education Planning. “We will now have language arts, social studies, science, mathematics and a new course called health and wellness, which brings into consideration the psycho-social well-being of our students, physical education, wellness, support and also health and family life education.”
The training this week is being done by a team of consultants including Mind Bloom Consulting in conjunction with Saint Francis Xavier University out of Canada and is being held on the virtual learning platform Microsoft Teams.
Beginning next week, from August 18, those who are being trained this week, that is, the pilot implementation team, will be providing leadership to principals and school leaders in how to support the curriculum enhancement process, said Dr. Pemberton.
She added that beginning August 24, 2020, until September 02, 2020, the ministry will also be training its teachers how to use the enhanced curriculum.
Dr. Pemberton stated that because it is a pilot, the ministry views the year as a trial and error period for all of them to learn together how to best use the curriculum and also how to enhance it.
“So, over the coming weeks and coming months, we’re going to be collaborating on strengthening our curriculum documents and ensuring that they really do enable students success,” said the Chief of Education Planning.
]]>