Importance of CPCE emphasised during ‘Open Day’

Oct 05, 2014 News

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By Sharmain Grainger
While literacy speaks to the ability to read and write, an innovative tactic is being

embraced by teachers in training at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) which is designed to see them helping to improve the literacy level of children through Mathematics.
This strategic move was in fact highlighted last Friday by Fawn Downer, a second-year student majoring in Mathematics, when the teachers’ training institution held an ‘Open Day’ at its Turkeyen Campus.
“Through Mathematics you can help a child develop in many other subject areas. If, for example, you are teaching shapes and you have a child who is having difficulties with vocabulary, or word recognition, through Mathematics you can help that child be able to pronounce words by the aids that you use and the way that you present your lessons,” said Downer, as she along with her colleagues showcased mathematical displays at the Open Day.
Also at the event, which came as part of the continued celebration of Education Month, keen emphasis was given to Early Childhood Education and Science, two areas that the Ministry of Education has been directing much attention.
At a ceremony to start the occasion, Chief Education Officer Olato Sam delivered the feature address, during which he disclosed that the Ministry’s performance output objectives are in fact intricately tied to CPCE.
Moreover, he noted that the institution has a key role to play with regards to identifying and

adequately preparing suitably qualified persons, and remaining receptive to the feedback in relation to the ongoing professional development and overall moulding as their individual careers unfold.
As such, he informed that CPCE must be responsive in many ways to the required demands of the system and therefore “we must be very clear in relation to the expectations outlined for the country’s premier teachers’ training institution.”
Sam further pointed out that “this vision has to be articulated in very concrete terms to the extent that all parties – from the board of governors to the canteen staff, to our trainees, the gardeners and everyone represented on this campus as part of this CPCE family – are intricately aware of this vision and the role they must play in aiding the realisation of the outlined objectives”.
He asserted that many of the broad aspects designed to improve the performance of the institution would have been captured in the plans leading up to the Guyana Improving Teacher Education Project (GITEP) which is currently unfolding at the institution. In fact, Sam disclosed that GITEP is an initiative that is fulfilling much of the expectations for the retooling and revamping of all the processes of CPCE.
“It is a very top-down approach to reforming and transforming CPCE,” Sam said, even as he pointed out that the work is being well supported by hardworking consultants.
He noted that while there are projects that tend to take on a life of their own, thus far there has been excellent feedback in relation to CPCE’s ownership of this particular project.
“I am convinced that the approaches and initiatives will be effectively embedded to the point where sustainability is not a concern or a challenge for us in relation to all of the aspects being addressed by GITEP,” said Sam.
As such he mentioned that “we are now ideally poised to move to a higher level of expectations.”

According to the CEO, too, although CPCE is one of the primary gateways to the teaching profession, there is need to raise its profile to ensure that it attracts individuals who are highly suited for the profession. He spoke also of the need to give persons the best quality training possible and ensure that mechanisms are in place to retain them in the education system.
For this reason, Sam said that the work of CPCE, which is to the core of the developmental objective of this nation, has to reflect the notion of development in very real ways.
“They (CPCE and development) cannot be divorced in any way, shape or form, all of our trainees need to know that you are the next wave of pioneers going out into the education system and to create the changes in a very real way, after having had the exposure here at CPCE to our innovative educational approaches,” said Sam.
Moreover, he highlighted the need for the institution to be highly responsive to emerging needs complete with viable distance options, including online courses which must remain key objectives that “we are striving towards.” He therefore noted that CPCE must be seen as the model for all things that are educationally sound, and must continue to work towards opening new frontier in education.
Friday’s event was not without educationally-attuned entertainment that included student teachers performing a medley of songs, pupils of the North Georgetown Primary School delivering an infectious steel pan rendition and even interpretive dance. It also served as a prelude to World Teachers’ Day which will be observed today (October 5).

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