‘Never stop learning’

Nov 11, 2022 News

– NCERD Director encourages special needs officers

Kaieteur News – The Special Education Needs (SEN) unit of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) on Thursday hosted its annual conference under the theme ‘Come out of your comfort zone and enter your learning zone.’

National SEN Officer Ms. Savvie Hopkinson

Director of NCERD, Quenita Walrond-Lewis, delivered brief remarks at the event, encouraging the Special Education Needs (SEN) officers to ‘never stop learning.’ According to the Director, it is important for the SEN officers to keep up to date with all that is happening within their field as this enhances their abilities in fulfilling their duties.

“What we understood about the world ten years ago or fifty years ago is definitely different from what we understand about the world today […] always remain at the forefront of your practice, always remain current in whatever is new in research, and in educational technology that serves the SEN space,” Walrond is quoted in a press release by the Ministry of Education as saying.

Furthermore, she encouraged the team to ‘never stay static, never feel you have come as far as you can in your professional journey […] never stop learning.’

In closing, the Director thanked the SEN officers for their hard work and dedication, noting their department plays a significant role in helping NCERD to fulfill its mandate. “The SEN unit is an integral part of what we do here at NCERD because we are always striving to improve the quality of education in the entire system […] here at NCERD, one of our principle remits is to keep empowering educators with what is new, the best innovative practice and how to adopt that in a culturally, relevant and sensitive way so that we can create a better impact on student outcome, on teacher experience and even the education of the public at large.”

A section of the gathering at the conference

National SEN officer, Ms. Savvie Hopkinson, in her remarks, called on the officers to ‘Come out of your Comfort Zone & Enter your Learning Zone.” “We have over the years become comfortable and familiar with the vocabulary of our profession, and we have studied and retained lots of information. We have seen recurring situations and met recurring problems and have become comfortable in responding to them. They no longer challenge us.”

She further told the officers that “the place you have come to is like entering a round-about where you yielded to traffic before entering. But there is no stop sign, and there is no place to park. You must enter and proceed further in the same direction or go in other directions. You must move forward and that means entering the Learning Zone.” Ms. OmawattieRamdin, Head of the Curriculum Unit and Ms. Samantha Hutson, Project Officer, One Life Too Project, also delivered brief remarks at the annual conference. The conference served as a platform for SEN officers to highlight and discuss their achievements and challenges for the year.

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