Garcia: New programmes to help students, teachers

A survey on handwriting, done between April and May last year by the Ministry of Education, showed 78 per cent of primary and secondary schools had identifiable handwriting programmes said Education Minister Anthony Garcia.

At a press conference yesterday at the ministry’s St Vincent Street, Port of Spain head office, Garcia also said a survey on structural patterns was inconsistent across the classrooms within the same level.

He said the ministry is embarking on two initiatives, “Penmanship with a Purpose and Clinical Supervision in the classrooms.”

“We are placing some emphasis on these two areas,” Garcia said.

“Due to concerns expressed by parents, teachers and principals in many cases, we decided to conduct a survey to look at exactly what is happening in schools with respect to penmanship.

“After conducting these initiatives, 45 per cent of schools taught handwriting in Standard One, only 13 per cent taught handwriting in Standard Three and at the level of infants, only 56 per cent of our teachers taught handwriting. Most of the teachers indicated that they had little or no structural resources available for classroom use.”

Garcia said another area the ministry will focus on is the implementation of clinical supervision for teachers’ development in the classroom. He said teachers will now have a programme designed to develop their skills and the development of their delivery of education to students. “When we talk about clinical supervision in the classroom, it is not only the imparting of knowledge to the students but, most importantly, it is the reception of the students to that knowledge that is imparted by the teachers.

“Everything that occurs in a classroom, outside the actual teaching, forms part of the clinical supervision. We have been engaged with the assistance of our curriculum officers to have officers visit our schools on a regular basis so that they can meet with teachers and provide the necessary support for our teachers.”