MORE than 100 pre-primary teachers in Honiara have successfully completed a week-long Primary Preparation Year (PPY) Master Trainer’s Training Guide that emphasize play-based learning as a tool for learning in early childhood care and education settings.
The workshop was held concurrently from 19-23 August 2024 at Rock Haven, All Saints Hall and Harmony Conference room.
The workshop was organised by the PPY Technical Working Group led by the Teacher Professional Development Division of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development.
The training aimed to help PPY teachers become effective in planning and teaching, including assessment practices, while increasing positive outcomes for children before attending primary schools.
It also assisted teachers to implement the existing curriculum in a way that is both child-friendly and teacher-led. The ‘How to’ approach of the workshop was essential as it showed teachers a variety of ways of creating a good learning space in their classrooms, including planning for a week of lesson delivery and review, effective use of the daily timetable, and developing socio-emotional intelligence of children. The teachers were also showed ways in which they help children to respect each other. Also, the teachers learned about assessment of learning practices, using everyday observable evidence to guide learning experiences. They also learned about positive relationships they can form with communities, colleagues and especially with the young children which is a foundational component of good teaching.
In order to help the teachers implement what they learned from the workshops, they were asked to trial the new Teacher Guide in their respective PPY classes for the next three months and will be monitored and evaluated. A review will be conducted to determine how well the teachers implemented the new teacher guide before it could be rolled out to the rest of the schools in the provinces.
The Primary Preparation Year teachers have expressed their appreciation for attending the workshop, which helped them to implement this play-based learning curriculum in their schools in Honiara.
