PHILIPSBURG--Thirty educators falling under the organisation of the St. Maarten United Multipurpose Educational Foundation (SUMEF) took part in a two-day follow-up workshop hosted by the Academic Pedagogic Centre of Holland.
Content of this training being sponsored by the Cees Pot Fund is similar to that of Foundation-Based Education in terms of the hands-on approach being applied by teachers and strategies being used for certain subjects and for problem children in the classroom.
The focus of this third session identified various techniques of embracing students with different learning levels and helping them become more productive in the classroom. The educators were introduced to creative ways of motivating students with disruptive behaviour.
Facilitator Dimph Rubbens noted that the educators had been instructed on the adaptive learning method, whereby different approaches are used for different groups of students. Two groups identified were those who want to learn a certain subject, but encounter difficulties in doing so, and those who can learn, but refuse to focus.
She also noted that she was satisfied to see that the methods facilitated by her colleagues Guus Perry and Lian Staal during the last training session had been applied in the classrooms. She visited the classroom setting of each school under SUMEF to observe and evaluate the teaching styles.
The Academic Pedagogic Centre will be facilitating two more sessions with the educators, one in June and the last one in January 2011. At the end of the training each teacher will be given a certificate signifying the upgrade.
The undocumented schools functioning collectively under the SUMEF are A.C.E. Foundation, Starlight Educational Centre, School of the Arts Foundation and Sophia Camp. These schools cater to approximately 500 undocumented students altogether.
