(Stock Photo)
Twenty-two participants from the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, along with colleagues from the Ministry of Labour, who undertook a nine-month programme under the Skills for the Future (SFTF) Program facilitated by Durham College Canada, will graduate next week.
The ceremony will be held on Wednesday, January 25, in the Liberal Arts Auditorium of the Barbados Community College (BCC), from 6:00 p.m.
Minister of Education, Ronald Jones, is expected to address the graduands, and he will be joined by the President of Durham College, Don Lovisa; and President of (College Institutes Canada) CICan, Denise Amyot.
Among those who will receive certificates from the overseas college will be 12 secondary school teachers who coordinate the Caribbean Vocational Qualification courses; and tutors and staff from the BCC, the Barbados Vocational Training Board, the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Council.
CICan was awarded the contract under Component III of the SFTF Program, which addresses the institutional strengthening of the Ministries of Education and Labour and the various institutions.
In turn, they engaged Durham College to facilitate the training, and this was supported by an online forum called DC Connect, where the facilitator met and received assignments and communication from the participants.
The programme was conducted from March to December 2016. It commenced with a 14-day study tour to Durham College Canada. Participants identified a change management project at their school or institution.
In the following months, a facilitator from Durham College visited Barbados and spent one week on the island visiting and working with participants to guide and teach them much needed change management and leadership skills to accomplish their tasks.
Also expected on the island for the week of Monday, January 23, to visit institutions and attend the graduation ceremony, will be a delegation comprising the Associate Dean at Durham College for the School of Skilled Trades, Apprenticeship and Renewable Technology and for the Centre for Food, Pam Stoneham; Project Manager, International Projects Durham College, Katie Boone; and CICan’s Regional Coordinator Caribbean & Anglophone, Linda Cooke.
The visiting delegation will, along with staff of the Ministries of Education and Labour and the Higher Education Development Unit, undertake tours to two secondary schools on Monday, January 23.
They will visit Princess Margaret Secondary School at Six Roads, St. Philip, at around 11:00 a.m.; and Graydon Sealy Secondary School, Garrison Historic Site, St. Michael, at 1:30 p.m.