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| Students helping to create murals at Workman’s Primary Schoo, under the Child Friendly School Initiative. (N.Lynch) |
Barbados’ model of UNICEF’s Child Friendly School Initiative (CFSI) will be showcased to others in the region over the next two weeks.
Officials from the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development are expected to share the island’s Schools’ Positive Behavioural Management Programme (SPBMP) with their counterparts in the region when they attend training sessions in Antigua and Trinidad and Tobago from Monday, July 9, to Thursday July 12; and Monday, July 16 to Friday, July 20, respectively.
Over 70 participants, including principals, guidance counsellors, parents and civil groups in Antigua, will be given an introduction to the island’s SPBMP, and will hear about its Positive Alternatives To Discipline and how schools here are Creating A Positive Learning Environment.??
Education Officer, with responsibility for the SPBMP, Janice Reid, will be among the officials travelling to both Antigua and Trinidad and Tobago.?? Stating that she would be conducting the training in Antigua, Mrs. Reid said the capacity building exercise would provide further training in CFSI for teachers at schools and civil society groups in that country, and strengthen the region’s education system.??
"It is a great opportunity to be able to ensure consistency across the region. If our students have to be schooled in Antigua, for instance, they would be assured that the behaviours expected in their own schools will be required in that country."
The Education Ministry will also be represented at a training initiative at the University of the Southern Caribbean in Trinidad that will look at the fundamentals of the SPBMP/CFSI.
Noting that five individuals, including two retired educators, will comprise the Barbados team, Mrs. Reid said: "As we roll out the CFSI or SPBMP in the region, we need to enhance capacity at the national level. Consequently, where training is provided locally or regionally, officers responsible for implementing the programmes in our schools will be afforded such opportunities."????
The Education Officer added that the delegation, on return to Barbados, would be responsible for developing further training for others in the Schools’ Positive Behavioural Management Programme.??
SPBMP is the name given to UNICEF’s Child Friendly School initiative (CFSI) here in Barbados. It is guided by three basic principles: child centredness, democratic participation and inclusiveness (equity).
In a Positive Behaviour Management classroom, the teacher is mentor, the facilitator of learning and the coordinator of learning activities. Creativity, openness, flexibility, tolerance, good leadership and organisational skills become the avenues through which effective learning and teaching is maintained.