Teacher Training

Each school holiday break, we have a staff development week at Kibaale Community Centre, one of our Pacific Academy Outreach Society projects here in Uganda. On Wednesday this week two of our school administrators, Eleazar (secondary school deputy) and Allen (primary school headmistress) led the staff through a workshop on teamwork, which was very well received. Also, staff members were briefed by the director about the new administrative structure for the centre that will be implemented in the next couple of months. We have been preparing the Ugandan administrators to take more responsibility for leadership at the centre and in the schools. We are pleased that Peter, the principal headteacher, will become the new centre director in July.

Thursday was the day for the teacher professional development workshops. These were all facilitated by our own Ugandan school administrators and this is very rewarding to see. Years ago when we began these professional development workshops, most of them were facilitated by our Canadian volunteer staff members. Arleen has been heavily involved in the teacher development programs, as the Director of Education. However, now that others are showing the desire and ability to lead in these areas, Arleen's role is much more of an advisory and supportive one.

On Thursday Arleen assisted Eva, the head of the nursery school, with her workshops--it was great to see Eva handle it very effectively. This is Eva's first year as head of the nursery school, but she is learning quickly and is very eager to use her skills

In order to encourage our nursery teachers about the importance of their work, we invited two former nursery students who have graduated and are now attending teachers' college and university. Annet and Boniface shared with the teachers about their experiences as young students in nursery class and the impact their teachers had on them, both spiritually and academically.