Education Institute’s success will depend on ministry’s policies
Director of the newly formed H Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) Institute of Education, Sandy Harrigan-Underhill said the success of the institution will depend largely on the type of support and policymaking it gets from the Education Ministry and the college.
Appearing on the Umoja radio programme recently, Harrigan-Underhill said her experience from being the principal of Elmore Stoutt High School — which has the single largest fraternity of teachers in the territory — highlighted that the BVI has a few educators that are well trained in specific content areas.
She said some teachers may have accounting or marketing degrees, but they may not be trained as an educator. Therefore, the Education Institute’s role is to work in conjunction with the Education Ministry to identify those persons and put a programme in place based on the standards and requirements jointly agreed upon by both institutions.
“As to what that standard looks like, it is [determining] what we want them to learn, what do we want them to know and when do we want them to know it by. So, all of that has to be set in a joint collaborative approach. As I sit and work daily in my new role, there is very little I will do without the voice of the Ministry of Education,” Harrigan-Underhill said.
Policy will drive what the Institute does
She also noted that because the institution is new and is starting from the ground up in teaching educators, people must be mindful that policy drives a lot of the work the institute is doing and will be undertaking in the future.
“[This is] policy from the Ministry of Education as well as the HLSCC standpoint. We also have to be mindful that policy should be in place, and I am sure they are being developed as we speak even to attract the best,” Harrigan-Underhill said.
“It starts from the recruitment stage. So, we are recruiting based on an established standard. Requirements have to be based on, say, for instance, you must have a bachelor’s degree and you will be paid a certain amount as well. We also have to address the issue of salary and remuneration while we talk about training. All these things go hand in hand,” she added.
We must be willing to pay our teachers well
Harrigan-Underhill said she can sit at her desk and create ‘the most fabulous, eloquent and attractive’ training programme but it must be driven by the requisite resource and support. She reiterated that recruitment is a critical part of the institute’s operation, and it is pertinent that some sort of standard is maintained.
“So, it’s not just about saying we want the brightest and the best but also making sure that they are paid for their skill set,” she said.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
She should be the next minister of education
Based on that photo, needs a makeover …makes it hard to read anything she says…
Education and the future of the VI with these current role models is failure with certainty.
Let the teachers them know that they are competing with the internet’s vast amount of information – social media, music, sports, etc. Most school aged children have unlimited access to areas that are not appropriate for them; and unfortunately, too many are influenced by it. Therefore, Mrs. Harrigan-Underhill, you have to ensure that that thought is reiterated to Teachers what they are up against and develop practical techniques to convince students as to is important, the long term outcomes of the important things and similarly the same with the outcomes of inappropriate information. Tell them to show the students the connect of the state of a society, community, economy and a nation could be destroyed slowly overtime. This is where history is important – long ago and recent – even in ones own backyard.
Congrats on your new position! I know that you will do well.
This was a hire to keep her from getting involved in the next Election.
She running she up in the bars on vg behind f**ny man. She will here soon you watch
I know this has nothing to do with the subject, but she has been holding her pen like that since I was in high school nearly 20 years ago. lol Nostalgic. Anyway, she has the right idea. Without a legal framework, all are free to choose their own methods. It’s the same across all sectors. Just look at the ones that DO have legislation governing their operations. They run much more effectively.