Preschool and Primary School Teachers began the midterm break on Wednesday 18th October with Professional Development sessions throughout the day. For the 2023/24 academic year, the Department of Education has scheduled three (3) ‘Professional Development Days’, one per term. This is in recognition of the importance of investing in our educators as a means to support effective teaching and student learning which is the ultimate goal of Anguilla’s education system.
The summer Professional Development (PD) session is a joint one, shared by all educators across Anguilla. However, the first and second term PD sessions are school-focussed and are determined by the perceived needs of each institution. Therefore, this term’s PD topics included a range of subject matters such as differentiated instruction, literacy, numeracy specific to fractions, instructional best practice and classroom management.
The one area which was reflected in every schools’ agenda was, however, the update of school safety and security protocols. Anguilla is a signatory to the Sint Maarten Declaration on School Safety which replaced the 2017 Antigua and Barbuda Declaration on School Safety. While the most recent concerns are about school violence, school safety is a broader umbrella that considers protocols to manage instances of bullying, routine health and safety matters, as well as the impact of pandemics and storms, the latter being a critical concern during the hurricane season.
In addition to the professional development subject matter and schools’ safety, each school team incorporated a bit of personal development and care for its teachers touching on subjects such as exercise, massage, general wellness, financial literacy and personal planning.
School midterm break runs from the 18th to the 20th October. Teachers and students return refreshed on Monday, 23rd October 2023, to continue accomplishing the first term’s work.
