The third Intensive Training Workshop came to a successful end last week. This workshop, held at OLA Centre of Excellence, brought together all head teachers and teachers from the 16 schools receiving training in the Central Region.

The four day workshop focused on assessment, creativity, behaviour management and the importance of parental involvement in their children’s education.

The first day of the workshop introduced the teachers to the next themes that they will be using in their classrooms over the next four weeks, ‘Water’ for KG1 and ‘Weather’ for KG2. This session also provided an opportunity to discuss the success and challenges from the implementation of the previous theme.

Individual assessment of each child in the classroom is a crucial part of the programme, hence the participants were taken through how they can make observations that reflect the three levels of skill acquisition (developing, achieved and moved beyond), which are recorded using the Pupil Achievement Record. Strategies were also shared so that teachers are able to meet the needs of children at each level of achievement.

The participants all had a lot of fun as they explored their creative abilities on the second day of the workshop. Some of the activities included candle painting, paper printing, crayon rubbings, clay moulding and card loom weaving. Experimenting with these activities helped the participants to know how they can encourage children to use and explore their creative skills, and also the value of integrating creative activities into the classroom.

Effective behaviour management remains a challenge for many classrooms so day three of the workshop allowed for the revision of strategies that the teachers can use in their classrooms. Parental involvement and their understanding of the teacher training programme is also crucial for its success. Ways to get parents involved with their children’s education were discussed with the participants, including how to orgranise an Open Day and Kindergarten Graduation ceremony.

We were delighted to receive a visit from Mr. Madeez Adamu-Issah during the workshop, who is the Education Specialist at UNICEF. He gave an excellent motivational speech to the participants and encouraged them to learn as much as they can to transform their classrooms.

This was an excellent last Intensive Training Workshop of the school year, with excellent participation and enthusiasm from all of the participants. Everyone left the workshop excited and very confident to continue the transformation of their classrooms.