Vocational/Technical Teachers Participate in Leadership Conference

A first of its kind training for managers, principals and heads of department for Technical Vocational Education and Training centers was officially launched today in Belize City. The six-month program is part of a capacity building initiative for the technical and vocational institutions and is another project funded by the European Union. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.

Duane Moody, Reporting

Today, at the ITVET Compound in Belize City, a cohort of high school principals, managers and heads of department of technical and vocational education and training institutions joined a six-month program focused primarily on leadership and management. According to Education Minister Patrick Faber, the program was envisioned back in 2013.

Patrick Faber

Patrick Faber, Minister of Education

“The training is for six months in this first instance and there will be subsequent trainings for instructors. And then while these training sessions will be going on, we are also engaging teachers training institution—four of them—so that once the training is completed with the entity that is doing it from abroad, we are able then in 2019 and beyond to offer, our local institutions will be able to offer training that comes from those local institutions themselves.  The complaint was that the training that we offer quite often comes in terms of content and pedagogy and the kind of content that our teacher training institutions offer, don’t really at times cater to technical and vocational education so they need specialized training. And so while we have been gung-ho in this ministry about training our teachers, the Vo-Tech teachers said well, there is nothing for us. And since 2013, we’ve been engaged in offering training, especially in the south. But this ministry has also tried to find other creative ways of engaging our Vo-Tech teachers.”

The capacity building program is being funded by the European Union and the goal is to improve access, quality and governance of TVET education in Belize.

Catherine Mendez

Catherine Mendez, National Authorizing Officer, E.U.

“Another milestone in the E.U./Belize cooperation in the field of education. The European Union has been steadfast in supporting the government and the people of Belize in realizing the Belize education sector strategy goal of improving access, quality and governance of education in Belize. While the emphasis of the cooperation with the E.U. has historically been agricultural and infrastructural investments, under the banana accompanying measures and the previous banana support program great strides have been made in various education subsectors.”

Doctor Alberto Nagle says while education is a strategic area in every country, technical education is of utmost importance to the development of a country.

Alberto Nagle

Dr. Alberto Nagle, Project Coordinator

“We become very happy in the European Union when we received a request to improve the technical education in Belize. And it was not a discussion regarding that this sector will be support in Belize.  I think this is a source of inspiration that can help us to push with the technical education here in Belize because the most valuable resource we have in our country is youth.”

Duane Moody for News Five.