Ministry of Education Recommends CPD for Teachers on Vacation

Ending the school year with home-based learning is a historic first for the education sector when traditionally the months of May and June are reserved for examinations.  Whereas BJAT, P.S.E. and CXCs are held in those months, this year those papers have been waived.  But what will teachers be doing during this extended period away from their classrooms?  The Ministry of Education is recommending that they pursue continued professional development in order to gain necessary hours towards the renewal of their respective teaching license.

Patrick Faber

Patrick Faber, Minister of Education

“There are many things that we still have on the table.  Whether or not this is the way we’re going to end the school year with this kind of home-based learning is still very much up in the air, but we have to be prepared and we have to have some direction, some Plan B, if you will, just in case things don’t go the way we would want them to go.  As it stands now, we are only officially out of school because of the state of emergency which only takes us up to the end of April.  And so, if things improve which many are doubtful it will, but there could be a completely different scenario in terms of how we end the school year should things turn around quickly.  But all of that is really up in the air. There were issues that we discussed with the Belize National Teachers Union as it relates to renewing of full licensing that had to do with the number of CPD hours.  You all would remember this in the media, so the months or the time that is coming up, I think it is in August that we primarily do CPDs, but of course we are not limited to that.  But since teachers are at home, many are not as engaged as they would normally have been if they were going into the classrooms.  If they would like to engage in CPDs at this time, we are encouraging it.”