Consultations on New Curriculum to Address Challenges before 2023/2024 School Year

Elena Smith

Teachers across the country are engaged in consultations on the National Curriculum Framework 2022.  This is the second round of consultations being held in each district to ascertain the views of teachers on the new curriculum. The recommended amendments coming out of these sessions will be implemented before the start of the new school year in 2023, says Elena Smith, the President of the Belize National Teachers Union.  We caught up with her in Belize City today where she told us more.

Elena Smith, National President, B.N.T.U.

“We started now doing a second round of consultations with teachers across the country. We are not just going one day of meeting, one half day of meeting. We are doing two days in each district. The purpose of these consultations from teachers is to hear from teacher. How did you find using the curriculum? What were the challenges? What do you need to properly use the curriculum? And, we are getting that kind of feedback from the teachers and we are seeing where all of the powers in education, the unions, the management, the ministry, Path Light and all the other partners are taking note of these concerns teachers are sharing and coming back to the table to say okay how can we make those changes between now and the new school year. It is important that between now and the new school year teachers get the necessary training they need and they get the resources and the changes that are needed to the units or the curriculum are done.   I think when we were putting these documents together we weren’t really focusing on the multi-grade schools or the schools in the Toledo District, because the dynamics are different. While we are covering the same content across, we have to pay attention to how is it that these multi grade schools can effectively carry out what it is we have in those units and in the curriculum and how much more challenging it is for them to be able to provide for their students what it is that is required of them, especially when it comes to technology.”