Making Erdiston Teachers’ Training College an internationally acclaimed institution is a priority of new acting principal Dr Patricia Saul.
In what she described as a revised mission statement, Saul said the college would provide quality training and professional development for educators, while advancing scholarly research and facilitating the delivery of programmes aligned with the educational needs of the society.
She said this status could only be achieved by ensuring certificates, diplomas and degrees offered had currency across borders by securing full accreditation with the Barbados Accreditation Council.
Saul, who spoke at the college’s graduation ceremony held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Saturday night, said the overall pass rate for the cohort was 84.4 per cent, which was just below the 90 per cent projected. Of the 119 graduates, 39 per cent received distinctions as opposed to the ten per cent projected.
Some of the outstanding achievers were valedictorian Dexter Alleyne who earned a postgraduate diploma in educational leadership; Janet Inniss-Burke – outstanding performance in the vocational teachers’ training programme in adult education; Germain Arthur, diploma in education (primary), Damar Evelyn – postgraduate diploma in education (secondary), and Faye Beckles, postgraduate diploma in educational leadership.
Saul said the college must quicken plans to have some of its programmes online to be more accessible to students worldwide.
“This would greatly assist in securing the sustainability of the college,” she added.
The educator also advanced the need for technology to be embraced in the classroom, and was supported by Minister of Education Ronald Jones.
She stressed the college planned to continually push teacher training.
“If Erdiston Teachers’ Training College is to maintain its rooted tradition of quality education and continue to impact the development of this country, there is a need for the institution to take fresh guard as it celebrates its 70th anniversary. Teacher empowerment is the central component in efforts to improve education quality for all students. In many ways, Erdiston College is meeting the initial teacher training needs of teachers quite adequately.
“However, there is a sense in which attempts to meet the continuous professional needs of teachers are lagging behind. In this context, I am happy to report that the college will be delivering professional developmental courses all year round on a variety of subjects,” she said. (SDB Media)
