Workshop to help teachers smooth pre-school to primary transition

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OVER 30 kindergarten teachers in St. Kitts and Nevis will benefit from the Early Childhood Development Unit’s (ECDU) two-week orientation workshop.

The workshop, which commences today (Apr. 20), concludes phase four of the ECDU’s Transition Programme; an initiative designed to smooth the transition of pre-schoolers to primary school. 

Project Coordinator Jacquelyn Morris revealed that the project began in the late 1990s and has since expanded due to support from UNICEF and the OAS.

“The first phase involved pre-schoolers spending a few hours per day at primary schools close to their homes. That was then upgraded to have the children participate in the classroom activities at these schools. Phase three began in 2003 with the introduction of biennial workshops to expose kindergarten teachers to the pre-school curriculum. Phase four began in 2007 when the OAS became a partner and it is geared at training these teachers so they can alleviate the trauma faced by many students who make the transition to primary school.

“In part one of phase four, over 30 teachers from St. Kitts and Nevis were exposed to the training. This workshop is being held to train those teachers who were unable to attend the first one,” she informed.

St. Kitts-Nevis OAS Representative Starett Greene noted that “the positive effects of the programme are already evident” and conveyed his organisation’s pleasure at sponsoring such an initiative. He further stated that the project had the potential to become sub-regional and regional in scope, and that the local ECD policy could emerge as a model to be introduced in neighbouring OAS member countries.

In addition to training, the ECDU, through the OAS, has also distributed learning materials to facilitate the creation of resource centres within classrooms to maximise students’ learning capabilities. These programmes are all part of the new and improved ECD policy recently approved by Parliament.

Coordinator Vanta Walters noted that “real progress” has been made in achieving policy goals, the overall objective of which is to raise the standard of early childhood development to a regionally acclaimed level.

“We are doing well in terms of implementing the various activities of which the Transition Programme is a major component. We are confident our endeavours have resulted in kindergarten teachers being able to provide an early platform for sound educational development and independent thinking in our children.”