Management Team members and teachers of the Gwendoline van Putten School for secondary education on St. Eustatius recently participated in a training to learn how to work with the CCSLC (Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence) lower form curriculum of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC). The training was given by Mrs. Alsian Brown-Perry from CXC Jamaica. The reason for this training is the fact that the Gwendoline van Putten School started with tuition in the English language in the first grade and that the grade 1 teachers are now preparing their pupils for examination in the English language in accordance with the CXC curriculum.
Topics dealt with in the five day course included the philosophy of teaching, the approach to learning, teaching strategies, classroom management, the development of lesson plans, working in groups and presentations while much emphasis was placed on all aspects of testing. The participants regularly worked together in groups to do the assignments. Among the participants were the principal and vice principal, teachers from the vocational stream and of the subjects Social Studies, Mathematics, Physical Education, English and Social Skills. The course will be followed by a coaching trajectory, during which instructors from CXC will keep supporting and advising the teachers in the process of teaching along the lines of the CCSLC curriculum.