Great Bay, St. Maarten, (Wednesday, January 19, 2011) – A total of 14 new teachers on Tuesday, January 18th received their certificates as "leaders" in the Active Parenting programs which are geared towards helping parents to deal with the challenges of parenting in today’s society.
Twelve new teachers were certified in "Active Parenting Now in 3" in the FBE schools, while two Sundial School teachers received their certificates in the "Active Parenting of Teens" in the VSBO schools. Of the new FBE leaders, eleven (11) are from the Hillside Christian schools who were trained by the trainers from that school and 1 FBE leader from the Public schools who is the only certified leader for the program in the Spanish language.
Initially, the idea was to train only Student Care Coordinators and Social workers in all schools to conduct the workshops with the parents. It was later decided to train additional persons (teachers as well as parents) to become leaders to facilitate more parents during the workshops and to safeguard the success of this program in all schools. At the moment each school has at least 2 leaders.
With effect from February 2011, all school boards will ensure that at least 2 new leaders will be trained in each school. By doing this schools would be making sure this important program will continue.
Besides the basic program in the FBE schools, the Department for Educational Research, Planning and Innovations (DERPI) has also ordered additional materials as a support to parental guidance.
These are (9) DVD’s that can be used in small groups or with parents who need encouragement in these areas. The DVD’s will be officially handed over to the school board representatives during the small ceremony for the certification of the Leaders.
The topics on these DVD’s include: "Bonding with your Baby"; "Education starts at home"; "Wise words on Discipline" and "Fathers Matters". Others are: "Encouraging Positive Activities"; "Single Parenting"; "Marriage"; "Foster Parenting" and "Grandparents as Parents".
DERPI hereby invites and encourages all parents to make use of the opportunity to attend the workshops in the school s as part of the Innovation in Education project financed by USONA through the Dutch Development Agency.