Erdiston Teachers’ Training College Valedictorian Stresses Need for Enhanced Student Work Marking Practices in Education Standards Push

Tiffany Grimes, the valedictorian of Erdiston Teachers’ Training College for the 2022-2023 academic year, has suggested improvements in the way students’ work is marked as crucial to raising educational standards.

Grimes, who spoke to reporters on Wednesday alongside other graduates ahead of their upcoming graduation ceremony, said emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic was a learning experience that pushed her to improve her skill set.

“Coming out of COVID, I was assigned a class that really challenged everything I thought I knew about teaching,” she said. “They made me realise my skill set is not enough. I needed to go back and really learn some new things in order to reach them. So I signed up for this postgraduate diploma in special education, and it was the best decision I have ever made.”

Grimes encouraged all teachers, regardless of level, to pursue the Erdiston postgraduate diploma but stressed there also needed to be greater emphasis on expanding continuous assessments for students, given the number of learning challenges that have surfaced over the years.

“With continuous assessment, I would like to say yes, I know there has to be a standard; however, it can’t be rigid. You have to understand some children will reach that standard maybe a little earlier or a little later than others. So it can’t be that you must get here by x date,” she explained.

“If I give Mary this assessment in form one, and I realise she really has challenges with A, B and C, but she is really good with D, E and F, I should be able to have time [to assess]. I’m sure my colleagues would agree, time is always against us…but it would be nice if you can then say: ‘You know what Mary, I am going to work with you on A, B and C,’ and then give her a chance to catch up, so that it does not feel like a one-shot deal.”

Rhea Morris, a teacher at The Lodge School who completed her technical and vocational teachers’ training programme in adult education, said bias against vocational jobs was a challenge. She hoped her new training would help overcome this, as she believed technical students should understand such subjects were not just for those lacking academic inclination, as they involved several core topics.

“I try to connect what we do in class with the other subjects,” Morris said. “For metalwork, there is art involved, chemistry involved – they have to know how iron is made. They may not go into all the technicalities, but you tell them: ‘Hey, science is involved in this. You need to know how to measure, learn how to calculate the amount of material you are going to need to create something.’ That’s maths. You have to connect these [subjects] together. Technical and vocational subjects are not in a vacuum, with maths and English by itself.”

Charles Van Luain, who completed his in-service certificate programme, thanked the college for assisting him and said he hoped to apply his new teaching methods to his art classes.

“Before, I struggled with reaching a couple of the students, and during and after the course, I found the principles and concepts I would have learned helped with that. Dr Agard, in particular when he visited me, was extremely helpful. He would have broken down a lesson [because] I would have been more rigid before,” Van Luain said.

“Afterwards, I was more relaxed, especially in teaching art.”

(shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb)