| James Kon |
A TOTAL of 107 local graduates started off their career as contract teachers under the first phase of a project to recruit Bruneians as English Language and Mathematics tutors.
The project aims to recruit a total of 200 local contract teachers – 100 each for English Language and Mathematics.
The newly recruited contract teachers yesterday attended an induction programme following the opening ceremony of the project held at the Ministry of Education which was officiated by Hajah Anis Faudzulani binti Haji Dzulkiflee, Acting Director-General of Education.
Aliuddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman, project head of the Literacy and Numeracy Coaching Programme (LNCP) in his opening remarks said, “The project is under the Literacy and Numeracy Coaching Programme and a long-term initiative of the Ministry of Education to recruit more local graduates as English and Mathematics teachers.”
He revealed that a total of 1,466 local graduates registered for the first phase of recruitment; however only 763 submitted their applications online. Of them, 362 who fulfilled the requirements were selected for an interview which took place from August 19 to October 4, 2017. Only 323 graduates attended the interview session where 120 were selected. However, a number of them withdrew from the programme citing some reasons.
Aliuddin said phase two of the project will be implemented in the near future.
The induction programme, he said, “aimed to provide local contract teachers insight on Ministry of Education’s aspirations, initiatives and programmes as well as to help them understand their roles and responsibilities as contract teachers.”
The local contract teachers will be placed at schools that have local coaches, he said, adding that “the aim is to help reduce the burden of local coaches so that they can focus more on their twin responsibilities of teaching and coaching”.
Meanwhile in her address, the Acting Director-General of Education highlighted the important role of teachers in making the National Education System for the 21st Century (SPN21) a success. “Teachers can make a solid contribution to the success of students. Therefore, the Ministry of Education always stresses on continuous capacity building of teachers, especially aimed at raising their professionalism.”
The implementation of Literacy and Numeracy Coaching Programme, she explained, “is one of the initiatives of the Ministry of Education aimed at increasing the quality of teaching and learning, especially in the field of literacy and numeracy. With continuous coaching and professional development by international coaches, it is hoped that the quality of local teachers can be enhanced which in turn will produce local experts in the field of literacy and numeracy.”
She also revealed that through the Brunei Darussalam Teacher Academy, the ministry is actively implementing professional development programmes that are aimed to raise knowledge and skills of teachers.
“In ensuring the effectiveness of the professional development programmes, the ministry has implemented the Teachers Professional Development Framework, or TPD Framework. Meanwhile, Brunei Teachers’ Standard is a guideline and measure for teachers’ quality and professionalism,” she said.
The Acting Director-General of Education urged all local contract teachers to participate in capacity building programmes that are available and implemented at various levels including school, cluster and Ministry of Education.
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