| James Kon |
ALL school leaders can now fully utilise students’ academic transcripts to track their progress to design and build appropriate early intervention programmes and form decisions in fostering data-driven and collaborative learning culture within and between schools, following the establishment of the Centralised Assessment Unit (CAU), said the Acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education (MoE) Dr Haji Azman bin Ahmad.
Highlighting the establishment of CAU in his speech as guest of honour at the local coach graduation ceremony for the Literacy and Numeracy Coaching Programme (LNCP), held at Auditorium 1, Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha Girls Arabic Religious Secondary School (SUAMPRIPAHS), in Katok, he noted that the assessment system CAU serves as Student Assessment Tracker (SAT) to ensure that the MoE can measure each student’s performance in schools.
At the ceremony, 92 Mathematics and English Language teachers received their accreditation as coaches after successfully completing the first stage of the Coaching Model Training (CMT) to create expert trainers.
“Active collaboration and partnership are critical to ensure that our teaching coaches are more focussed and effective in pursuing their professional journey to become expert coaches. In this regard, continuous support from school leaders is very critical in ensuring that the knowledge and skills that they have gained from attending the CMT are applied effectively.
“It is high time for school leaders to review their current roles and responsibilities by taking into account their future roles that are more challenging and yet rewarding, not only in teaching and coaching but also working with learning partners, participating in Local Coach Working Groups, Train the Trainers sessions and professional development courses conducted by relevant departments.
On this note, the acting permanent secretary highlighted the titah of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam delivered during the 27th Teacher’s Day celebration on September 26, 2017 in which the monarch noted that 29 teachers have completed the capacity-building programme as certified local coaches under the Literacy and Numeracy Coaching Programme (LNCP) and hoped to see an increase in numbers.
“Alhamdulillah, another 92 teachers who have undertaken the Coaching Preparatory Programme (CPP) and the CMT will be accredited as local coaches shortly. I hope our coaches will continue their journey to lead a learning culture within their schools and beyond and become our LNCP ambassadors in driving literacy and numeracy improvements in schools and in the country.
“I was informed that the local coaches have gone through coaching and Teaching for Mastery (TfM) training. I am delighted to know that the implementation of TfM is currently at Module 3 which includes Task Design among others. I would like to reiterate the mandate given by the former education minister during a stakeholder engagement event held on November 13, 2017 in which he called on English and Mathematics teachers to incorporate teaching frameworks for English literacy and Mathematics mastery in their daily classroom practice.”
The training for local coaches is a 12-month programme which involves three stages, namely accreditation, specialisation and expertisation. The programme for coaches includes four areas – teaching quality; coaching effectiveness; educational policy, content and systems knowledge as well as leading whole school literacy and numeracy improvements.
Four local coaches, Norain binti Haji Hamdan of Bukit Panggal Primary School; Pengiran A’zlehasimah binti Pengiran Haji Rosli of Lambak Kanan Jalan 49 Primary School; Juliati binti Haji Shahbud of Labi Primary School; and Nor Irniwati binti Haji Ismail from Sayyidina Abu Bakar Secondary School received Special Mention for their outstanding efforts during the programme.
Present at the ceremony were the co-chairpersons of the event Deputy Permanent Secretary (Core Education) at the Ministry of Education Nadia Lee Siew Hoon binti Abdullah; Project Lead of LNCP Aliuddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman and Head of Human Resource of LNCP Dr Ian Cosier.