Literacy Educators enhance their teaching skills |20 August 2019

Guests and delegates in a souvenir photograph after the opening ceremony

A group of literacy instructors, vocational training teachers, programme coordinators from professional centres are following a week-long training to enhance their teaching skills and boost their competencies.

Organised by the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development and the Seychelles Institute of Distance & Open Learning (Sidol) with the support of the Unesco, the training which is taking place at the Avani Hotel Barbarons in being led by Dr Rakhat Zholdoshalieva, team leader for policy support and capacity development of the Unesco lifelong learning institute.

The chairperson of Sidol, Stella Bergmann, noted that Seychelles has been running the literacy programme since the 1980s and for a long time the programmes have not been revised.

She pointed out that years back the learners who enrolled on the programmes were illiterate and aged adults but these have gradually changed and are still changing to include younger and educated adults who want to improve their competencies to reach a certain level as per their job requirements.

“It is important therefore that the programmes that we offer are revised to meet the demands and requirements of the present day needs of our clients as well as meet the required standards,” Ms Bergmann stated.

Ms Bergmann said that at present there are some 75 participants following different programmes offered by the Sidol and around 24 instructors.

For her part Dr Zholdoshalieva said it is important to continuously boost the competencies and understanding of educators and instructors teaching adults as well as young people.

“This is because often times adult learning is not a specialised area in some countries where such training does not happen so professional development of educators is critical in improving learning opportunities for adults particularly in Seychelles where adult learners are not really considered as a priority,” Dr Zholdoshalieva stated.

She added that it is often believed that education is all for and about children as they are the future generation to support the economy and social development but adult learning has become increasingly important because the changing demands of our societies and economies require different types of competencies. Dr Zholdoshalieva further pointed out that there have always been adults who want to further develop their education and skills but what we are focusing on is renewed attention to learning opportunities of adults.

The first component of the training will focus on the practical aspects and facilitation, review on acquisition of skills and knowledge gained through respective training careers, practical techniques, approaches, strategies and suggestions for application in own training environment. Learning styles: How do people learn? Why do adults learn; creating a safe learning environment; how do you know when students are learning? Why do we need to assess? Providing feedback to your learners; developing flexibility in training; dealing with difficult learners; addressing diversity; adults learning styles: Difference between adults and children learning styles.

The second component involves the design, development and assessment of learning and teaching materials for adults.

At the end of the training workshop, participants will receive a certificate which will enable them to train adult learners, to become an enterprise trainer, enterprise assessor, vocational education teacher.

Sidol will then have a pool of refreshed trainers to work in the literacy centres.