Education Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, is urging training institutions to ensure that more teachers are certified in special education.
He said that the Ministry is placing increased focus on inclusive education for students with special needs.
“We are trying to mainstream more inclusive education and require that teachers are far more adept at differentiated instructional techniques,” he said.
Senator Reid was addressing the opening ceremony of the International Council on Education for Teaching’s (ICET) 60th World Assembly on July 18 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.
ICET is an international association of policy and decision-makers in education, government and business, dedicated to improving educational experiences and outcomes in all parts of the world.
The conference, being held from July 18-21 has attracted 300 participants from around the world and aims to engender a cross-disciplinary focus on developing teacher capacity through quality teacher education in the Caribbean region.
During the ceremony, Professor Emeritus, the Hon. Errol Miller was presented with ICET’s Frank H. Klassen Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership and contributions in education.
Professor Miller, who delivered the Frank H. Klassen Lecture, said he was honoured to be a recipient of the prestigious award.
Dr. Frank Klassen was a long-standing ICET President who led the transformation of association into the global voice of the teacher-education community and the implementation of major educational reforms.
Senator Reid congratulated Professor Miller on this notable achievement and thanked him for his invaluable contribution to the education sector.
The ICET conference is being hosted by the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) Mona Campus School of Education in partnership with the Teachers’ Colleges of Jamaica under the theme ‘Teachers for a Better World: Creating Conditions for Quality Education – Pedagogy, Policy and Professionalism’.
A special feature of this year’s conference is the inauguration of the Darrell Bloom Award for sustained services to the promotion of educator preparation.
Darrel Bloom is an active leader within the ICET and the immediate past president for the period 1998 to 2012.
Founded in 1953, ICET aims to emphasise international cooperation to improve the quality of teacher education.
Since 1953, ICET has convened seven World Assemblies in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. This will be the third time Jamaica has hosted the assembly since 1971.
Source: Jamaica Information Service