Project based learning to feature in education reform

hief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw says Project Based Learning (PBL) is a key pillar in the country’s educational reform framework.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday at the conclusion of a Music Project Based Learning workshop at Erdiston Teachers’ Training College, she said PBL will play a larger role in the school curriculum in the future. This method allows students to learn by actively participating in real-world, meaningful projects that combine education with fun.

Reporting on the participation of the 61 public primary and secondary school teachers and three private school teachers in the workshop, the education chief said: “They were having fun, they were learning, and I can see they have the willingness to implement project based learning in music within their school setting…. It was good to see the synergy amongst those teachers as we learned about project based learning and how to implement projects within their classroom settings.”

Archer-Bradshaw noted that the workshop, part of the Summer Development Series for teachers, was one of several the ministry has been conducting over the past few years to help teachers adapt their teaching methods to better meet the needs of students in the rapidly evolving learning environment.

She said the “chalk and talk” approach to teaching has served previous generations well, but there is a need for a change.

“This approach is quite different in that it allows our children to express themselves a lot more [and] children are met at their point of need. As I said to the teachers, children love music but very often they don’t like to learn music because of the way that it is taught. This workshop for us is more of a movement, so we anticipate incorporation of these methods within the classrooms,” the chief education officer said.

Timothy Jones, the facilitator of the project and a representative of US-based Techniques4Learning company, said the teachers had an eye-opening experience as they developed various music lesson plans aimed at making the subject more engaging for students.

“As educators we have to tap back into our inner child. A lot of the time we want young people to be vulnerable and creative and take risks, but as adults we would get into a space and sit quietly and when you are asking their opinion, sometimes for them, speaking outside of the curriculum is a little daunting.

“As they work through that they begin to feel what their students feel, so hopefully when they finish this training they would also have another level of empathy for that student who might feel a little nervous,” Jones said.

(SB)