Facilitator’s Corner: One Year Anniversary Celebration

What an interesting and exciting year this has been! Last June, the Facilitation Team hit the ground running by consulting 50 stakeholders in the education sector to introduce the CoP and learn how the community can support their efforts to improve basic education in Jamaica.  Thanks to the contributions from these individuals, the Jamaica Partners for Educational Progress CoP has become the relevant, engaging and continuously growing community that it is today.

Community members have contributed to its success through their continued support of and participation in our events. The rich diversity of members professional experiences and academic training have blended together beautifully to create a community that critically examines key basic education issues. What I am most proud of is the identification of strategies during EduExchange events and the documentation of promising local practices in the EduFocus bulletins. By capturing these voices and experiences, Jamaica Partners for Educational Progress has become a space in which thoughtful, positive improvements in education practice is encouraged, supported and collected.

During the second year, we want to expand our membership by bringing more teachers and school leaders into the network, so they can let their voices be heard. Teachers and school administrators offer a unique and invaluable perspective, and one that will deepen the benefit of the community to all members. Therefore, one of our first activities for 2011/2012 will be reaching out to educators across the island.

As we look towards the second year of the Jamaica Partners for Educational Progress CoP, we’d like to thank you for becoming a part of the community and to remind you that we want to hear from everyone! Too often we hold back our voices, because we think that what we have learned through our experiences is common place. You may be surprised.

Watch Earl Phalen, special guest speaker, share compelling research on the importance of early childhood reading at the launch of the CoP.

Carol Watson Williams