GREAT BAY:--- The role of a mentor within our school system has proven to be an eclectic and challenging one. As a mentor you are the first person a student may contact when any social, educational or emotional issue arises that the student feels he or she cannot handle. You are also the person your school community relies on to signal when something may not be right with a student. Being a mentor in our modern day society comes along with many responsibilities and requires many skills. No longer can we continue to require teachers to be mentors without equipping them with the necessary skills.
From February through October 2013, thirteen (13) PSVE teachers, representing all 4 PSVE school on the island, were trained in different aspects of mentoring. Topics such as the responsibilities of a mentor (mentor profile), when is it time to refer a student to a professional (referral procedures), confidentiality of a student (confidentiality protocols), were a few that were dealt with during this training. This training was set up as "train-the-trainer" and so its goal was to provide schools on the island with resource persons who are capable of doing in-house trainings for new and existing colleagues.
The Division for Educational Innovations (DEI) could not be more thrilled with the results of the training. The Sundial team and management for instance has already carried out workshops for their staff members and have drafted a mentorship 'manual' that will act as a guide for all future mentors, while the MPC team and management have already started implementing other aspects of the training and warmly accepted recommendations on the way forward.
The training was organized by the Division for Educational Innovations (DEI) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs, carried out by Mrs. Marjan de Visser and funded by the Dutch agency USONA. The certificate ceremonies were held per school board last week.
DEI and the Ministry of Education wishes to congratulate all the participants and to encourage the PSVE schools to make good use of their in-house experts. A warm thank you goes out to the trainer for all her hard work and thanks also to USONA for its continued contribution to the education system on the island.