•   Pastor France Chambers, Associate Communication Director, West Jamaica Conference
•  Friday, September 2, 2022

Pastor Stephen Drummond, Education Director of West Jamaica Conference, addresses the teachers during a consultation with educators of employed to Adventist schools across the conference territory. | PHOTO BY:  Contributed

During the consultation, the teachers also participated in group exercises to identify ways in which to create a healthier school environment. | PHOTO BY:  Contributed

MOUNT SALEM, Montego Bay–The West Jamaica Conference Education Department on Thursday, August 25, 2022, hosted a consultation with all the teachers and principals of the seven Adventist-operated schools across the territory.

Scores of educators from the institutions were present during the seminar that was convened to share information for the new school year and facilitate dialogue between the teachers and the Conference’s Education directorate.

Pastor Stephen Drummond, Education Director of the Conference was satisfied with the event's outcome as it would have met the objectives of reaffirming the continued integration of faith and learning in the curriculum while encouraging administrators to build positive school culture.

“We recognise that students function very well when the culture is right,” said Pastor Drummond, “When the relationship between teachers and students is healthy students perform better in assimilating and reproducing information and are more cooperative with school rules,” He reasoned.

The Education Director was satisfied that the presentations would have equipped the teachers with helpful tips for creating a seamless integration of faith and learning in their lesson plans.

“A number of our teachers have expressed, in the past, a challenge in documenting the faith aspect of the learning encounter,” Drummond said. “So, we invited Dr. Nichole Mozart (of Northern Caribbean University) to demonstrate to teachers how they can formulate objectives in the various subjects when writing a lesson plan.”

Pastor Drummond also noted that an updated 30-page school policy book was presented to the educators, that is to help bolster the daily management and operations of Adventist schools across the Territory.

Vice-Principal of the Savana-la-mar High School expressed that it “was a productive meeting - relevant and well-organized. The session has helped boost our confidence to meet the challenges ahead, especially as we were assured of the Education Department’s full support.”