The Curriculum Development Office in the Ministry of Education is implementing its newest programme with the main goal of improving the quality of teaching and learning in the country.

An intensive two-day workshop in training and multi-grade approaches ended Tuesday at the Multi-Purpose Centre, which targeted principals and teachers of five government primary schools: Bethesda, Freetown, Buckleys, Freemansville and Newfield in this the initial phase of the programme.

The multi-grade teaching programme facilitates improvement in several ways including: increase awareness of the importance of multi-grade teaching approaches, foster improved classroom organization and management to improve pupil's learning environment and help with teacher strategies and problems associated with teacher absenteeism.

Cynthia Crump, Assistant Director of Education /Curriculum who facilitated the workshop in underlining the importance of using such a method says the focus will be on how teachers can adapt the national curriculum to meet the needs of students in classes.

"We are using it (multi-grade) as an alternative. To me, the approaches seems to be at a mono-grade, so we are embroaching on something seemingly different, which motivates the teachers, and we are also planning to provide support for them that is lacking. In the multi-grade situation, support of officers will become very important."

Crump added that multi-grade teaching can foster improved classroom organization and management, and help teachers in developing their pedagogic skills and techniques.

The long term plan is to include all teachers, especially those at the junior secondary level.

After the initial stage of the programme, which is expected to be continuous, private schools will be included in the programme, which is expected to be continuous.

Teachers at the teacher training department at the Antigua State College will also be encouraged to immerse the multi-grade approaches into their curriculum.

Participants in the two-day workshop were also involved in a resource development session facilitated by Sandy George, Education Officer Infant Pedagogic, another critical area deemed important in multi-grade teaching.

Independent work, and how teachers can prepare materials for students to work with were the focal points of the resource development workshop.