Passed with distinction
In Gobabis we can congratulate: the long-time educator and preschool teacher Stephanus Santiago Narib from our partner project Light for the Children, who looks after the steps Schutzengel and steps homes children in the afternoon with a wide range of tasks, has passed the examination „Junior Primary Education“ with distinction! He has thus obtained his teaching diploma for primary school and is state-certified. This is an incredible achievement: he grew up in the simplest of circumstances, with a large family that he has to support. He lives with them in a small hut and still finds the time and energy for training alongside his work and family!
With the help of our donors, we have been able to make the further training to become a state-certified teacher at the Institute for Open Learning possible. In other projects of steps for children and in our partner projects, we also support teacher training and further education so that our steps children are cared for in the best possible way. In 2021, we can look back on a total of 12 training courses financed by us, some teachers are currently active and are still completing their modules.
Training continued even during the pandemic
Even during the pandemic, the training courses, which last up to four years and consist of a combination of in-person, online and self-study phases, were able to continue.
Through training and further education in the areas of early childhood education and development, we want to strengthen our carers and thus sustainably improve the education of the steps children. The training courses provide sound knowledge of caring for children in their various stages of development, safety, health, hygiene and nutrition, as well as specialist didactic knowledge for the school subjects English and Mathematics.
Already now, all teachers bring aspects from their further training into their daily lessons and into their work with children in the projects.
Santiago is staying with us
Now Santiago is a teacher at the state primary school in Gobabis in the mornings, which has rented a few classrooms in the steps buildings, and in the afternoons he continues to look after the Schutzengel and steps homes children together with his steps colleagues.
A big compliment to steps
In some cases, it is difficult to retain the teachers - because as soon as they have completed the additional training, they are sometimes poached by the state. We see this with both joy and sorrow: on the one hand, it is a great loss for the children in our nurseries and preschools, on the other hand, we can be proud that we are enabling such a good education and that the state also employs our teachers without a university degree. We are delighted for the staff, who then receive a higher salary. Nevertheless, of course, we try to counteract the departure of our teachers: by handing over more responsibility, higher salaries and further incentives after the training. In any case, we would like to continue making a major contribution to training and further education in this area – education as the key to change.
The cost of further training can vary – tuition and course fees differ depending on the training and travel costs to the course locations.
For 1 year per teacher at Headstart Montessori Training College, at NamCOL Namibian College of Open Learning or at IOL – Institute for Open Learning the fee is between €500 and €2,100.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
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