BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

SOME 418 teachers and school leaders gathered in a forum at the International Convention Centre (ICC) yesterday to discuss ways to further enhance their respective school’s achievements and tackle various issues which they face.

The National Education Forum: Leadership for Learning 2015 was aimed to strengthen and hone school leaders on their strategic leadership skills for effective teaching and school planning. It also hoped to pool ideas from the participants on the understanding of quality teaching and instructional leadership.

Speaking with _The Brunei Times, _the Acting Director of Schools, Zaman Hj Gapar urged the teachers and school leaders to apply what they have learnt from the forum to their schools.

“All schools are gathered today to discuss on the issues the individual schools’ have, therefore they must use the discussions here to learn on how to tackle them and apply the solution in their schools,” he said.

Among the issues raised by the teachers and school leaders at the forum include the teacher’s increasing amount of workload, parental involvement and attitudes of teachers, students and parents.

Zaman said that teachers can overcome these issues through the discussions by receiving guidance from the other school leaders and teachers across the Sultanate.

“All schools are unique, which is why we have gathered all of the school leaders and teachers to speak out in this forum to help one another in tackling their issues,” he said.

Zaman suggested that teachers must use the forum to understand the quality of education provided in the school.

Providing an interactive teaching experience, for instance, could help motivate and entertain the students and teachers during the classes, he said.

Zaman added that the teachers could also step out of their comfort zone while teaching, in which he highlighted that the ministry will support their new initiatives to enhance the students’ education.

“Everyone has a role to play in developing the education achievements and tackling the education issues in Brunei by ensuring all teachers, parents and students provide a quality environment,” he said.

He also suggested that parents and teachers could build a relationship to enable the parents to closely monitor and be updated with their children’s academic progress.

Students were also urged to contribute by ensuring they are present in classes and actively participate in learning.

Present during the forum’s launch was the Minister of Education, Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Awang Abu Bakar Hj Apong.

In his speech, the minister said that the schools have helped raised the students’ performances through their own initiatives and learning programmes.

“During several school visits, I was pleased to see the initiatives made by school leaders to improve their schools performances,” he said.

According to the minister, the children’s performances have improved by 11.63 per cent, from 4.5 per cent in Checkpoint Test 1 to 16.2 per cent in Checkpoint Test 2.

“We can continue the momentum and reach the target,” the minister added.

The Brunei Times