NTU hosts Leadership Training Workshop
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 12, 2010) — The teaching profession is in focus this month and the Nevis Teachers Union [NTU] has planned a number of activities to mark the celebration including last week’s two-day Leadership Training Workshop at the Mount Nevis Hotel at Round Hill Estate.
Teachers from Anguilla, Antigua, Montserrat, Tortola, St. Croix, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and host country Nevis were represented at the workshop which was facilitated by Education International Regional Coordinator Mrs. Virginia Albert-Poyette and representative from the Antigua and Barbuda Union of Teachers [ABUT] Mr. Colin Green.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Library Services Mr. Joseph Wiltshire attended the opening ceremony and offered remarks on behalf of the Nevis Island Administration.
While encouraging the visiting delegates to sample the island’s culture despite their hectic schedules, Wiltshire commended the president and other members of the NTU for their efforts in hosting the workshop.
“This [workshop’s focus] to my mind is timely and I applaud the Nevis Teachers Union for this initiative and Education International for funding the activity. During the workshop and through discussions and interactions, it is to be hoped that the participants will acquire additional knowledge and skills to better equip themselves for the task of administering their organizations.
“May this workshop provide us with renewed commitment to continue the task of illuminating the lives of all those whom we touch on a daily basis,” Wiltshire said.
The workshop, according to facilitator Albert-Poyette “is to sharpen the skills of the leaders of the unions.”
In her address to the delegates, she spoke of the numerous challenges that the workshop had been faced with over the years. This, according to her resulted in the decision to alter the workshop structure to ensure that small unions benefit from the training.
“When you train one person you have no guarantee that that person will remain in the Union, you have no guarantee that that person will share whatever they have learnt with the rest of the members and if they leave the Union then it means that everything is gone. Therefore, it is important that we focus closer to a wider number so that in the event that the person moves on then somebody is left behind to continue the work,” Albert-Poyette said.