Project Theme: Improving preschool teachers’ capacity to teach phonological awareness

• Survey of preschool teachers found they know/understand phonological awareness and could describe an appropriate phonA activity that they use in their school
• Preschool teachers also said they would like more support and indicated interest in a virtual workshop and/or other resources
• Primary concern of team is improving early literacy skills of children – could talk with Kindergarten teachers to explore characteristics of children with poor early literacy skills or explore phonA skills of children who do not attend preschool

Insights

Emerging Opportunity Areas- much needed linkages between preschools and infant level; this can improve the transition of students from the pre-K levels into the more formal school system. Findings that teachers have the knowledge, but still request support suggests the need for ongoing professional development- whether to hone skills or to help teachers validate the work that they do.

Inspiring Ministerial Discussion – how can preschool teachers also be accommodated in PDs and trainings for Grade K-3 teachers? This effort is being touched on by EQUiP in some ways; that project is considering resources that would be useful to those levels. This teacher-led project also adds weight to the importance of early literacy assessment to determine the specific areas of strength and weaknesses; literacy coaches and support persons in the Districts are well placed to support these assessments every school year. 

Place in an Innovation Portfolio – outcomes from such a project can be useful for making decisions on instructional approaches for students whose assessments demonstrate a need for Phonological Awareness development. It would also be useful for adding to District or National level PD needs to be addressed.

Project Theme: IT support for teachers/Support for teachers who are parents

• Found that some support systems were already in place (workshops, forums, virtual meetings, counsellors, IT support teams)
• But not all schools have these supports; not all teachers feel existing support provide what they need
• Some teachers rely on computer savvy parents or teacher peers for IT help
• Team is re-evaluating if they should continue working in this area

Insights

Emerging Opportunity Areas- below the surface, possible development of PLCs at the school level for providing not just academic support but also psychosocial support; the role of the counsellor emphasized at this school. This new school term, the role of the PLC for professional learning has been unscored by the MoE.

With content being developed under iLearn, which may be mostly digital in nature, the need for IT support will be especially important, not just for solving technical problems, but for enabling teachers and students to continue expanding their content at their own schools.

Inspiring Ministerial Discussion- how can schools be supported to create this culture of learning together as a team, and bringing their strengths together? This collaboration will be useful in empowering more teachers to use their diverse skills at the school and at the same time reducing reliance on administration for addressing issues.

Place in an Innovation Portfolio- addresses an area of opportunity for a group who has self-identified as being in need; meeting the needs of this group also benefits the rest of the system.

Project Theme: Online platform for sharing information with teachers and parents

• Group is working to narrow their focus and collect user feedback to understand current sources of information and what needs are not being currently met

Project Theme: Remote assessment of children

• During remote instruction period of pandemic, assessment was one of the most challenging areas for teachers
• Team’s research indicated using video was a potential approach for remote assessment
• When collecting input from teachers, found they were initially excited, but team detected concerns about using video
• Teachers said remote approach could work well for formative assessments 
• Identified that students would need to be familiar with recording and submitting video to be fair assessment; teachers can begin using videos in classrooms 
• Identified need to resolve practical issues: where are videos stored? Who has access to them?
• Will explore if typical classroom rubrics can be applied or if specific remote rubrics are required
• Two teachers have volunteered to prototype using remote assessments  

Insights

Emerging Opportunity Areas – it would be interesting to explore specific ways that teachers are or can use technology tools everyday in the classroom; there are some schools that have continued to use a blended approach after return to in-person schooling. Formative assessment has also been given more attention as needed over summative methods or even traditional paper assessments. This teacher led innovation can show how to merge existing practices with technologies. 

Inspiring Ministerial Discussion – how can the willingness of some teachers to use technology tools be leveraged to meet student achievement goals for literacy, numeracy, arts, etc, or even to support more reluctant or less confident teachers? How can these types of assessment be shared as an option for all schools? With new devices to be shared through the MoE, how is the ongoing issue of access adequately addressed?

Place in an Innovation Portfolio – the practical needs identified by this team reflect the same questions that need to be answered at a MoE level, considering the need for a solid continuity of learning plan for emergency situations, but also for the integration of more ICT with the revision of the curriculum now underway. Viable solutions identified here can possibly be scaled nationally.

Project Theme: Supporting under and over-achieving students

• Surveyed teachers across two schools; similar issues were identified by teachers
• Teachers report that many underachieving students have behavioural issues and literacy challenges; have observed low parental engagement for underachieving students
• Observation that Special Needs classroom teacher is sometimes used as supply/float for teacher backfill and may not have special needs training
• In lower grades, no opportunities or programs in place to challenge advanced students
• Team is exploring best opportunity to try and intervene

Insights

Emerging Opportunity Areas – more attention being paid to both ends of the learning spectrum; opportunity to explore parental involvement from the unique perspective of parents and to create solutions that are suited to the reality of parents; strengthening the SEN programs in schools.

Inspiring Ministerial Discussion – how can the Special Education Unit be further supported through its initiatives such as pre-K screening and its proposal through the SEN Handbook? With upcoming staffing exercise, how can teacher competence be considered when selecting the SEN teacher for each school?

Place in an Innovation Portfolio – addressing special education needs is important to Saint Lucia. Teacher team options to consider how to support both under and over achieving students will be beneficial to each school where such students are identified through assessments. Exploring parental involvement can strengthen home-school connections.

Project Theme: Sharing teacher resources

• All teachers surveyed said they were willing to share classroom resources, but not all teachers indicated an interest in accessing resources from others
• Working on follow-up data collection to explore where/how teachers want to access shared resources (e.g. online folder, videos, group WhatsApp chat, etc) 
• Are considering if incentive or recognition will be necessary to encourage teachers to share materials

Insights

Emerging Opportunity Areas – supporting CPEA implementation with teacher ideas and practices; supports and extends the work being done with iLearn content development- units being developed and quality assurance done, but this teacher-led project will focused on tried and tested resources shared by the teachers; also supports the resources envisioned for the revised curriculum, which will allow for teachers to share their own resources, aligned with curriculum outcomes.

Inspiring Ministerial Discussion – what are the existing structures that can support teachers sharing and accessing resources both digital and hard copy (storage/platform)? What would encourage more teachers to share and access resources, and which resources would be more pressing for the system?

Place in an Innovation Portfolio – collaboration and sharing of best practices being exemplified; levels of sharing can be explored/ scaled: school level, across grades, district level, national level; resources can support all priority areas: technology, literacy, numeracy, SEN.

Project Theme: Digital tools to support special needs student

• Team has explored variety of online tools available to support student learning
• Youth who were given increased access to digital tools liked using them and teacher perceived some tools helped students
• Identified that not all students had parental permission to use devices (concerns about screen time and unsupervised web access)
• Team is working to match capabilities of different tools to objectives for the class and different student needs

Insights

Emerging Opportunity Areas – parental involvement for facilitating technology access and online safety for students with SEN; interesting insight on balanced use of technology in instruction to ensure basic skills (here: writing) are still developed.

Inspiring Ministerial Discussion – which technology tools are best suited to support students with SEN in specific areas? How can this inform the Special Education Unit regarding training for their own SEN teachers? What role could this play in blended/distance learning options in the MoE’s continuity of learning plan?

Place in an Innovation Portfolio – outcomes from this teacher-led project can inform SEN instructional approaches and improve student outcomes; students with and without SEN needs can benefit from supportive technologies.