SHINELLY JAMES is all for inclusivity in education, which is one of the many strategies she employs at the school she leads and one that was instrumental in putting it in the global spotlight.
The head of the Bishop Anstey High School East and Trinity College East (BATCE) sixth form school applied for and was recently presented with one of the inaugural 2024 Global Inclusion Awards at the UNESCO and inclusive practitioners conference in France. BATCE was the only Caribbean school to get an award.
"Applying for the award required evidence, because it's a global award. I had to submit evidence of what we're doing at the school in terms of social emotional learning; we had to submit feedback from a diverse range of students on their experiences; and the different things we were doing to push inclusive learning...It feels good to know that what you are doing is being recognised at that level."
James, a member of the Trinidad and Tobago-based Caribbean Visionary Educators (CVE) said it was through this group that she was introduced to the Global Inclusive Initiative course – a teacher training programme that helps teachers meet the inclusivity-in-education needs in their classrooms. She felt it would be useful in helping the school improve its academic results.
CVE was established in 2019 and is made up of a team of professional educators who are committed to educational development through the creation, sharing and discourse of indigenous Caribbean-focused educational resources and services to support educators and learners globally.
"At BATCE, we have a performance management system that is tied to improvement so that we can reach our goals. So when I looked at the content of the course, I said 'this is one avenue through development I could use to improve my academic results.' The academic results of the sixth form is good, but you know there is always room for improvement.
[caption id="attachment_1088756" align="alignnone" width="576"] Head of Bishop Anstey High School East and Trinity College East sixth form school, Shinelly James, was presented with an inaugural 2024 Global Inclusion Award at the UNESCO and inclusive practitioners conference in France. -[/caption]
“Last CAPE exams we reached that milestone where we got 100 per cent passes. Every student passed, and I believe it is because now we are focussing on every child."
James said the school invests heavily in professional-development training for staff, and all teachers have done the year-long inclusive initiative course, which focuses on strategies for reaching the diverse student population that teachers have to face every day.
"So in my school population I might have students who have learning disabilities, who are coming from backgrounds of poverty, having trauma in their home environment, and they are coming and bringing all this to the classroom. And I now have to reach them with an understanding that I have a great dynamic in my classroom.”
The initiative focuses on strategies the teachers can use to plan their scheme of work, t
