MORE than 300 principals of public educational institutions across the island have been trained under round one of the Effective Principal Training Programme, introduced by the National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL) in March 2012.

The programme is comprised of 17 modules, which deal with a plethora of issues that are aimed at strengthening the monitoring of the country’s public schools.

Established under the Education System Transformation Programme (ESTP), the NCEL is responsible for developing excellence in leadership as a common denominator in schools and support institutions.

“The NCEL’s strategic initiatives will include, but are not limited to, improving leadership, facilitating the provision of support and creating local leadership networks in conjunction with the Department of School Services, Principal Director at the NCEL Dr Maurice Smith said.

“The college will be introducing a common leadership qualification for principals, which all prospective principals will have to obtain in order to head any public school in Jamaica.”

Several of the recommendations coming out of a 2004 Taskforce bi-partisan report on education focus on improving leadership within Jamaica’s education system.

The NCEL programme aims to develop excellent school leadership, which will transform children’s achievement and well being; build national policy and priorities into training and identify and develop future school leaders.

Dr Smith explained that the NCEL will bring coherence to existing training and leadership development programmes in education; enhance the capacity of school boards to exercise their statutory responsibilities, and increase the ability of education officers to operate effectively in a modernised system.

“As far as the National College for Educational Leadership is concerned, this will be a game changer, because our remit is to create first class leaders who have the competencies to create first class institutions. Our job is to lead the change and that is exactly what we are doing,” he emphasised.

The Ministry of Education determines the strategic direction of the NCEL initiatives, as the college works closely with the Jamaica Teaching Council, the Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission, the National Education Inspectorate, the National Council on Education, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, the Principals’ Association, the Jamaica Association of Education Officers, the National School Board Association and the private sector.

SMITH… this will be a game changer