KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Mico University College on January 27, through its Institute of Technological and Educational Research (ITER) signed a contract with the British Council, Caribbean, after being awarded the opportunity to conduct curriculum mapping exercise for the British Council’s Core Skills Training programme.

According to a release from the university, the ten-day project is to: identify the current core (soft) skills currently taught in the national secondary education curriculum; provide needs assessment for British Council’s Core Skills programme and facilitate the development and delivery of Core Skills Training where necessary.

Director of British Council Caribbean, Olayinka Jacobs Bonnick, speaking on the project said, “The British Council is championing six core skills to help prepare young people for life and work in a globalised economy and contribute responsibly both locally and globally. We are doing this by offering a suite of professional development courses to support teachers in developing pedagogies in the core competencies of: student leadership; digital literacy; critical thinking; creativity and imagination; communication and collaboration; and citizenship. By identifying subject areas for integration of Core Skills development and assessing and building capacity, we are able to implement change.”

This partnership with the Mico University College research arm, ITER, aligns with its function of responding to the broad education-related problems and needs of society beyond the constraints in which the academic departments function, the university said.