Ingrid Peart-Wilmot A trailblazing educator
WITH over two decades of experience in teaching at the secondary and adult education levels, Ingrid Peart-Wilmot is a motivated, talented, hardworking and astute professional.
Her achievements came to the forefront when she copped the LASCO/Ministry of Education Youth & Information (MoEYI) Teacher of the Year title in December 2017. Shortly after this monumental achievement, the spirited educator who served as a teacher for 20 years at Bishop Gibson High School in Manchester, became the vice-principal of Mount St Joseph Catholic High School.
With the year’s reign complete tomorrow, December 11, Peart-Wilmot has already started a new phase in her career as chief mentoring officer at the Jamaica Teaching Council.
“I am delighted to have be an afforded this opportunity,” said Peart-Wilmot. “As chief mentoring officer, I was looking forward to collaborating with all stakeholders to empower our teachers to perform at the highest standard. We will be utilising varied methods of motivation, sharing of best practices, training and “walking” with the teachers until they can run excellently on their own.”
In August of 2018, Peart-Wilmot launched her landmark project, the LASCO Master Class programme. The initiative provides a digital platform for former LASCO Teachers of the Year to train and mentor other educators. Of course, teachers outside of the Teacher of the Year programme are welcome to assist with the training and mentoring across the island.
According to Peart-Wilmot, her new role will not hinder the LASCO Master Class, but enhance it.
“It will positively impact the LASCO Master Class because the team will be able to network on a wider scale to mentor more teachers,” stated Peart-Wilmot.
“In fact, I will be adding a new area, ‘Re-Tyred to Inspire’. The vision is to engage retired teachers and pull on the experience of those who are willing and able to mentor the new and ‘challenged’ teachers in the system. They would shadow the new and ‘challenged’ teachers at least one day bimonthly and at the end of each session they will give meaningful feedback and guidance to promote growth.”
Renee Rose, brand manager at LASCO Distributors Limited, was moved by the exponential growth of Peart-Wilmot’s career after being awarded the LASCO Teacher of the Year award.
“We at LASCO are delighted that this award has inspired, mobilised and transformed Ingrid’s life in such a significant manner,” expressed Rose. “We are always reiterating to the awardees to make the most of this platform, as we are here to support their projects and visions for education in Jamaica. But action is required for impact. We are proud of her work and work ethic and encourage her to keep building on each moment and opportunity until her vision is complete.”
As she becomes comfortable in her new role, Peart-Wilmot highlighted that the most rewarding thing about her teaching career will always be affecting change amongst her students. True joy for her comes from getting students who struggle academically, emotionally and socially to move from a place of failure to believing they can now excel.
Peart-Wilmot also shared a few words for the 2018-19 Teacher of the Year.
“Make it known to the world that Jamaica has excellent teachers. Use this award to promote education in such a way that persons out there will want to be a part of the education system,” she said.
“The teaching profession in Jamaica has, for many years, been seen as one that lacks professionalism in many areas so go out there and let the world know that this is not so. We have excellent teachers in the system that are impacting Jamaica positively.”
The 2018-19 LASCO/MoEYI Principal and Teacher of the Year will be announced on December 11 during an awards luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus.
