MICO Care Centre Invites Registration for Education Conference

The Mico University College Child Assessment and Research in Education (CARE) Centre, is encouraging in-service teachers, teachers in training, clinicians and school administrators to register for its seventh biennial education conference.

The conference is scheduled to be held October 11 and 12 at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.

In an interview with JIS News, Associate Clinical Psychologist at The Mico CARE Centre and Co-chairperson of the Conference, Shelleka Matthews, said the conference comes under the institution’s mandate to promote public education and drive awareness around the acceptance of children with special education needs.

She pointed out that the theme of the conference, ‘Diversity in education – Raising the bar. Innovate. Motivate. Differentiate’, was strategically chosen because “we recognise that during our work at the centre, there are gaps that need to be filled in terms of what students are getting, and one way to fill that gap is to develop our teachers further”.

Miss Matthews said the main focus of the conference will be on personal development, which is always important in the field of education and clinical study.

She noted that in terms of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), which embodies critical thinking and reasoning skills, the participants at the conference will be exposed to differentiated learning and reasoning strategies needed to begin to prepare students for the PEP curriculum.

“All the presentations will be based on empirical data. However, we want to avoid a conference that is heavily theoretical. The participants should not feel that they cannot apply what they have learnt, because the content and format is too abstract,” she said.

Facilitators at the conference will include international presenters such as the Chief Psychologist from the York Region District School Board in Toronto, Canada, Dr. Sue Ball; and Associate Professor of Education at Penn State College of Education in the USA, Dr. Paul Riccomini.

Meanwhile, local facilitators include Head of the Clinical Department at The Mico CARE Centre, Yanique Matthews; and Lecturer in the Special Education Department at The Mico University College, Kishi Anderson Leachman,

The conference is one of the main platforms used to engage with in-service teachers, in-training teachers, school administrators, parents, policymakers and even the general public, to address issues affecting learning in the classroom.

It is open to anyone who works directly or indirectly in the education sector. For further information about registration, persons may call 876-929-7720-2 or send an email to care_centre@cwjamaica.com.