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Principals at a NHI Training Serminar in the Solomon Islands

New Teacher Training Approach for Solomon Islands

Rev Bob Frisken AM

New Hope International Limited (NHI) is developing a new approach to teacher training in the Solomon Islands. As Churches in the Solomon Islands take over schools offered to them by the government they are struggling to ensure that staff are adequately trained and that they have a good understanding of what it means to teach from a Christian perspective. This problem was brought to the attention of NHI last year by the General Secretary of the South Sea Evangelical Church (SSEC) Ken Taylor.
NHI has developed a plan to train Principals of the South Sea Evangelical Church over a four year period to become inservcie trainers of their own staff. It has also undertaken to develop a training course that the Principals can use with support material to enable the principals to do this effectively. This is a big financial challenge as well as a huge and demanding task to complete the course development.

Under the leadership of Dr David Baker Principal of Orange Christian schools and with Rev Bob Frisken as Course coordinator NHI will develop the course with the assistance of a team of writers from Christian schools in Australia. It is hoped to have the course accredited by one of the Christian Tertiary Institutes to ensure that the standards are high.
The first 10 lectures in part 1 of the Course have been written by Bob and the development of the Teacher Training Course is underway. Details of these can be found on the NHI Members Page
NHI is still looking for additional writers and also people who would be prepared to join a Review Team to read and make comments on the course that is developed before it is submitted to Course Approval Committee.
A Pilot course will held, God willing, in Honiara Solomon Islands at the end of June 2006. Once the principals have completed the first Units of their course they will be required to train their staff in the second half of the year or the beginning of the next year. They will return in June the following year and report on their work with their staff. An evaluation team will also be set up in the Solomon Islands to evaluate the training work of the Principals.

COURSE OUTLINE
The Course for the first year consists of the following two parts. Part 1 will be conducted in two sessions each day over a five day period and Part 2 for one session a day over the same period.
Part 1
TRAINING EFFECTIVE TEACHERS
Introduction to Christian teaching
1. What makes a Christian School different?
2. Holy Spirit and the Teacher
3. Developing a Christian Worldview
4. Biblical Foundations of Education
5. Christian approach to Classroom Management
6. Learning in Community
7. Characteristics of a Christian Teacher
8. Authority/reliability of Scripture
9. Students in the Image of God
10. Teaching as Transformation

Part 2 INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP
Helping Your Staff to Grow
1. Understanding Your Call
Understanding the call of teaching Vision setting and communicating your vision
2. Biblical Leadership - is Servant leadership
Modelling, pastoring your staff, leading a staff meeting, communicating
3. Principles of training (skilling your staff)
Problem solving, giving responsibility, expectations, methods of discipline - of students, of staff, care of resources, encouraging, modelling, teaching methods,
4. Mentoring your staff
Valuing responsibility, punctuality, dedication. modelling life long learning, response to authority, supervising, solving problems
5. Growing a Christian Learning Community
Evaluation Problem solving, Supervision. Discipline, expectations, encouraging.

The Course with the SSEC will be a pilot program. Once the problems have been ironed out this course will be offered in a number of different underdeveloped nations. It is hoped to have the majority of Christian schools in the Solomon Islands involved in the approach.
Teacher interested in helping should email Maryanne Frisken at rfrisklen@bigpond.net.au

Training is the key to development. NHI has the opportunity of training Principals of Schools in the South Sea Evangelical Church in the Solomon Islands to be Inservcie trainers for their own teachers. This approach it is hoped will have a double effect. Firstly it will significantly improve the leadership capacities of the principals of these schools and secondly it will enable all the teachers currently teaching in the SSEC schools to have a high quality training course accredited by NHI that will improve their teaching skills and also and more importantly help them teach from a Christian perspective. It is hoped to have the training course recognized by the Solomon Island Government.