Leadership Cayman seminar focuses on education standards and training
Education was the area of focus at the Leadership Cayman seminar held in early April at the KPMG offices.
The Education seminar began with an afternoon presentation by Michael Myles, Owner and Director and Andrew Ritter, Instructor at Inspire Cayman Training, a National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) accredited training centre offering several Technical Vocation Education and Training (TVET) courses. Inspire Cayman Training’s mission is to prepare and support trainees through a rigorous curriculum that will enable them to achieve individual career and learning goals.
The LC class learned about the challenges in our public education curriculum and how introducing and valuing TVET learning from a young age such as Year 7 can be beneficial for students who don’t seek to obtain tertiary education and struggle with the current curriculum.
The breakout sessions and panel discussion components of the seminar concentrated on the criteria used by the Office of Education Standards (OES) to inspect both public and private schools and the consequences faced if improvement recommendations from OES are not actioned; the positive changes that have been introduced at UCCI in the past two years including the transition into more online/hybrid courses due the pandemic, the introduction of more TVET courses, and goal to seek accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Panelists also shared information about the Sunrise Adult Training Centre which provides training, support and services for the empowerment, employment, and independence of adults with disabilities. The need for an adequate facility for clients and proper policies/laws to protect persons with disabilities were some of the issues also discussed.
Althea Edwards-Boothe, Senior Inspector of the Office of Education Standards; Dr. Stacy R. McAfee, President and CEO of UCCI; and Kimberly Voaden, Director at the Sunrise Adult Training Centre facilitated the breakout sessions and panel discussions.
Leadership Cayman class members, Kelsey Halley, and Deirdre Billes with their LC mentor Stephanie Rattan organised the seminar.
KPMG sponsored the seminar. Cox Lumber Ltd., Wheaton Precious Metals and RBC Royal Bank (Cayman) Limited are the major sponsors of the Chamber of Commerce’s six-month leadership programme.