Uni business arm continues to offer training programme for teachers

Unigor Ltd, the business arm of the University of Goroka, maintains its existence by offering two teacher education programmes apart from its other many functions.
The two are the post-graduate diploma in education and post-vocational teacher education offered during Christmas period.
The programmes were tailored for those teaching in schools without the proper qualification or teacher training certificates.
Unigor began offering the courses towards the vacation period of 2017 to early 2018.
This is the university’s call to the national need for teacher training of “untrained and unqualified teachers”.
Managing director Joe Kata said the programmes were a success.
Kata said two trainings were conducted – one in Mt Hagen and the other at Goroka campus.
Seventeen students in the first batch will graduate on April 26 together with the UOG graduation, with diplomas in either field.
Kata said programmes were offered in two sessions of six weeks each. “Microteaching and teaching practice are conducted during the third term of the student/teachers’ respective schools,” he said.
“This mode of programme delivery will continue until demand for ‘professional qualified teachers’ is met.”
Courses offered during the first session were — introduction to educational psychology, introduction to curriculum theory and practice, teaching skills and methods, micro teaching, introduction to inclusive education and curriculum, and Instruction in humanities sciences and Tvet fields.
The second session has professionalism in teaching, managing behaviour, school-based assessment and teaching practice.
Interested individuals wanting to enrol for the coming session (2019/20) courses, were advised to submit applications to Unigor Ltd by May 2019.
Meanwhile, Kata said tuition fee free (TFF) education for all has had a huge impact on provincial governments.
He made these revelations after realising the need for more skilled teachers as was the case for Western Highlands where he is from.
Kata said in Western Highlands, the opportunities to get TFF, as a free handout for some, would be to build schools as quickly as possible to sort out the processes and be eligible to get funding.
This then led to a shortage of qualified trained teachers to be fitted into the new schools.
The UOG blended recent curriculum reforms into these two teacher training programmes.