Azlan Othman
Several structural and functional focusses have been laid down since the School Leaders Convention last February, including emphasising on the establishment of digital citizenship for educators and students.
This was said by Permanent Secretary (Core Education) at the Ministry of Education (MoE) Dr Shamsiah Zuraini Kanchanawati binti Haji Tajuddin at a dialogue session yesterday between heads of department under the ministry with school leaders to mark the 5th School Leaders Convention.
Other focusses include continuing to promote and strengthen blended learning; creating initiatives on learning loss recovery; and rethinking about assessments.
Dr Shamsiah Zuraini Kanchanawati added, “2022 has been a year where we explore and pave our way towards new possibilities in teaching and learning in the new normal.
“Building a strong education system that promotes continued learning is fundamental to the development and economic growth to achieve Brunei Vision 2035.
“As the ministry continues to increase school resilience through pedagogical innovations, the pandemic has also brought to the forefront the importance of understanding and documenting the processes and contexts of learning and the need to account for them in designing and interpreting assessments.”
She also said COVID-19’s implications will be felt for years, thus “we must continue to attempt to measure these implications on academic, social and emotional learning and provide support to address them”.
“Assessments, if used properly, can help us mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic for years to come,” Dr Shamsiah Zuraini Kanchanawati said.
The dialogue session saw 340 school leaders from public primary and secondary schools, colleges and sixth form centres under the MoE and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
It was a prelude to the School Leaders Convention to be held in March 2023.
The theme for the dialogue and School Leaders Convention 2023 is ‘Quality Leaders, Quality Education’, with focus on evaluation as the subtheme.
The dialogue began with a presentation by Head of International Affairs and lecturer at Faculty of Islamic Development Management at Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA) Dr Mohammad Hilmy Baihaqy bin Haji Awang Yussof on ‘Leadership in Islam by Emulating Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)’.
It was followed by a workshop on ‘Learning Assessment Framework’, led by Acting Director of Examinations Shahrizal bin Haji Emran.
The dialogue will continue tomorrow with heads of department in the MoE meeting school leaders in the presence of Head of Strategic Enterprise Performance and Delivery Unit (SEPaDU) Wan Abdul Rahman bin Wan Ibrahim.
There will also be a dialogue on ‘Digital Citizenship in Education’ by Acting Director of Curriculum Development Ali Hamdani bin Haji Mohd Diah, as well as a discussion on blended learning by an officer at the Education Technology Centre Abdul Walid bin Haji Misli.
The session will end with the sharing of resolutions from the assessment framework workshop by the Acting Brunei Darussalam School Leaders’ President Mohammad bin Haji Suhaili. This will be followed by closing remarks from Head of School Leaders at the Planning and Career Development Division of the Education Management Department Pengiran Hajah Mashayu binti Pengiran Haji Yusof, who is also Head of Secretariat of the School Leaders Convention Council.
