IN its avowed commitment to improve the standard of teachers in the country, Pearson Nigeria recently staged an introductory professional development training session for school owners/proprietors, principals and ministry officials with the theme, “Change Management and Data-driven Decision Making in Schools.”

Pearson is world’s largest learning company, operating in more than 70 countries around the world.

The session was an overview of more comprehensive professional development programmes it plans to run in the country over the next 12 months. The programmes when underway, will provide educators with the skills and information needed to adapt to rapidly changing education environments, where they are faced with the challenge of implementing new policy initiatives, and the changes wrought by the introduction and increasing importance of technology in classrooms.

The training will also strengthen the ability of school leaders to bring about successful change in their institutions, by way of demonstrating how to manage resistance to change through effective leadership practices, and identifying and utilising the right data with new technologies to measurably improve instruction and student learning in schools.

Pearson’s professional development director in Nigeria, Doyin Shonubi, is of the belief that providing teachers with quality training in these areas will be vital to improving overall education standards across the country.

Her words, “Pearson has recently published research from internationally acclaimed education expert, Professor John Hattie, who believes one of the most effective ways to ensure student achievement is through professional, inspired and passionate teachers. This is what we are trying to achieve through programmes such as this – to give teachers the confidence and knowledge they need to foster successful learning for every learner in their classrooms.

“Improving teacher effectiveness is fundamental to realising Nigeria’s goal of raising the quality of the country’s education system. The ongoing professional development of teachers helps to ensure and maintain a requisite supply of competent and motivated teachers. We cannot modernise the Nigerian education system and have it meet international standards until we address the current situation of teacher deficiencies in Nigeria.”