THE Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) will be tightening the monitoring and evaluation of its regional centres next year to ensure synergy of quality, the institution’s Principal, Viola Rowe, has said.

The college has a number of Distance Education Centres through which it offers programmes to students that live in far-flung and hinterland communities. Rowe said the CPCE has an appraisal instrument that is used at the main campus in Turkeyen on the East Coast of Demerara. It is the intention to have the use of that instrument widened and applied at all centres across Guyana.

“We currently have students evaluate the courses at the end of every semester. The students are allowed to evaluate how the course was done, but now, in the vision of the closer monitoring and evaluation, it will target the staff and what they do. We want to have the staff members, not just the course, we want each staff to be evaluated,” the Ministry of Education quoted the CPCE head as saying in a press release.

Staff members will be evaluated by their peers at each centre and by the Head of the centres. The data and information recorded will aid the CPCE to ascertain what exactly is being done at each centre and how it is being done. With this information, the strengths and weaknesses of staff members and that of the centres would be known.
As it relates to the performance of lecturers, Ms. Rowe explained that if weaknesses in lecturers are identified, assistance will be given to help those educators improve their standard of education delivery.

This assistance will take the form of developmental sessions. These measures are being implemented with the intention to ensure that all Guyanese interested in enrolling at CPCE, can be assured that they will have access to a good quality of education delivery, regardless of which of the Distance Education Centres they attend. This will serve to eliminate the disparity that exists relating to the quality of education that is accessible on the coast when compared to the hinterland and rural communities. The CPCE has centres in Anna Regina, New Amsterdam, Rose Hall, Vreed-en-Hoop, Linden, Mabaruma, Moruca, Port Kaituma, Charity, Moraikobai, Bartica, Kamarang, Mahdia, Lethem, Aishalton, Annai, Kwakwani, Georgetown and Turkeyen.