Lim educators complete transformative training to better their skills

The Valued Citizens initiative honoured and awarded 149 educators representing 25 public primary and high schools in Limpopo at Sun Meropa on Friday for completing Values in the Lead, a professional development programme aimed at bettering educators’ teaching skills.
Participating educators were celebrated and awarded certificates during a ceremony at Sun Meropa on Friday. Carole Podetti-Ngono, the Valued Citizens Founder and Managing Director said their holistic approach in behavioural change occurs through transformative workshops. These workshops were spread throughout the year and collated in 40 hours of self-reflection and developing best practices, she stated, adding that their partners in this initiative include Domba Trust and Department of Education.
Podetti-Ngono explained that the day was about rewarding, celebrating and recognising the self-actualisation educators and school leaders went through, expanding their soft skills such as communication, self-management and self-leadership, emotional intelligence, and classroom management.
“Our educators and school management teams discovered themselves while learning from each other’s shared experiences and expertise. This in turn will assist them to develop the tenacity of our learners to commit to their academic results. We need a ‘yes we can’ generation when it comes to education. Educators are best placed to influence learners to challenge themselves to greater heights,” Podetti-Ngono said.
She further informed that the Valued Citizens initiative had trained 7 745 educators from
2 173 public primary and high schools in Limpopo, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and Free State provinces and 6 537 have been awarded their Valued Citizens certificates accredited by the South African Council of Educators. She further outlined that they are planning to train over 400 educators this year.
Among the attendees were Education Head of Department, Beauty Mutheiwana and Sun Meropa General Manager, Peter Guthrie who congratulated educators for successfully completing the programme while Valued Citizen educator, Clement Makunya spoke on the impact of the programme on educators’ careers. In keeping with the celebrations, Risinga High School traditional dance group entertained the crowd.

Story and photos: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za