At a ceremony organised at the Oxford University Press (OUP) head office, 29 teachers from around 14 schools in Karachi were awarded certificates upon the successful completion of the course ‘Mentoring Skills’ held from February 22 to 24 as part of the Oxford Teachers’ Academy (OTA).
This course aims to develop teachers’ understanding of what it means to be a mentor, build their confidence in observing peers in their classrooms, and also develop their skills in giving feedback to peers after lesson observation. The 29 participants found the course practical, interactive, and experiential, said a press release issued by the OUP on Wednesday.
The OTA is a first-of-its-kind professional development programme launched in Pakistan in 2015 for schoolteachers. The OTA courses, developed by Oxford University Department of Continuing Education and Oxford University Press, provide quality teacher training which help teachers develop the skills they need to meet teaching and learning goals. Teachers who successfully complete the course and provide evidence of learning are awarded a certificate by the University of Oxford.
At the ceremony, prizes were also awarded to the national winners and runners-up, from Karachi, of the third Oxford Big Read (OBR) competition. OBR is a highly successful reading programme launched by OUP in 2015 in schools across Pakistan.
The idea behind this unique project is to introduce schoolchildren to quality reading materials and to inculcate in them a life-long love of reading, leading to appreciation of the written word, and better learning and critical thinking skills.
Students who participated in the competition were required to read fiction and non-fiction books published by the OUP and write reviews on them. The reading contest, aimed at primary and secondary school students, received an overwhelming response in the form of around 4,000 entries. A total of 356 schools from 31 different cities of Pakistan participated in the competition.
The entries were received from three different levels: Level 1 (Classes 1 – 3), Level 2 (Classes 4 – 6), and Level 3 (Classes 7 – 9). The book reviews were first judged on the regional level and the finalists then competed at the national level.
The national winner of Level 2, Zaid Faisal of Generation‘s School, Karachi; and the national winner of Level 3, Alishba Shahzad of Hamdard Public School, Karachi, were each awarded a certificate and a gift voucher of Rs25,000 by OUP, a laptop sponsored by Engro Foods, and a gift hamper sponsored by Shan Foods. The 2nd runner-up of Level 3, Maryam Kainat of Bahria College, Karachi, received a certificate and a gift voucher of Rs10,000 by OUP and a gift hamper sponsored by Shan Foods.
Arshad Saeed Husain, Managing Director of Oxford University Press Pakistan, congratulated the participants of OTA and the winners of OBR, and presented certificates and prizes to them.