Boroko, Port Moresby:Ten senior Catholic academics completed a three-day workshop dedicated to writing a Masters Course that will train Catholic Education coordinators on a higher level to maintain Catholic Identity in agency schools.
The workshop was held on 14th, 21st and 28th of November at Boroko, Port Moresby. The educationists came from St Joseph's International Catholic College, Don Bosco Technological Institute and St. Peter Channel Teachers college, all writing the ‘Masters in Education and Leadership Management’ course.
The Master’s Program aims to provide opportunity to Catholic Education teachers within dioceses who already have a diploma or degree to move into the next level and to help them integrate Catholic identity in mentoring, strengthening, leading and teaching with a catholic worldview of structures, processes, relationships that reflects Catholic Identity. Catholic Identity refers to the catholic faith, life and culture.
"Catholic identity is present in our society but absent in our school systems, the identity of Catholics should filter into our school systems, the best way is to provide training for teachers to espouse Catholic Identity in our school systems” Br. Dr Tivanarlik, Principal for St Peter Teachers College stated.
Dr Catherine Nongkas, Vice President for Academic and Technical Affairs of DBTI explained the importance of training teachers on a Masters level, who have been conveying Catholic Religious Education in agency schools. "We need to focus on religious education teachers because they will drive catholic education for the next five or hundred years". Dr Nongkas said. Dr Nongkas also pointed out that lay Papua New Guineans should take the lead in contributing to the sustainability of Catholic Education. “If we look around, missionaries won’t come back to us in the same numbers as when they started” Dr Nonkas specified.
Contributors at the workshop included Mrs Roddy Abady, Mrs Hua Igo, Mrs Zita Pushai, Mrs Caroline Kimat, Ms Shayne Siega and Mrs Josepha Wailoni, Dr Bernadette Ovia-Aihi from St Joseph's International Catholic College, Dr. Catherine Nonkas and Mrs. Karen Tito from Don Bosco Technological Institute together with Ms Shayne Siega and Br. Dr. Alfred Tivinarlik from St. Peter Chanel Teachers College. The workshop’s participants have done in-depth research, critical discussions and evaluation and are now compiling eleven units for the course that will be submitted to Divine Word University for accreditation in the near future.
The Master’s writing workshop is a continuation after the Diploma and Bachelors course writing Catholic Education Coordinators, which was a resolution proposed in the five-year strategic plan that was endorsed in a National Catholic Education convention held in Madang in 2011.
The workshop was the last phase of the NCEC writing course workshops for this year and was facilitated by the National Catholic Education Commission of CBCPNGSI.