BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS – Macmillan Education Caribbean has announced the launch of its new webinar series for the opening of the new school year 2021-2022 with two exciting new topics set for August and September.

The discussions will begin with ‘The importance of a physical book’ come Wednesday August 25 steered by Debbie Roberts, a well-known author for the Caribbean and an experienced teacher trainer. This webinar is based on research into the differences between reading on a screen and reading from paper.  As schools move towards a blended solution, understanding the strengths and differences of both physical and online reading becomes ever more important particularly for parents.

According to Roberts, “Reading from paper results in a deep reading with the information being processed more effectively with multi-sensory stimuli.”  She will expand on this during what promises to be a thought-provoking and insightful webinar.

Author and teacher trainer Tony Cotton will facilitate the second webinar on the topic, ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing’ on Wednesday September 1. He will draw on independent research carried out for a forthcoming book – Transforming teaching: Global responses to teaching under the Covid-19 pandemic – to explore how the well-being of teachers can be supported both by teachers themselves and by the schools in which they work.  Supporting Tony will be learning and development consultant Katie Frost who will look at how individuals can train themselves to be confident and to transfer that confidence to others.

Cotton’s book explores the experiences of a dozen teachers from around the globe, including the Caribbean. He will discuss how best to use the experiences of teaching remotely to teach more effectively on returning to the classroom. This will include developing relationships with parents, communities and supporting colleagues.

These two webinars begin a series that will support teachers and help students achieve success in their SBA. The series will also discuss why scientific enquiry is the best way to learn science; STEAM activities; help with building confidence in maths as well as an introduction into new Macmillan Education Caribbean publishing for the OECS standards.