What is a lékol vivan - a vibrant school?
Last week in Port-au-Prince, eight Summits supervisors participated in the first intensive training sessions with InnovEd-UniQ, our teacher training partners. The week focused on developing the skills and techniques necessary to build lékol vivans - schools that inspire, challenge, and support students through high quality teaching and engagement.
These supervisors are integral to our network of 41 primary schools in the Central Plateau. Each supervisor is assigned four schools to work with throughout the school year, providing professional support to improve teacher capacity, measure success, and increase student outcomes.
Our approach is inspired by the Partners in Health Community Health Workers program, a system created in the very same rural communities we work with in Haiti. The program is designed to accompany the country’s existing health care system by training health workers to visit patient at home in order to connect them with the care, hospitals, and clinics necessary to ensure healthier lives and communities.
In the education sphere, we imitate this successful approach through the work of our Summits supervisors. The approach is designed to buttress the work of the Ministry of Education and its strategic goals to improve teacher quality and increase student achievement.
The week focused on increasing student engagement through participatory games and practical, field-tested techniques. The supervisors were also coached in data driven strategies and action plans in order to develop strong school-community relations.
We’re incredibly lucky to be partnering with InnovEd-UniQ. With its core values of engagement, connection, challenge, and reflection, we’re building lékol vivants across the Central Plateau.
Supervisor Fritz Andre put it best: “Together with InnovEd and Summits, we can do a better job in every school with the principal and teachers...to help them train the students for a society we dream about.”
With the skills learned in Port au Prince, supervisors will return to the Central Plateau energized and focused on the school year ahead.