Cook Islands’ is seeking to improve the quality of its Early Childhood Education (ECE) by establishing standards and support system essentials for ECE educators and their training needs.

This comes after the first ever early childhood education symposium for the Pacific region which convened last month in Fiji where government officials and higher education service providers from 15 Pacific Island countries participated including a Cook Islands representative.

Secretary of Education Owen Lewis says Cook Islands’ participation at the symposium is part and parcel of improving the quality of education in the Cook Islands.

The symposium focused on enhancing quality through ECE teacher competency frameworks.

“The aim was to establish standards and support systems essential for ECE educators and their training needs,” Lewis said.

“Each island state sent a senior representative, as the discussions and outcomes from this meeting will be reviewed at the next Annual Pacific Regional Education Framework Heads Meeting.”

The workshop successfully achieved its goals, leading to a clear understanding of the development of teacher competencies and related factors.

The Pacific Island countries represented at the symposium included the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. RELEASE/ TM