Indian Public School, Salmiya organised a stimulating and inspiring Professional Development Programme on Mentoring Models for Teachers on Saturday, 18th May 2024 at the school auditorium. The workshop was conducted by a true visionary and leader in the field of Medical Education, Dr Thomas V Chacko- the Dean of Medical Education and Professor of Community Medicine at Believers Church Medical College, Thiruvalla- Kerala, India.
Dr Chacko was awarded an International Fellowship in Medical Education in 2002 and the two-year Educational Leadership Fellowship at "The FAIMER Institute”, Philadelphia and was subsequently invited to serve as the Global Faculty Advisor for the Faimer Institute program in Philadelphia. He was also the Secretary-General of World Federation for Medical Education’s South-East Asian Regional Association for six years (2011-2017) and the President of the Academy of Health Professions Educators, India (2017). He is often invited to be member of the WHO Expert committees to recommend improvement in teaching of Public Health in the South-East Asia Region and transformative training of Health Care Providers for Primary Health Care within health systems. He has also been invited to conduct tailor-made workshops for capacity-building of health professionals and educators including Continuing Professional Development in several national and international conferences across the World. His areas of interest in medical education include curriculum planning, program evaluation, competency-based and community-based medical education and educational change management towards improving teaching in Medical Schools and improving Global Standards in Medical Education. He was recognized by MEU India, a network of 25,000 health care educators, with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 for his contributions to Health Professionals.
The programme delved on how to identify the qualities of a good mentor, identifying common mentoring situations, discussion on which mentoring model can be used for diverse scenarios presented, practice using a mentoring model, reflecting on the advantage of using a model to sharpen the listening skills of the students and above all encouraging them to become reflective partners. The teachers were finally asked to reflect on their learning and its possible translation to practice. The seminar which included group discussions on different mentoring models and making presentations on the group findings, was lively and interactive. The teachers raised pertinent questions related to their day to day class room situations which were answered suitably by the resource person. He stressed on the need for the teachers to gain the trust of their mentees for a favourable outcome. The Vice- Principal Mr Anil Kumar, thanked the resource person Dr Thomas V Chacko and the Principal Mrs Lucy A Cherian for arranging this motivating session for the teachers. The programme concluded with a sumptuous treat arranged for the teachers by the school management for the brilliant and exceptional performance of the school in the CBSE Class X and XII Board Examination 2023-2024.