A flair for teaching - Early-childhood pioneer still active at 82

Dave Lindo, Gleaner Writer

BROKENHURTS, Central Manchester:

EDNA SEWELL-COULTON is a name that is synonymous with early-childhood education in Jamaica. Even at the 'ripe' age of 82 years, she continues to be involved with teaching at the early-childhood level which she has been doing for better part of 60 years.

Sewell-Coulton is from the farming district of Brokenhurts in Central Manchester where she grew up with her parents Ernist and Gwendolyn Sewell and 11 siblings.

She attended the Old England Elementary school before moving on to The Mico Teachers' College and later transferred to Bethlehem Moravian Teachers' College in the 1950s.

"I transferred to Bethlehem because certain subjects that I wanted to do weren't offered at Mico, such as home economics and needlecraft," Sewell-Coulton related.

After graduating from Bethlehem, she first worked at Old England as a probation teacher and then at May Day Elementary School as a teacher and later at Bethabra School.

In expressing her desire for teaching, she said, "It's my love for people. I believe in the upliftment of people, so whatever efforts are needed, it's like you are doing something for them to improve their lives."

She added, "My first four students at Old England managed to pass their first exams under my supervision and I learnt from that. I learnt that if you help and encourage them they will be able to help themselves, and take up the challenge of work and study."

Due to the outstanding work, Sewell-Coulton displayed in her teaching she was drafted by the Ministry of Education to be a part of the pioneer early-childhood education thrust by the Govern-ment in 1970s.

"That move started off in 1970 there were little schools in St Mary but they were like babysitting schools nothing much was going on," Sewell-Coulton explained. "D.R.B. Grant was our leader and there were 30 of who were invited by the ministry from schools islandwide to launch the programme.

Need qualified persons

We were given the task basically to train basic-school teachers who were regarded as para-professionals and to send them to teachers' college to have more qualified persons in the system. In general, our task was to improve early childhood in Jamaica."

Sewell-Coulton was instrumental in the establishment of the Church Teachers' College Early Childhood School. The Early Childhood Resource Centre built at the school - the only one of its kind in the parish - was also named after her.

She moved from teacher trainer to education officer, to senior education officer with responsibility for early-childhood education in Manchester and other parishes.

To this day, she is still involved in teaching at the early childhood level as the founder of the homework centre at the St Marks Anglican Church. At the centre, children from the parish sit in and do their home-work and are also taught in subject areas such as mathematics and English.

Over the years, she has got many awards from different organisations. One of her dearest is when she was recognised nationally with the Prime Minister's Medal of Appreciation award in June of this year for her work in education.

Speaking on the importance of early-childhood education she said, "It serves the children at a level where they need the best type of education. If education does not begin well, it's half done. They are going to be building on that education that was given to them at early childhood."