Tiffany Grimes, the valedictorian of Erdiston Teachers’ Training College for the 2022-2023 academic year, has suggested improvements in the way students’ work is marked as crucial to raising educational standards.Grimes, who spoke to reporters on Wednesday alongside other graduates ahead of their upcoming graduation ceremony, said emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic was a learning experience that pushed her to improve her skill set.“Coming out of COVID, I was assigned a class that really challenged everything I thought I knew about teaching,” she said. “They made me realise my skill set is not enough. I needed to go back and really learn some new things in order to reach them. So I signed up for this postgraduate diploma in special education, and it was the best decision I have ever made.”Grimes encouraged all teachers, regardless of level, to pursue the Erdiston postgraduate diploma but stressed there also needed to be greater emphasis on expanding continuous assessments for students, given the number of learning challenges that have surfaced over the years.
