The Brunei-U.S. Teaching Apprenticeship Programme is designed to build positive character and improve “marketability” of its ASEAN participants in the professional world while building ASEAN diversity and unity, as presented at the official launching ceremony.

On September 18, the English Teaching Apprenticeship Programme was officially launched at the Core Lecture Theatre, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), by the Minister of Education, Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong.

The Minister, in his address, highlighted the importance of improving the mindset of individuals to cultivate a spirit for enterprise in order to compete in the employment market, where employers are beginning to seek individuals with diverse employability skills. The programme seeks to widen the opportunities of employment for local graduates through the development of better skills and attitudes for employability.

The eighth and newest initiative to be carried out under the Brunei-U.S. venture, its first intake involves 18 apprentices of various disciplines from universities in the United Kingdom, Australia and UBD. The apprentices will be able to benefit in many ways from this programme as it focuses on applied learning where they will incorporate and apply what they learn in the classroom to real-life situations.

Experience of the apprenticeship is further enhanced by a ten-month assignment following the 12 accumulated weeks of study in Brunei Darussalam and Hawai’i. The assignment will take the apprentices to primary schools in Cambodia and Laos, where they are to teach and participate in community outreach work.

Dr Terance Bigalke, the Project Executive from the East-West Centre, in his speech delivered by Dr Kiran Sagoo, the U.S. liaison officer based in UBD, highlighted the importance of embracing diversity in Southeast Asia and to take advantage of this diversity for the greater good of the region. The ten-month assignment of the apprentices in Cambodia and Laos is hoped to further support this aim of creating understanding amongst the diverse peoples of the region.

The curriculum of the programme is based on various modules carried out in both UBD and the East-West Center in Hawai’i. Most of the modules are focused on the subject of educating young children such as the Introduction to Child Development, which aims to develop child-centered teaching and learning approaches. The apprentices will also undertake an Englishes in ASEAN module, which will help them to comprehend the various roles of the English language around the world.

According to the programme’s Project Executive, Dr Salbrina Haji Sharbawi, the programme was created based on the concept of “talent incubator”, merging the elements of mentoring and apprenticeship with entrepreneurial proficiency. An additional module included in the curriculum is the entrepreneurship module where the apprentices will, amongst other things, learn to understand the nature of business set up and operations. The skills learnt will be useful in their future endeavour to set up and maintain a spin-off company under the supervision of experienced mentors. The company will not only provide the apprentices with confirmed employment in the future, but will also provide them with invaluable experience should they decide to venture out on their own into the employment market.

An interview with apprentices, Jordine Maxine Yong Tshya Ying and Dk Nor Atiqah Pg Morni, reveals their plans for the future after the end of the apprenticeship programme. Jordine is exploring the idea of furthering her studies by taking Masters in Teaching, while Dk Atiqah has plans to be involved in either the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Both expressed a desire to continue helping people, whether it is in teaching English or in other ways. Jordine and Dk Nor Atiqah recognize the English language as a door of opportunities. English being internationally-used, they understand the importance of learning the language as a means to help underprivileged children to get out of the cycle of poverty, as they will then have the benefit of being able to communicate in the language commonly used in both professional and academic worlds.