Mrs. Janice Beckford joined the staff of Shortwood Teachers’ College in January, 2007 as a Lecturer in the Language Arts Department.  She served as an educator at St. Andrew High School for Girls from 1991 to 2006.  Mrs. Beckford has brought a wealth of experience as a teacher of Language and Literature at the CXC (CSEC) level and at the advanced level (CAPE) Literatures in English and  Communication Studies.  Additionally, she was held several positions of leadership as a Senior Teacher and acted as Head of Department, Grade Supervisor and Vice Principal.

During her tenure at Shortwood, she has successfully prepared student teachers in courses offered in Language Arts with the requisite content knowledge and pedagogical skills to meet the needs of the 21st century learners. Mrs. Beckford utilises her expertise/wealth of knowledge in Literature across the region in the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) as she has been a member of the CXC CAPE Literatures in English Examining Team from 2003 to present and has served in several capacities as Assistant Examiner, Examiner and presently is one of the Assistant Chief Examiners and an item writer.

Mrs. Beckford displays a high level of professionalism and serves the College with distinction.  She has served on several committees including Official Functions and Internal Awards Committees. Since she started working at Shortwood Teachers’ College, she has been one of the chief persons responsible for preparing citations and speeches at functions including graduation.

 Janice Beckford has been a part of several committees which have reviewed, written courses and made adjustments to the curriculum from the diploma to the degree programme in order to meet the ever-changing demands to ensure that the learning outcomes are current and relevant in the global space.

Janice Beckford possesses a Master of Education in Educational Administration from the University of the West Indies, Mona, which she has used in her capacity as acting Quality Assurance Officer. The primary responsibilities include the maintenance and upholding of quality and standards  throughout all areas of the college.  The preparation of documents for the purpose of accreditation of the programme offerings by University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) and ensuring that the College achieves registration status through the meeting of standards set by the Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission (J-TEC) are some of the other responsibilities which are executed in this portfolio.  Additionally, Mrs. Beckford leads an efficient team of staff members who serve as Examination Monitoring Committee to provide logistics, monitor and manage the three end of semester examination sessions held annually.

Mrs. Beckford is an active member of the Boulevard Baptist Church where she works closely with the Youth Ministry as Youth Advisor and Guider of a very vibrant 95th St. Andrew Brownie Pack and Guide Company.  She also possesses a spirit of volunteerism as she is an Executive member of the Girl Guides Association of Jamaica as the South East Regional Commissioner.

Mrs. Janice Beckford is married to her husband Dwayne and they have two children Kelsey Ann and Nathan.

She is guided by this principle, “God does not give us more than we can bear.” “God will take care of us, through everyday all the way.”