JIS: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information is to allocate $1 billion in budgetary support to primary, all-age and junior high schools for the 2017-2018 academic year.

 

This is in line with the Ministry’s commitment to provide greater support to schools to improve the quality of education in Jamaica.

 

A bulletin issued by the Ministry states that all schools at the infant and primary levels will receive $2,500 per student, up from an average of $850.

 

All-age and junior high schools will get $19,000 per student, up from $1,100.

 

Schools will also continue to receive a maintenance grant of $50,000 and janitorial grant of $172,000 per school. The money will be disbursed in four tranches beginning this month (June).

 

The second and third tranches will be given in September and December, respectively, and the final tranche will be handed over in April 2018.

 

The Ministry will also provide additional teachers for schools that require special support, based on the nature of the students and special programmes being offered.

 

Selected schools will be fitted with additional classrooms, and some infrastructure upgraded.

 

Lighting systems in schools will also be upgraded. Beneficiaries under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) at the all-age and junior high levels will be supplied with literature books, and $2,000 will be allocated to each student to cover the cost of identification and uniform-related items.

 

The Ministry will cover the cost of insurance for PATH beneficiaries and wards of the State.

 

School administrators are reminded that no fees are to be charged; however, schools should work with parent-teacher associations (PTAs) to determine the level of contribution that parents can afford to assist in the long-term development of the schools, or for special projects.

 

The bulletin says that for schools which may require additional support, their operating costs will be carefully reviewed and, if necessary, additional allocations will be made within one month of a request.

 

Meanwhile, schools that fall short of funds, during the course of the year, should write to the Permanent Secretary requesting consideration for additional support.

 

Schools will be required to submit annual comprehensive income and expenditure statements for all funds received from all sources, followed by an audited financial statement.

 

CAPTION: In this file photo, Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (right), adjusts the collar of a student at Spanish Town High School, during a tour of the institution.

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says the new National Standards Curriculum (NSC) will improve methods of teaching, particularly for boys.

 

Mr. Reid was responding to a question on ways to improve the performance of boys in schools, during the Rotary Club of St. Andrew luncheon meeting at the Hotel Four Season in St. Andrew, on June 13.

 

“Part of the reform we are implementing is the National Standards Curriculum, which tries to customise and meet the needs of the different learners,” he said.

 

The goal of the NSC is to improve the general academic performance, attitude and behaviour of students, which should redound to the positive shaping of the national social and economic fabric.

 

Under the new system, emphasis will be placed on project-based and problem-solving learning, with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics/Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEM/STEAM) integrated at all levels.

 

The approaches will allow the learners to have hands-on experiences that are similar to real-world situations, making the learning experience less abstract and more concrete.

 

Senator Reid said educators should be more cognisant of the differences of each learner and incorporate teaching methods such as technology, which will assist in that regard.

 

In the meantime, he said the Ministry is exploring ways in which students are assessed. “For example in Maths, we are moving away from simply just finding the answers to the questions to the process, so you can demonstrate the pathways to achieve the particular objective,” he said.

 

This will form part of the strategies being pursued by the Government to transform the sector.

 

In September last year, the Ministry started implementing the NSC at Grades 1, 4, 7, and 9. The programme will be introduced at Grades 2, 3, 5, and 6 in September 2017.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (second left), in discussion with (from left), Past President, Rotary Club of St. Andrew, Dr. Lloyd Eubanks-Green; member of the Rotary Club of St. Andrew, Minna Israel; and President, Rotary Club of St. Andrew, Wayne Strachan. Occasion was the club’s luncheon meeting, held at the Hotel Four Seasons, in St. Andrew, on June 13.

JIS: Education, Youth and Information Minister, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, remains confident that the Ministry will meet the August 2017 timeline for the certification and registration of 100 early childhood institutions (ECIs).

 

He says 34 of these are already registered, having fulfilled the Early Childhood Commission’s (ECC) 12 stipulated certification Standards, adding that a number of the others are “not far away” in this regard.

 

The Minister was speaking at last week’s post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House.

 

Noting that there are 2,734 ECIs islandwide, Senator Reid told journalists that while there have been compliance challenges, several of them are operating close to the level that will see them being registered and certified.

 

He said among the issues identified in their operations are shortfalls in proper governance/management arrangements incorporating the appointment of a Board; effective financial management systems; and the requisite infrastructure and environment conducive to the children’s learning.

 

“Sixty-four per cent of all the early childhood institutions are what we call basic schools and are privately owned. They are under-resourced, and that is why the Government is moving to rationalise the sector. We want to take over 64 per cent of the capacity of the early childhood sector and make sure (they) operate at the required standard,” the Minister indicated.

 

Senator Reid said he has also impressed upon the ECC the need to ensure that buildings designated for ECIs fulfil the requisite approval stipulations before operations can commence.

 

He pointed out that the Ministry is currently endeavouring to regulate and bring existing institutions to the stipulated standards, “but going forward, we have to make sure that those standards are (established) in the first instance.”

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, addresses journalists at a post-Cabinet press briefing on June 7

JIS: The Ministry of Education Youth and Information is reminding parents and guardians of students who sat the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) that the ‘no transfer’ policy remains in effect for 2017.

 

This is in keeping with the Procedure for Transfers dated June 16, 2014.

 

The Ministry noted, however, that it will accommodate cases where students could have otherwise been placed closer to where they live, or other extenuating circumstance that have resulted in a student having to travel long distances to school.

 

In a bulletin issued on June 9, the Ministry advised parents/guardians who are seeking transfers for children already placed in schools that it is their responsibility to contact an institution willing to accept their child/children.

 

The following transfer procedure should be upheld: the accepting school should provide the parent with an acceptance letter; the school where the child was originally placed must give the parent a release letter; and the parent or guardian is then required to write a letter addressed to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, requesting approval for transfer.

 

This letter must be accompanied by the acceptance and release letters and should be taken to the regional offices.

 

The Ministry will send approval letters to the accepting and releasing schools within three weeks from the date received.

 

The regional offices will provide the support to parents/guardians to assist in making this process as seamless as possible.

 

This year, the Ministry has provided an additional avenue through which parents/guardians can submit their queries/concerns once the GAST results are made available.

 

These queries/concerns can be emailed to [email protected] and will be dealt with by the relevant office/unit within the Ministry.

 

CAPTION: The Ministry of Education’s main office, 2 National Heroes Circle.

OBSERVER: LASCO/Ministry of Education Teacher of the Year 2016/17 Kerene Nelson has a vision in which primary schools across the island are assigned resident teachers of Spanish to give them the opportunity to learn Spanish as a second language.

 

The St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) teacher believes that adavnatage should be taken of primary school students’ eagerness to learn at that age.

 

“If their interest can be captured from early, this can help to reduce apathy at the secondary level as solid roots would have already been formed,” she said, adding that high interest in Spanish can have far-reaching benefits to the economy.

 

Recognising the financial constraints of implementing the strategy across the education sector, Nelson has gone ahead and used resources she’s received for copping the teacher of the year award to launch a project to train teachers in Spanish education at Schoolfield Primary and Infant in Malvern, St Elizabeth.

 

“I immediately decided that this is where I should be planted to help the growth process in Spanish,” Nelson told the Jamaica Observer.

 

Nelson has been training 11 teachers, including the principal of Schoolfield, since March, utilising power point presentations and online activities. She has also used songs, slates for group work, worksheets, and dialogues in Spanish.

 

To judge the teachers’ progress, they are individually assessed, are randomly questioned in Spanish in a WhatsApp group, and are randomly quizzed outside of the school setting.

 

“A student was seen in the supermarket and I asked her the time in Spanish. The time was 7:04 and she was able to correctly say, ‘Son las siete y cuatro’, though slowly as she was still learning the numbers,” Nelson shared.

 

Major sponsor of the Teacher of the Year award, LASCO Manufacturing, purchased two desktop computers for the computer laboratory at Schoolfield, costing $126,000.

 

“For the success of the programme, technology integration will be necessary,” Nelson said. “Teachers will be better equipped to integrate technology during instruction to make the teaching/learning process more engaging and meaningful.”

 

The donation will also benefit students who can use the computers to do research online, as well as to be creative, while showing mastery of content, she added.

 

Nelson has also leveraged her win to present her student teachers with gift baskets from LASCO on Teacher’s Day, and she gifted the student population with a candy-filled piñata for Career Day on May 26.

 

“The teachers have been so supportive, co-operative and adorable, thus, it was necessary to encourage them by showing my gratitude and appreciation,” she said.

 

Nelson reported that she is delighted to contribute to the development of Schoolfield, which has seen significant improvements in student performance over the past four years. Literacy among students moved from an average of 31 per cent to 78 per cent between 2013 and 2015.

 

What makes Schoolfield even more special to Nelson is that it is her foster son’s alma mater.

 

“It is undying passion to serve that motivated me to be a foster mom to a student at STETHS who had grave financial challenges, and I thought it best to extend my time and service to his alma mater,” Nelson explained.

 

Students from the Spanish club at STETHS are scheduled to visit Schoolfield to conduct devotion in Spanish as a means of building students’ interest in the language.

 

“I have developed a strong penchant for the subject and, coupled with my personality, I believe I am able to impart it effectively to my students,” Nelson said when asked about the reason behind the initiatives.

 

She added: “It also gives me the opportunity to participate in nation-building, the mere fact I am preparing students to be bilingual in a global society.”

 

Nelson has spent almost 20 years in the teaching profession. She has a master’s in education administration, a Certificate in Technology Integration in Secondary Schools, and a BDegree in Spanish. She has also been awarded Most Tech Savvy and Teacher of the Year from St Elizabeth Technical High School.

 

CAPTION: Lasco 2016/17 Teacher of the Year, Kerene Nelson.

OBSERVER: THE Ministry of Education says it is set to introduce the pilot phase of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) — the test which is to replace the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) by 2019 — next school year.

 

“Based on our schedule, next year will be the last sitting of GSAT,” said Minister of Education Senator Ruel Reid yesterday.

 

“We will ensure that the children are very prepared and there has to be proper communication with the teachers, the leadership of the schools, parents, the students themselves, so they understand exactly what the assessment requirements are, but we are far advanced with the preparations,” he said.

 

PEP will change the nature of exams for those seeking to enter high schools from relying on memory to more critical thinking skills. The test, the ministry says, has the aim of alleviating the existing challenges associated with the long distances traversed by secondary students to get to school by introducing zoning — to place students in schools closer to their homes.

 

Senator Ruel Reid said, “We still have some details to iron out as it relates to PEP, but we are scheduled to do the changeover in 2019 and we will be very deliberate to make sure that we get it right.”

 

The PEP assessment is said to be closely aligned to the National Standards Curriculum, as it is set to focus more on higher-order thinking, so the students will get an opportunity to review, to synthesise, to evaluate, and to apply the knowledge that they would have learnt during the period.

 

The areas of assessment for the PEP test will, for the most part, remain the same as GSAT — which will see students being tested in areas of mathematics, language arts, science, social studies, and mental ability.

 

GSAT is the national exam that sees children transitioning to high school. It features tests based on mathematics, social studies, science, language arts, and communication task. The exam is generally sat in March and the results released by June. GSAT replaced the Common Entrance Examination in 1999.

 

CAPTION: Senator the Honourable Ruel Reid, Minister of Education, Youth and Information

GLEANER: Changing demands and new imperatives have propelled school leadership as a policy priority for governments around the world. Increasingly, countries are seeking to align their education systems to the needs of the modern world, and so the expectations of school leaders have changed profoundly.

 

The competencies now demanded for effective school leadership include the ability to set vision and strategise, lead the change agenda, engage in systems thinking, demonstrate a sense of service and community, work collaboratively in teams, and display ethics and integrity.

 

Essentially, there is a demand for a set of school leaders who are able to provide adaptive and creative solutions for the challenges that confront the modern world and the capacity to transform their schools into visionary entities. Leadership development, then, for educational leaders, must be competency based, relevant, flexible, practical, and peer-oriented so as to respond to the existing and emerging exigencies of our schools and school systems.

 

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information has placed a high priority on developing leadership in education and on bringing greater accountability to the system, given its awareness of leadership development as not only an individual, but also as an institutional responsibility.

 

The ministry’s efforts have been evidenced in the recommendations and subsequent implementations of the National Task Force on Educational Reform Jamaica, 2004. The report outlined a new model of governance in which governance and management at the regional and school levels would be strengthened through the training and certification of all school managers. The report stated that to be successful, schools needed:

 

– a strong and effective board;

 

– a responsive principal displaying strong leadership;

 

– responsibility for the management of the teaching profession by principals, vice-principals, and heads of department; and

 

– an articulated shared vision of success around which stakeholders align strategic planning and monitoring to achieve the vision.

 

The National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL) was a direct response to the recommendations outlined and was established and given the responsibility to develop excellent leadership in the island’s public schools and supporting institutions.

 

The NCEL leads strategic initiatives to improve leadership, facilitate the provision of support, and create local leadership networks in conjunction with the Regional Offices, the National Education Inspectorate, the Jamaica Teaching Council, and the National Council on Education.

 

It serves the development needs of school leaders from aspiring to experienced principals of primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, Education Officers and School Bursars. Since its inception, the college has trained over 75 per cent of the island’s principals in its flagship programme, the Effective Principals’ Training Programme (EPTP).

 

 

 

PRACTICE OF LEADERSHIP

 

 

The EPTP is designed to serve the developmental needs of system and school leaders through the emphasis of the practice of leadership more than the theory and the scaffolding of leadership competencies rather than the acquisition of concepts. Principals who have been exposed to this programme have displayed transforming attitudes, beliefs, and practices in the areas of teaching and learning, leadership, collaboration, and accountability.

 

Kasan Troupe, former principal of Denbigh High School and currently serving as a regional director of the MOEYI, indicated the benefits accrued from leadership development offered by the National College. “NCEL has helped tremend-ously. The EPTP has brought insights to my leadership. We have explored a number of courses that helped me to become more effective on the job.

 

“NCEL is doing a phenomenal job, and I would encourage every principal to get involved. Whether or not you feel you are good at what you do, it is always good to refresh yourselves and listen to your colleagues. NCEL brings people together in one forum to discuss, to share, and to gain insights from each other. I have utilised the skills that I have learnt from the programme, and I am now better able to advance the education system.”

 

Adrian Sinclair, principal of Effortville Primary, recounted how being on the programme helped him in his leadership journey.

 

He recalled: “Before being on the Effective Principals’ Training Programme, I saw that being a principal as one of having to monitor the affairs of the office. I have learnt through this programme how to communicate with staff, students, and how to ensure effective communication between staff, parents, and stakeholders within the school community. I learnt the weaknesses and strengths of my team and so was able to teach them how to not just follow the leader, but to have a significant role to play in the decision-making process.”

 

The Park Mountain Primary School Community in St Elizabeth has benefited from the vision of their principal, Karlene Williams- Heath, who has been through two of NCEL’s programmes and has been exemplary in both.

 

She noted: “Being engaged with NCEL has definitely changed my landscape. It has changed the way I view leadership.”

 

She has moved up through the ranks of leadership from classroom teacher to senior teacher, vice-principal and principal and so has had the opportunity to see and provide leadership at different levels.

 

She said that before engaging with NCEL, she saw leadership as being able to control students and getting teachers to work. Having been exposed to the multimodal and post-training experience activities offered in the programme William-Heath now sees things from a different perspective.

 

She has now formulated her own policy called the “ABC of Creating and Effective Organisation … A for Accountability; B for Building Best Practices; C for Communicating a Community Spirit of High Performance.”

 

Williams-Heath has proved that as a young principal, leadership development was critical in equipping her with the requisite skills and competencies to effect the transformational changes that she wanted to make at her school.

 

The core of leadership development for NCEL is about transforming attitudes, beliefs, and practices so that greater emphasis can be placed on learning, collaboration, and accountability.

 

This kind of transformation will not be achieved through academic qualifications alone. The right training combined with the right qualities can give the results that all Jamaicans need to see in our schools.

 

The NCEL has committed to engaging principals and providing them with contextual, practical, and rigorous leadership-development interventions.

 

The college believes that the quality development and training that principals receive before they enter the profession and the ongoing professional development afforded them throughout their careers are critical to their success in combating the many challenges that come with the role and to securing the educational fortunes of all Jamaican children.

 

– Article courtesy of Ministry of Education, Youth and Information

 

CAPTION: Kasan Troupe, former principal of Denbigh High School, and current Regional Director of MOEYI.

JIS: Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has indicated that attaining universal numeracy at the primary level of the education system is a priority.

 

“That will take some time. The last time I checked, we were in the region of about 60 per cent of students attaining mastery in the national numeracy exams at grade four,” he noted.

 

He was speaking on a motion brought by Member of Parliament for Central Kingston, Rev. Ronnie Thwaites in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (June 6), regarding measures to improve the standard of performance in mathematics and science.

 

Prime Minister Holness said that while the pass rate is “not satisfactory… it was better than where we were 10 years ago; so, we have seen improvements”.

 

“Yes, we need to redouble our efforts, look at new measures, but we need to support the measures that already exist,” he added.

 

Mr. Holness cited the need for more trained teachers in the system and a change in how persons view maths, in order to improve performance of students in the subject. “Maths is [a] universal language, and every Jamaican should be conversant in it,” he pointed out.

 

In an effort to improve the quality of teaching, more maths specialists and coaches have been deployed to schools islandwide.

 

There is also the provision of job-embedded professional development and the training of principals and heads of departments to improve the leadership of mathematics in primary and secondary schools.

 

Between 2015 and 2016, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information funded the award of more than 200 scholarships for student-teachers, with 168 specialising in mathematics education.

 

CAPTION: Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, emphasises a point, while addressing the House of Representatives on Tuesday (June 6).

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, is saluting the thousands of Jamaican parents who, he said, are making “Herculean sacrifices” every day for the welfare of their children.

 

He said the nation’s parents rank among the best in going the extra mile in order to ensure that their children can have the opportunities they might have missed, “because of the ups and downs of life”.

 

Senator Reid, who was speaking at the National Parenting Support Commission’s (NPSC’s) parents’ graduation ceremony in Montego Bay recently, said that “contrary to what some people think, there are thousands of dedicated, selfless, loving, God-fearing, hard-working and trustworthy parents in Jamaica”.

 

“Sometimes we are so focused, so fixated on the bad parents that we lose sight of the reality that there are thousands of good parents, who are doing a great job,” he pointed out.

 

Senator Reid noted that one of the duties of parents is to ensure that their children are better off economically, educationally and socially.

 

“Too often, we forget about that father out there in the breadbasket parish of St. Elizabeth, who gets up at five in the morning and walks a quarter mile to cut grass for his livestock. He does this because he has a son in sixth form at St. Elizabeth Technical High School who wants to become an electrical engineer,” he said.

 

The Minister also hailed the role of the grandparents, who “give of their last morsel of strength to ensure that children who are left in their care, are given the best opportunity to achieve”.

 

“There are hundreds of these heroes throughout the length and breadth of Jamaica,” he noted.

 

He said recognition must be given to the foster-parents, “whose contributions sometimes get lost in the shadows.”

 

“I want to reiterate that foster-parents are an important part of the family wheel. They help to move this country forward. We need more foster-parents,” he said.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid.