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Schools Urged to Make Use of GSAT Profiles

 

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, is urging school principals to review the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) student profiles that accompany the results, and make the necessary adjustments in order to address challenges.

 

Every student, who sits GSAT, receives a profile, which outlines how they performed in each of the areas in which they were examined.

 

Senator Reid said the Ministry is prepared to assist schools through the provision of resource teachers or coaches where required, as well as making the relevant teaching materials available.

 

“The Ministry of Education is committed to ensuring our teachers are adequately prepared and are given the tools to succeed,” he pointed out.

 

Senator Reid was addressing a graduation ceremony at the John Rollins Success Primary School in Rose Hall, St. James recently.

 

Minister Reid praised the graduates for their hard work and dedication to their studies, telling them that they have a bright future.

 

“This school has made a mark and significant contribution to the education sector during its 12 years of existence. For this achievement, successive management and staff of the school deserve commendation,” he said.

 

“The challenge for you going forward is to raise the performance of every student to create a rising tide of academic excellence throughout the entire school,” he noted.

 

The Minister encouraged the graduates, who will be going on to high school to make the best use of their secondary education.

 

“Start thinking along with your parents about choosing an occupation or profession that will increase your chances of gaining employment when you leave high school or complete your tertiary education,” he advised.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (right), and Minister of Tourism and Member of Parliament for East Central St. James, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (left), present a trophy to the top girl and boy at John Rollins Success Primary School, Kesenia Lyttle (2nd left); and Christopher Lee. Occasion was the school’s graduation ceremony held recently, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St. James

Over 70 Institutions Apply to Offer Cap

JIS: The Ministry of Education, Youth and Information indicates that it has received applications from over 70 training institutions that are interested in accommodating students for the expanded Career Advancement Programme (CAP).

 

The Ministry had solicited expressions of interest as it prepares to increase enrolment in the programme to 10,000 students for the 2016/17 academic year, which starts in September.

 

This will see the number of institutions offering CAP moving from 53 to over 100.

 

Portfolio Minister, Senator Hon. Ruel Reid, said earlier this year that the increase in enrolment is aimed at enabling more students to complete their education with the necessary competencies and skills to pursue tertiary training or enter the world of work.

 

“We want every youth to be fully trained to take them from where they are and to maximise their full potential,” he noted.

 

Speaking with JIS News at the Caribbean Maritime Institute’s (CMI) CAP graduation ceremony on July, Director of CAP, Kenesha Campbell said that the applications are being analysed and by mid-July, all institutions that have applied will know whether they will be able to offer the programme.

 

She said that institutions already offering CAP will be evaluated to determine whether they will continue to do so.  She noted however, that based on the satisfactory delivery of the programme by these institutions in 2015/16, it is expected that they will be retained.

 

“If there are institutions…that need additional support, this will be provided (by) the Ministry,” she told JIS News.

 

Ms. Campbell said it is expected that each institution will accommodate an average of 75 students.

 

The Career Advancement Programme (CAP), which started in 2010, provides technical, vocational and educational training and certification for young people, ages 16 to 18, who have graduated from high school.

 

A total of 43 skills components are provided, including welding, plumbing, food preparation, turf management, allied health care, among others. City and Guilds vocational programmes are also offered.

 

Approximately 4,500 students were enrolled for CAP in 2015/16 at secondary, tertiary and private institutions across the island.

 

Meanwhile, Ms. Campbell said the Ministry is giving consideration to expanding the Registered Apprenticeship Programme (RAP), which is administered by the HEART Trust/NTA.

 

It provides on-the-job training for persons, particularly young people, who are employed to an organisation.

 

“We are looking to see how many students we can also have engaged through the apprenticeship programme,” she pointed out.

 

The graduation ceremony, held at the Institute of Jamaica (IoJ), downtown Kingston, saw certificates and other awards being presented to 152 students, who participated in the CMI CAP programme from 2014 to 2016.

 

 

CAPTION: Director of the Education, Youth and Information Ministry’s Career Advancement Programme (CAP), Kenesha Campbell (left), greets Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) Executive Director, Dr. Fritz Pinnock (right), during Thursday’s (July 7) CAP graduation ceremony at the Institute of Jamaica (IoJ) in downtown Kingston. Sharing the moment is Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) Vice President and CMI Board member, David Powell, who was the guest speaker.

Principals Urged to Stick to Registration Fee Guidelines

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, is urging secondary school principals to ensure that the cost of registration packages are in keeping with the Ministry’s funding guidelines.

 

Under the guidelines issued on June 26 following consultations with principals, registration fees should be kept between $1,000 and $5,000.

 

“School administrators must understand that all charges for registration packages must first be approved by the Ministry of Education before they are implemented,” Mr. Reid said.

 

“Non-payment of fees cannot affect students’ acceptance of school placement or registration to school,” he noted further.

 

Senator Reid was addressing a graduation ceremony held recently at the John Rollins Success Primary School in Rose Hall, St. James.

 

He said that board chairmen are being asked to provide guidance and ensure that school administrators follow the directive in order to minimise the cost to parents and ensure that no child is disenfranchised as they prepare for the upcoming school year.

 

The Minister informed that regional officers will be vigilant over the next few weeks in providing support for schools and to make sure that there is no deviation from the policy position of the Ministry.

 

The Government has abolished auxiliary fees for high schools and has increased the funding to institutions from $ 2.6 billion to $5.1 billion. Parents are being encouraged to make a non-obligatory contribution to schools.

 

The Ministry has stipulated that the contribution being requested by schools should not exceed $20,000.00, inclusive of registration fee.

 

For those schools whose contribution is more than this amount, the specific case must be presented to the respective Regional Director for approval to be granted.

Teachers Must be Well Trained – Education Minister

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says two of the main goals of the Ministry are to ensure that teachers are well trained and are given the necessary tools to carry out their tasks.

 

Speaking recently at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) CONFINTEA VI Sub-Regional Follow-up Meeting for the Caribbean, in Montego Bay, he emphasised that for teachers to be successful, they have to be empowered and motivated.

 

“We want to highlight the fact that teachers must be empowered as a critical step towards quality education and sustainable societies,” the Minister said.

 

“It is, therefore, fitting that UNESCO has partnered with the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL) to train teachers of adult learners in literacy and numeracy. The in-service teacher training was delivered islandwide under the ‘Enhancing Outcomes for Trainers of Adult Learners’ Project,” he added.

 

The project, Mr. Reid pointed out, focused on best practices in demonstrated methodologies and the importance of linking and extending content in the learning material, making it relevant to the lives of the youth and adult learners.

 

“The overarching goal was to clearly contribute to the outcome of two of Jamaica’s Vision 2030 plan, that by 2030, Jamaicans are empowered to achieve their fullest potential, and envisions the development of a world-class education and training system,” the Minister added.

 

He noted that modules included personal reflection and attitude, psychology of adult learning, skills of collaboration and the delivery of the curriculum for the Foundation’s Lessons in English, Numeracy and Survival (LENS) programme.

 

“This project had an immediate impact on the approximately 7,000 youth and adult learners enrolled in JFLL centres across the island, with a residual multiplier effect of approximately 100 per cent within a 12-month period,” he said.

 

The Minister pointed out that there are approximately 1,500 adult learners enrolled in the JFLL’s high-school equivalency pilot, with another 3,000 waiting to come on stream in the next phase.

 

Senator Reid said this represents an increase of 100 per cent over the previous year.

 

CAPTION:

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (left) in conversation with Education Consultant at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr. Carole Powell, during the opening ceremony of the UNESCO CONFINTEA V1 Sub-Regional Follow-up Meeting for the Caribbean, held recently in Montego Bay. The meeting was held under the theme ‘Enhancing lifelong learning opportunities for youth and adults in the Caribbean’.

Education Key to Country’s Prosperity – Senator Reid

JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says that education is the key to Jamaica’s social and economic prosperity and is a major priority of the Government.

 

He said the administration “is doing everything” to ensure that the populace has full and complete access to learning.

 

“Education is associated with better skills, higher productivity, and enhanced human capacity. I am sure we would all agree that the education of our people is one area that should not suffer even as we face difficult times,” he said.

 

The Minister was addressing the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Institute for Lifelong Learning Conference at the Hyatt Ziva Hotel in Rose Hall, St. James, on July 1.

 

Education ministers, permanent secretaries and senior education experts from 14 Caribbean countries participated in the conference, which focused on enhancing lifelong learning opportunities for youth and adults.

 

Senator Reid commended UNESCO for leading the global effort to advance education for sustainable development.

 

This broad movement, he said, is concerned with identifying and advancing education, teaching and learning policies and practices to ensure “social, economic and ecological viability and well-being now and into the future”.

 

“Education for sustainable development ….offers a renewed vision for educational policy and practice fully in tune with the needs and issues of the 21st century,” Mr. Reid noted.

 

UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

 

“With the stand-alone Goal 4 on education  and its related targets, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognises that education is essential for the success of all sustainable development goals (SDGs),” the Minister said.

 

“Education is also included in goals on health, growth and employment, sustainable consumption and production, and climate change,” he noted further.

 

Senator Reid urged the conference delegates, during their deliberations, to reflect on progress and challenges in adult learning and education while facilitating the development of common strategies to address these areas.

 

CAPTION:

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (2nd left), shares light conversation with (from left) Deputy Manager of Jamaica-German Automotive School (JAGAS), Kevin Baxter; Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Curacao, Hon. Irene Dick; Education Consultant at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr. Carole Powell; and former United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director, Dr. Simon Clarke. The occasion was the opening ceremony of UNESCO’s Institute for Lifelong Learning Conference at the Hyatt Ziva Hotel in Rose Hall, St. James, on July 1.

Teacher Training For New Curriculum Starts This Week

THE GLEANER:

Training for more than 12,000 public- and private-school teachers gets underway this week as the Ministry of Education Youth and Information (MOEYI) prepares for the roll-out of the new curriculum for primary and secondary schools.

 

The National Standards Curriculum (NSC) replaces the Revised Primary Curriculum (RPC) and the National Curriculum for Grades 7-9, formerly referred to as the Reform of Secondary Education (ROSE).

 

Beginning today, teachers from the ministry’s regions one (Kingston and St Andrew) and two (Portland, St Mary and St Thomas) will be involved in training workshops at schools throughout the regions. Training for teachers in the remaining four regions will continue next week through to early August.

 

This year, the training will target primary-level educators who teach grades 1 and 4 and secondary-level teachers who cater to grades 7-9.

 

Training for the remainder of the country’s teaching cohort will take place during the summer of 2017.

 

The workshops form part of efforts to ensure that the country’s teachers are au fait with the objectives, principles and methodologies associated with the NSC which will be offered from grade 1 at the primary level to grade 9 at the secondary level.

 

EXAMINATION PREPARATION

 

After grade nine, students are expected to transition into programmes that prepare them for the various external examinations, including those offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council, City and Guilds, and the National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica. In addition, students at the upper-secondary level will benefit from offerings in the Career Advancement Programme.

 

The introduction of the NSC places Jamaica among the growing list of countries that have been revising their curriculum offerings in response to the rapid pace at which technology and knowledge continue to change.

 

The new curriculum will require teachers to embrace new methods of teaching and learning and should result in improved outcomes for the country’s children. The MOEYI is confident that the NSC will be effective in preparing Jamaica’s children for life in the 21st century and beyond.

 

Two new disciplines have been added to the NSC, namely civics and resource and technology. Changes have also been effected to the science, social studies and Spanish programmes. Mathematics and language arts will receive separate focus.

Adult Education Deemed Pivotal to Advancing Caribbean Development

JIS: State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, has underscored the importance of adult education and lifelong learning to the growth and development of the Caribbean’s economies and people.

 

Mr. Green noted that while the region boasts documented supporting research, countries must act to ensure this conclusion materializes.

 

In this regard, the State Minister has endorsed a proposal for speedy implementation of revised United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommendations for the advancement of adult learning and education.

 

The recommendations address prevailing educational, cultural, economic, political, and social challenges.

 

The proposed action plan was mooted during UNESCO’s just concluded International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) Sub-Regional Follow-up Caribbean Meeting, in Montego Bay.

 

Mr. Green, who addressed the closing ceremony at the Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall Hotel on Friday, July 1, also cited the need for ongoing collaboration involving stakeholders in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and wider Diasporas to support the advancement of adult education.

 

“As a region, we must ensure that the benchmarks and best practices emerging are validated (and) that adult and lifelong learning is viewed within the context of general education, technical vocational education and training (TVET), special education and literacy, as we continue to train our people for the future,” he said.

 

Additionally, Mr Green said regional states must continue to conduct research which identifies new trends and subjects that will become relevant in schools, and tailor institutions’ curricula to meet the needs of constantly changing workforces.

 

The two-day conference, which was attended by Education Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and senior education professionals from 14 Caribbean countries, was held under the theme: ‘Enhancing Lifelong Learning Opportunities for Youth and Adults’.

 

Mr. Green commended UNESCO for providing the forum that facilitated the participants’ deliberations, thereby enabling them to make decisions which were expected to benefit the region over the medium to long-term.

 

Notable among these, he said, was a proposal for the appointment of a regional ‘Champion Education Minister’ to lobby support for and oversee implementation of the UNESCO recommendations.

 

CAPTION:

State Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green, addressing delegates attending the closing ceremony for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA V1) Sub-Regional Follow-up Caribbean Meeting, at the Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall Hotel in Montego Bay on Friday, July 1. The two-day conference, which ran from June 30 to July 1, was held under the theme – ‘Enhancing Lifelong Learning Opportunities for Youth and Adults in the Caribbean’.

Gaps in training needs for workforce being identified

JIS: The HEART Trust/NTA is partnering with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information to identify the gaps in the training needs for the workforce.

 

Portfolio Minister, Senator Ruel Reid, says he has also requested the private sector to highlight the areas of need.

 

The minister said this is necessary, “as we look at the emerging job opportunities, such as animation, business process outsourcing, hospitality, maritime and logistics”.

 

 “In all these areas, we are now getting HEART Trust/NTA to be available to train the workforce,” the minister pointed out.

 

He added that it is important to signal to the international investment community that Jamaica has the kind of human resource capital that they can utilise.

 

“So, the HEART Trust/ NTA is absolutely critical in this particular initiative,”  Reid said.

 

Meanwhile, the minister also mentioned the training agency’s multimillion-dollar support programme, which will benefit students of the national skills training institute as well as operators of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

 

Under the initiative, 60 students graduating with National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQJ) level 3 qualifications will obtain funding to start their own businesses, while 20 existing MSME operators will receive grants of up to $3 million to expand their operations.

 

“Through HEART, we are also looking at placing trained workers in jobs, so we are focused on how we can expand economic activity and by that expansion, how we can get persons employed,” Senator Reid said.

 

CAPTION:

Senator Ruel Reid, Minister of Education, Youth and Information

Exam to replace GSAT pushed back to 2018

The Observer: THE roll-out of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), which is slated to replace the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), has been rescheduled to the academic year 2018/2019 from a previously announced date of 2017/2018.

 

Chief education officer in the Ministry of Education, Dr Grace McLean, told reporters and editors at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange that come September, the ministry will be rolling out the National Standards Curriculum in grades one, three, four, seven, eight and nine, which should adequately prepare students to sit the exam in March 2019.

 

“What this means is that the students who are in grade four will commence the new curriculum this year. So we have 2016/17 for grade four, 2017/18 for grade five and 2018/19 for grade six. So you will have the set of grade four students this coming school year being the first group that will be sitting the PEP,” she said.

 

She explained that PEP is an assessment that will be closely aligned to the National Standards Curriculum.

 

“It will be focusing 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,” Dr McLean explained.

 

The approach currently being used for the National Standards Curriculum, according to Dr McLean, is one where the structure of PEP is aligned to the curriculum to create what is known as an assessment tracker.

 

This, she said, will facilitate the alignment of all the objectives currently in the curriculum with the assessment objectives to make the introduction of the exam a seamless process.

 

“The curriculum is over three years, but we will have a continuous assessment component of the exam itself. So it means that in grade four they will actually be doing assignments that will contribute to the overall grade that they will be receiving at the end of grade six,” the chief education officer said. “[Regarding] the assessment at grade six, it is proposed that it will be done in March instead of in June and they [students] will be assessed just on the grade six part of the curriculum. So they will not need to be preparing now from grade four to six because they would have done their assessment and will now be graded in grade four and grade five and assessed on the grade six component.”

 

She explained that approach to the assessment is deliberate in order to allow students to move away from what she describes as “this whole business of recalling what they would have learnt over a three-year period and swatting to go into the exam”, to a point where there is a greater level of understanding.

 

“We want their preparation for moving to the secondary level to be of such so that they can manage to move on in terms of the social studies, the science, the math and the language,” she emphasised.

 

With regards to the legitimacy of the assessment, Dr McLean said this July and August the ministry will be training approximately 12,000 teachers to conduct such tasks.

 

“It is not only the curriculum that will change, but the assessment component because the nature of the questions will be changed. Technical and vocational education is also included,” she stated.

 

Moreover, Dr McLean said the areas of assessment will remain the same in the form of math, English Language, science and social studies. However, another component, mental ability, will be added to assess the other areas of development of the student.

 

“It is not only about their academic ability, it is about their awareness and how they understand the context within which the society operates,” she said. “It becomes integrated so the student now has an opportunity to think through a question instead of just applying whatever the knowledge is. It allows students to relax a little more and allows for the different kinds of learning styles, not just those who recall.”

 

Added Dr McLean: “Understand that there is an alignment: the curriculum is aligned from grades one to three, four to six, seven, eight and nine, so that the students, when they go into grade seven as the research has shown, we do not see a dip in their performance but we see a continuation because of this alignment that will take place. So, we expect — based on the validation from Australia and Singapore as it relates to this curriculum — that we will really get more positive results and of course there will be less stress on our parents and teachers.”

 

Regarding the reintroduction of civics, Dr McLean said the subject area forms part of the social studies syllabus at grades one to three and will be offered within a particular window to students at grades four to six where they will be timetabled for at least 45 minutes to an hour per week with focus on that component.

 

Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary in the education ministry, Dr Maurice Smith, said the changes to come for grade four students this September will not affect the cost of books.

 

“We are doing the costings, but the changes should not result in any significant changes as far as the demands on parents because the content more or less remains the same. We should see maintenance of the same number of books or fall in the number of books but certainly not an increase in the number of books, asthe content remains the same. The big difference is the methodology — how are the children taught? The ministry is increasing its spend on ensuring that schools have the requisite infrastructural provisions to respond to the curriculum demands,” he said.

 

On the matter of how students will be placed in secondary schools, Dr McLean said there are ongoing consultations from which different options are being presented. On completion, a discussion with the minister and permanent secretary will take place, then whatever decision is taken will go to Parliament before being approved.

 

She said that as part of the consultations, international study tours have been conducted where other placement mechanisms such as separating the placement from the exam have been looked at.

 

Dr McLean said this method presents the results before the placement so it does not appear that if a student attains an average of 80 per cent he/she has failed because they were not given the school of choice.