Rolls out suite of behavior change programmes

THERE ARE behavioural and social issues and challenges affecting our children that cause a major cramp in the education system. Data from the Ministry of National Security’s Safe School Programme indicated that during the 2012/2013 Academic Year, three thousand six hundred and seventy one (3,671) students were cited for anti-social behaviours of varying degrees. Therefore, we are concentrating on developing positive social attitudes and customs.

In order to address the behavioural problems, the Ministry is using various strategies at all levels of the system under the School Wide Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support (SWPBIS) framework. The components of the programme are:

Culture in Education Programme

·       The Culture in Education Programme is designed to promote civics education which includes citizenship, greater appreciation of self and others and respect for national symbols, national heroes and icons, all relevant to cultural integrity and nation-building.  

·       The Teachings of Garvey were introduced in the curriculum. A series of readers on the “Heroes of Jamaica” will be introduced in September 2015 to inspire our students to bring out the best within themselves and inculcate the positive values and attitudes demonstrated by the heroes.

Health and Family Life Education (HFLE)

·       The aim of the HFLE is to help young people understand that the choices they make in everyday life profoundly influence their health and personal development into adulthood as well as to help children and adolescents practice healthy choices. The programme which began in 2007 had a complete rollout in 2012 with approximately 1000 public and 200 independent schools, from early childhood to the secondary level.

 Valuable Pathways

·       The Valuable Pathways, a programme that was developed and implemented in 2004 in all Technical High Schools, has been modified for full roll out in the system for September 2015. The programme is aimed at assisting students to develop, demonstrate and embrace core values that have been identified and to apply them to their daily lives. It provides a general overview of core values within the Jamaican context and provides practical ways for these to be demonstrated. The programme comes with a teacher’s guide and a student manual. 

Dream-A-World Project

·       The Dream- A- World Project is being implemented by the University of the West Indies, Mona, through the Caribbean Institute of Mental Health and Substance Abuse (CARIMENSA). At present, the project targets the poorest academic performers and most disruptive students entering Grade 4 in 5 parishes, (Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Mary, Portland, St. Thomas) in 35 primary schools.

·       After one year, the intervention is expected to transform annually 1000 academically failing and behaviourally dysfunctional Grade 4 primary students into confident, disciplined, high- achieving students for Grade 5.

Change from Within (CFW)

·       The Change from Within (CFW), a programme developed in 1992 by the University of the West Indies, Mona, is aimed at curbing the incidence of violence and anti-social behaviour in schools by taking a whole-school approach to the question, building self-esteem among the students in the schools and thereby improving overall performance and reducing violence. The interventions   are not just for students, but include strategies to motivate teachers and build leadership.

Uniformed Groups

·       Schools across Jamaica have long maintained the tradition of uniformed groups, clubs and societies.  It is a fact that students who are members of uniformed groups are more disciplined as they conform to rules, regulations and general law and order.

·       Currently, there are more than 600 uniformed groups in schools which include an addition of 205 new groups to assist with character development among students. Plans are advanced to expand these groups in 2015/2016.

·       To deepen the re-socialisation of our students as well as their competencies in literacy and numeracy, schools will be required to spend a significant amount of time on these areas at grade seven from this year.

·       The school cannot do this re-socialisation alone. We need parents and members of the community on board.

May 3, 2015: EDUCATION MINISTER Ronald Thwaites has appointed several industry leaders to spearhead the transformation of selected technical high schools into Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics or STEM academies that will produce persons qualified for employment in several sectors of the economy.

            A STEM academy is generally an institution that uses Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics as the base for the structuring and timetabling of its programmes.  In the upper school -grades 10 and 11- students will be offered competency-based training to make them “job ready”.  In the lower grades STEM, along with Technical Vocational Education and Training, will be emphasised in the curriculum. Over time the school is expected to be transformed into a STEM Academy.

            Shipping industry leader, Grantley Stephenson has been appointed chairman of the STEM Transformation Committee at St Andrew Technical High, which will be a hub for training in Logistics and Transport including land, sea and air. Construction industry leader, YP Seaton will head the STEM Transformation Committee at Kingston Technical High, which will focus on the Built Environment including roads, bridges, and physical infrastructure.

            In the areas of Science and Mathematics, noted scientist Professor Errol Morrison will lead the transformation of Jamaica College into a STEM Academy. In the Information Communication Technology and Business Processing Outsourcing Sector leader Yoni Epstein will lead the transformation of Herbert Morrison Technical High into a STEM academy.

            At St Mary Technical High, food manufacturer Charles Johnston will lead its transformation into a STEM Academy with focus on agronomy, farm management and food processing. Similarly, livestock industry leader Dr Keith Amiel will oversee the transformation of Dinthill Technical High into a STEM academy based on livestock and small ruminant farming.

            Closing the list of transformation committee chairmen is telecommunications expert, Hugh Cross who will lead the process of restructuring Dunoon Park Technical High into a STEM academy focused on telecommunications and new media technologies.

 In a meeting last week with the Transformation Committee Chairmen, Minister Thwaites commended them for taking on the responsibility of bringing the education system, particularly at the secondary level, more closely aligned to industry. He said that with this kind of partnership students will be better prepared to meet specific skill needs of industry immediately after leaving the secondary level, adding that those who chose to move on to higher level education will be more rounded.

The Education Minister charged education officials and school leaders to ensure the infusion of the STEM methodology in the school curriculum according to the skills and competencies identified by the industry partners.

April 19, 2015: More than 1400 educators in 22 public schools across the island have received training in the use of Positive Behaviour Intervention System as a means of resocialising students who display anti-social behaviour.

The Positive Behaviour Intervention System or PBIS is one of several approches being employed by the Ministry of Education to address the incidence of negative behaviour of children in schools. These challenges have continued to disrupt the normal flow of learning and in most cases are affecting the general quality of education that is being provided for students. 

At a recent (April 17) workshop held at the Jamaica Theological Seminary in Kingston, several participants welcomed the exposure to PBIS. Among them was Grace-Ann Thomas-Serinash, a teacher at the Tacius Golding High School in St. Catherine. She said although having some initial reservations about the effectiveness of the PBIS as a corrective measure, the school has now embraced it and has begun to sensitise the students about its objectives.

These include a reduction in the use of reactive disciplinary measures such as detention, suspension and expulsion; and the implementation of effective intervention strategies for students with emotional and behavioural problems to support their academic and social functioning and evaluate their success across various settings such as school, home and community.

The PBIS programme will be intensified during the 2015-2016 academic year, targeting an additional 25 schools and 1800 members of staff. It is expected that at the end of three years a significant number of children will emerge from this transforming programme.

Another participant at the recent workshop, Sonia Woodstock-Brown, senior teacher at the Aabuthnott Gallimore High School in St. Ann, said the PBIS programme had given teachers an alternative to dealing with maladaptive behavior in such a way that punishment does not come off as abusive.  She added that it was important to show students that there was an option and that they can behave in a socially accepted manner.

Yasheika Samuda, teacher at the Vere Technical High School said the workshop taught her, among other things, that teachers needed to be more proactive than reactive with the students. She was now more comfortable with PBIS approach and had a better understanding of how it should be implemented.

Duane Hartley, dean of discipline at the Port Antonio High School, said the workshop presented a more wholesome approach to how schools should discipline their students. “The entire school family should play an active role in developing and re-enforcing the morals of its students,” Hartley said.

Meanwhile Lisa Douglas, teacher at the Kemps Hill High School in Clarendon, said teachers and administrators were enthusiastic to get the PBIS programme fully off the ground. “We need it at our school because we really need to change the culture of our students. We have cemented the implementation plan and we now know how to go forward”, she stated.

April 5, 2015: More than one hundred deans of disciplines in high schools are now better able to deal with anti-social behavior among students, following a one-week intensive training course held recently at the Jamaica Police Academy in St Catherine.

Deans of Discipline are mandated to, among other things, provide intervention for students’ disciplinary issues; develop appropriate programmes to promote positive behaviour; monitor, develop and implement student behavioural contracts; keep a log of students’ attendance and truancy issues; communicate disciplinary concerns to parents and staff; and to ensure the overall safety of the school premises.

Speaking at the closing out ceremony last week, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites charged deans of discipline to be the ones to lead the drive for the restoration and enforcement of discipline in the schools, and offered them the full backing of the Ministry of Education.

The course participants were exposed to all aspects of safety including defensive tactics, security audit, critical incident report writing, and liaising with the Community Safety and Security Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) as well as the National Road Safety Council, disclosed Coleridge Minto, Director of Safety and Security in Schools at the Ministry of Education. He asserted that learning took place and there was a “great appreciation” for the high level of training provided by the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Carl Sterling, dean of discipline at Vauxhall High School, welcomed the training course, noting that the sessions were very informative and served as re-enforcement for some of the duties that he is required to fulfill. “I am happy that the ministry has gone this route and I know that all the schools that are involved will benefit. Every school should have a dean of discipline, from the primary level upwards,” Sterling said.

Another participant, Donovan Campbell, dean of discipline at the Oracabessa High School, said the training session has re-enforced the need for a less combative approach to address students’ anti-social behavior, such as bullying. He said the dispensation now requires a softer, firmer approach, not punishing the child, but putting measures in place to correct the behaviour and point the child in the right direction.

Meanwhile, Anthony Feurtado dean of discipline at the Eltham High School, noted that while schools need to provide a safe learning environment, efforts also must be focused on creating and maintaining a nurturing learning environment that is characterised by dignity and respect for all members of the school community.

The recent training for deans of discipline also addressed effective classroom management strategies, systems of rewards and sanctions, conflict resolution strategies, the rights and responsibilities of the child, the role of parents and communities, the development of a standard-home school agreement and code of conduct for students, teachers and parents.

March 27, 2015: Some 261 students with a variety of special needs were among the 38,470 candidates who sat the two-day Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) that ended today. The Test was postponed by a week due to the adverse effects on nearby schools of smoke from a fire at the Riverton City disposal site in St. Catherine.

The special needs included autism, broken limb, gunshot wound, blindness, visual impairment, hearing loss, sickle cell, learning disabilities, a cancer patient, and language barrier (in the case of two Chinese-speaking students). In all the cases the Ministry of Education ensured that facilities were in place to accommodate the administering of the examination.

One student, who was a patient in the Bustamante Hospital for Children, was allowed to write the examination in the presence of a visiting invigilator. Other forms of assistance from the Ministry included the provision of extra time, a reader, writer, prompter, interpreter, large font, braille and preferential seating.

The GSAT candidates with special needs were from the regions as follows: Region One-186, Region Two- 8, Region Three- 6, Region Four- 15, Region Five – 8 and Region Six – 38.