Mr Speaker, the tone and content of this annual contribution on education has to be special. The subject is far too important for partisan bickering or point-scoring across the aisle or between special interests within the sector. Our heads and our hearts have to be in different and higher places when we are discussing student achievement. So I open by expressing sincere thanks to all my colleagues for their critical support, especially members of the Opposition; to the teachers and their associations for a year spent building bridges, recognizing strengths and weaknesses and reaching accommodations; appreciation to the Churches and the public commentators who have played such a vital role in guiding policy
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Education Ministry distributes literacy books to 800 schools
Sonia White, principal of St. Patrick’s Primary School in the Corporate Area, receives supplies of Literacy 1-2-3 textbooks from Claudette Carter, director of the United States Agency for International Development /Ministry of Education’s Improved Reading Outcomes Project, which funded the recent procurement of 613,000 books. Approximately 800 schools along with parish libraries and teachers’ colleges will receive supplies of the Literacy 1-2-3 books. Other Ministry of Education personnel are assisting with the sorting and distribution process.
Minister Praises Staff, Stakeholders for Achievements by the Education Sector
EDUCATION Minister Ronald Thwaites says during 2014 there has been a heightened awareness by many people of the value of education to their personal development. He points to the uptake by thousands of young persons of existing and expanded opportunities to advance their education.
Expanded opportunities include the launch of the High School Diploma Equivalency programme by the Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning; the restructuring and rebranding of the Career Advancement Programme; the launch of the Registered Apprenticeship Programme; the introduction by HEART Trust/NTA of a community training initiative for unattached youth; and the provision of adequate funding to the Student Loan Bureau.
Minister Thwaites says these achievements in the education sector during 2014 are the result of the combined efforts of teachers, school leaders, ministry staff, parents, partners and students. He pays special tribute to principals and board chairmen who kept the doors of schools open despite the challenges of significant levels of absenteeism by staff and students arising from the impact of the Chikungunya virus outbreak.
The Education Minister commends all stakeholders for their contribution to the education sector during the year that is coming to a close, and expresses best wishes to all during the Christmas holiday and for the New Year.
New Guidelines for Managing SBAs
The Ministry of Education will this month implement stricter guidelines for the management of the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) school-based assessments (SBAs). These are projects or assignments that students are required to produce for individual subjects. The marks awarded are then counted towards students’ final results in the CXC examinations.
The new SBA management guidelines are in response to allegations of malpractice on the part of some students and school personnel. Against this background, the new measures seek to standardise and improve accountability in the system of SBA production, with the ultimate goal of eliminating malpractice. They are also intended to ensure that the works produced reflect the students’ efforts and, importantly, contribute to the development of life-long skills including independent academic research.
In administering their SBA systems, schools are now required to comply with a rigorous set of standards and expectations in six key areas. These include internal quality assurance, accountability, communication, monitoring, teacher support, and school readiness. Education Officers will continuously monitor schools to ensure compliance with these standards. Additionally, a team of assessors from the Ministry of Education will evaluate schools, as required during the active SBA period each year, to determine how well their administrative systems comply with the required standards. Non-compliance may result in students’ overall performance being negatively impacted, since SBAs represent between 20 and 70 per cent of students’ final examination grades in some CXC subjects.
Explaining the six key areas of the new standards-based SBA management system, Chief Education Officer Dr Grace McLean notes the importance of ensuring internal quality assurance. She emphasises that schools are now required to have clearly outlined quality standards for SBAs in each subject; ensure that assessment and standardisation of scoring is done regularly; ensure that sampling of teachers’ work by heads of departments is done; and ensure that malpractice by students and administrators is prevented.
The Chief Education Officer states that schools must have accountability measures in place. These include defined roles, responsibilities, sanctions and alternatives in their SBA administrative systems. The chain of command must also be clearly articulated, documented and communicated.
Dr McLean emphasises the need for schools to have in place an effective communication system that includes written schedules for the completion of SBAs; established procedures to inform teachers, parents and students of their expected roles; and well-established channels to report on issues and challenges. She also notes that schools should implement a monitoring system to evaluate the progress of teachers and students towards the completion of quality SBAs on time, and ensure there is alignment between curricula content and the SBA.
Underscoring the importance of teacher support, the Chief Education Officer says teachers must ensure that the quality of the SBA task is aligned to CXC standards and to the skills and competencies students are expected to acquire at that stage of their learning. Teachers are also expected to provide quality advice and feedback to students and parents, and to monitor students’ progress towards producing quality SBAs.
In addition, she points out that schools are now being assessed for their state of readiness in terms of teachers being trained in the subject areas they teach, availability of materials and resources for specific subjects, provision of adequate amenities, and space for the storage and retrieval of SBAs.
The development of the new SBA management guidelines is a collaborative effort between the National Education Inspectorate and the Overseas Examination Commission (OEC). This followed the surveying of a sample of high school principals and students island-wide as well as the reviewing of literature and best practices on SBAs locally and internationally. According to Chief Inspector, Maureen Dwyer, a set of supporting documents has been developed. These include a number of instruments to assist school administrators and ministry officials in implementing the new SBA management system. It was piloted in thirty-one schools in November last year.
Meanwhile, Hector Stephenson, CEO for the OEC has welcomed the new SBA management guidelines, noting that they provide schools, which are not up to standard, with the methodology to improve their systems; while highlighting where best practices already exist.
Ministry Steps up Training for Potential School Principals
THE MINISTRY of Education has taken another step to expand the pool of persons trained as prospective principals in order to improve the quality of leadership in the country’s public schools.
The National College for Educational Leadership (NCEL), through a newspaper advertisement, is inviting qualified educators to apply for entry to round two of the Aspiring Principals Programme that is offered through the University of the West Indies.
This follows the recent completion of the programme by the first batch of just over 40 educators from public schools across the country. They were granted fellowships by the Ministry of Education. The Aspiring Principals Programme targets education professionals with strong leadership potential who are desirous of becoming school principals. Participants are exposed to strategies designed to achieve school improvement, increased student performance, greater stakeholder involvement, sound financial management and schooling that focuses on the development of the whole child.
Principal Director of NCEL, Dr Maurice Smith, says as a result of the exposure to the training programme members of the inaugural cohort have been able to reconstruct their understanding of school leadership and are in a better position to lead positive change in their institutions. Dr Smith says these NCEL certified persons are available to board chairmen as they recruit school leaders.
Several pieces of research, including the Chief Inspector’s Report published by the National Education Inspectorate, have attributed weak school leadership as a main contributor to the low levels of performance at some of the country’s public schools.
To address this problem, NCEL has implemented a series of initiatives, including the Aspiring Principals Programme and the Effective Principals’ Training Programme, to target practicing principals and other senior staff. To date, more than 600 practising principals and other school leaders have been exposed to training by NCEL.
Legislation is being drafted to require persons to be in possession of NCEL certification before they are engaged as principals of public schools in Jamaica.
Ministry Updates Public on Plans to Administer GSAT
THE MINISTRY of Education has announced that the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) will be held on Thursday, March 19 and Friday, March 20, 2015. Students will sit the examinations at their own schools unless otherwise instructed by the Regional Education Officer. Schools will remain open as normal except for cases where space is a challenge.
The Ministry has also advised that Friday, January 16, 2015 is the deadline for the completion of registration of candidates to sit the GSAT this year. Students must meet the following age criteria:
- Any student who is in Grade Four or Grade Five and was born in the period January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2002.
- Students born in 2001 and were granted special accommodation to sit in 2015.
- Students who were born in 2002 and have never sat the Grade Four Literacy Test are eligible to the GSAT this year, but they must submit this information along with proof of age to the Student Assessment Unit no later than January 16, 2015. This may be sent by fax to 967-4509.
- Students born after December 31, 2004 will NOT be allowed to sit the GSAT in 2015.
Regarding requests for special accommodation for students sitting the GSAT, the Ministry advises parents to submit a valid Psycho-educational Assessment report along with the GSAT Registration Form and submit these to the Student Assessment Unit by January 16, 2015. The Psycho-educational Assessment report must not exceed two years.
The Ministry of Education emphasises that students are allowed to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test only once. If parents and teachers doubt the child’s readiness, they may defer registration provided that the child would still be within the eligible age range (that is, only students born in the period January 01, 2003 to December 31, 2004). A letter must be submitted for deferral and schools should affix their stamps where possible.
Changes to Content
The Ministry of Education further advises that important changes have been made to the content and test questions for GSAT Social Studies and Science. The content that children are required to learn for Social Studies have been reduced by 25 per cent. The test questions have also been reduced from 80 to 60.
Changes to the teaching and learning of Science emphasise students gaining mastery of general concepts and basic scientific principles. This requires teachers to provide more targeted instruction to students. Chief Education Officer, Dr Grace McLean explains that the Science test is made up of 60 multiple choice questions that assess content from grades four through to six. Fifty per cent or 30 of the questions assess content from grade six; 30 per cent or 18 of the questions are drawn from content at grade five; and 20 per cent or 12 questions assess objectives in the grade four curriculum.
Dr McLean says these changes to the GSAT are intended to reduce the course work load for students while maintaining the quality and standard of the knowledge imparted to them. She points out that students must have attained mastery on the Grade Four Literacy Test to become eligible to sit the GSAT.
Education Ministry Aiming for Full Compliance with Procurement Procedures
The Ministry of Education has said it welcomes the scrutiny of the Auditor General into how it manages public resources. In its latest annual report the Auditor General rapped the Ministry’s procurement committee for approving expenditure on two occasions when the nine-member body met without a quorum present.
In response to the Auditor General’s findings Permanent Secretary Elaine Foster-Allen admitted that the Ministry failed to follow the Procurement Guidelines on two occasions. She said there were challenges with attendance at the approximately 44 times that the Education Ministry’s procurement committee met, which resulted in the two instances of no quorum.
The Permanent Secretary said the Education Ministry staff were not offended by the Auditor General’s citation and will use the report as a stepping stone to achieve full compliance. “It is there to help us to be better at what we are expected to do,” she stated.
Mrs Foster-Allen noted that, given the other calls on officers’ time, they contributed to the work of the procurement committee to the best of their ability.
Statement by Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites
Excerpt from attachment: Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the media. Let me extend on behalf of the Ministry of Education best wishes for the New Year. Fifteen years ago, at the start of the millennium, the country set itself the goals that every boy and girl at grade four in school should be fully literate and numerate (be able to read and write and do arithmetic) by this year.
Security and Safety Policy Guidelines
Killing of Belmont Academy Student
THE MINISTRY of Education regrets the loss of life of another school-age youth at the hands of criminal.
Fourteen-year-old Demaro Gayle, a third-form student of Belmont Academy in Westmoreland, was fatally shot by armed intruders at his home in Sav-la-Mar on Sunday night.
Principal Rayon Simpson, who visited Gayle’s parents on Monday, said the deceased was a good student who will be sadly missed by the Belomont Academy school community. The principal indicated that trauma counsellors from the Ministry’s Mandeville Regional Office were on standby to offer support to affected family members.
Education Minister Ronald Thwaites has expressed condolences to Gayle’s parents, relatives and friends, and has called on the Security Forces to swiftly bring his killers to justice.