GLEANER: If we say that the world has changed, it would be as cliched as saying that we use smartphones, which, apart from being a desired piece of technology to own, has brought information to the palms.

 

When was the last time you needed information and consulted a library or even an actual physical book? Certainly for in-depth research, one would consult research papers, books by experts, but the first thing you did was to whip out your phone, open its browser and “Googled it”.

 

From that web search, it led you to the correct resources whether books, newspaper articles or research papers you may have needed. If this is how we currently access the world, and we agree that the world is changing every day and we are raising the first generation to never live without the Internet, why doesn’t their learning reflect this? In 2017, are our children still going to the “computer lab” for “computer class”? or going to the library to do research?

 

To access this article today, you may have bought a physical newspaper, you may have subscribed to the app, or you may have logged on to the Jamaica Gleaner website, and many more still would see a thumbnail to a link on various social media platforms. they will read it on their phones, on their tablets, or go “old school” and sit on their verandas and turn page by page. This is because with access come options, and with options comes power, and with power – well, the world, as they say – is your oyster.

 

Blended learning – with technology combining the traditional classroom approach integrated within schools – should be standard. For one, infusing technology maximises learning potential and human potential.

 

The case is currently being made to introduce zoning in schools in Jamaica, which might yield limited choices for parents to choose a school of their choice for their children. But imagine delivering instruction in a format that might be an answer to zoning.

 

It isn’t hard to imagine because we as adults participate in online degrees, webinars, and conferences online. We are able to speak to experts in any given field at the touch of a button. We participate in concerts live from thousands of miles away because we have been practising blended living for so long. why is this not so in our schools?

 

The future of learning is exciting because learning is becoming more personalised than ever. Sure, employers want employees who are able to use PowerPoint and Excel, maybe even code an app, but technology consistently presents the “user experience”. When our children are in a school system they might not access to technology as the world knows it. It forces the student to live in two worlds. It limits their thinking, their imagination, creativity, and how they learn.

 

Education that infuses technology as part and parcel of life seamlessly integrates children with best practices of access to technology and allows them to be responsible citizens in using it. While many services we access have started charging for physical access, there is the need to think beyond the physical textbooks, which are an expensive proposition.

 

 REAP THE BENEFITS

 

Within the E-learning framework, using the E-version of the text allows schools to always use the latest version of the text. it is, of course, cheaper for all stakeholders and allows the student to reap the benefits of having the very best instruction.

 

In everything, there is a requirement of balance. the world is built on efficiency, using the right tools to get the job done right the first time. however, positioning a “basic need” as a privilege lends itself to misuse and abuse. Institutions of learning with technology infused within the curriculum integrate the use of electronic devices in the classrooms. This abandons the desire for misuse, and leaves room for communication with children about being responsible users and how to navigate the “muddy waters”.

 

Parents are always concerned with the amount of “screen time” their children have. We want them to “go outside and play”, actually get dirty, even know what dirt is, we limit their screen time to the weekends or as a form of punishment partly because even though technology is undeniably within our own DNA, we ask our children to “gear down” when it comes to interweaving it within their own lives, even though when we are stumped, we ask them to intervene and fix it for us.

 

It is hypocritical to insist that we expect 100 per cent digital immersion, but we ask our children to “gear down” at school, where they spend the majority of their day.

 

The goal of education is access, which goes beyond an A or a 4.0 GPA. it is levelling the playing field. Access gives opportunity and provides a space to mould oneself into the best fit. our children deserve access to the very best education Wi-Fi can buy.

 

– Article courtesy of the American International School of Kingston (AISK), a global centre for excellence in education. Send feedback to [email protected].

GLEANER: Since 2006, the MultiCare Youth Foundation, based in downtown Kingston, has been conducting the Art on the Street programme. Every Saturday morning, approximately 30 children from Parade Gardens and surrounding inner-city communities across Kingston can be spotted on the roadside participating in art classes in locations including Fletchers Land, Franklin Town, Rae Town, Olympic Gardens, and Gold Street.

 

Participants are led by visual arts Coordinator at the Foundation, Stanford Watson, and are taught:

 

– Screen printing from design to production

 

– Block printing

 

– Basketry, using various mediums

 

– Fine arts

 

– Painting

 

– Jewellery making

 

– Fashion designing

 

– Ceramics and other three-dimensional areas

 

– Photography

 

Currently, four age groups are able to access the programme:

 

– Ages 5-8

 

– Ages 9-11

 

– Ages 12-14

 

– Ages 15-18

 

The programme was conceived with the intention of finding the good that exists in these communities and using various art forms to highlight these positive elements so that youth living within these communities can use it as an encouraging reference point.

 

At the same time, it was envisaged that the programme would allow for the creation of a creative space where specifically targeted youth within these communities could learn and express themselves. Within this framework, participants would learn important skills, but more important, they would assist in creating the aesthetic that would better define themselves and their communities. For those who have shown clear artistic talent, they are expected to create at a level where they can become competent in their specialised area. They can even take it a step further and use their art to embark on their own entrepreneurial/professional path. Already, some of the art that is produced in the programme is sold through the Foundation.

 

Art on the Street is part of The MultiCare Youth Foundation’s Visual Arts programme, which also includes the provision of training workshops and guided practice for teachers and students in a variety of art forms, with emphasis on the value of art for creative expression and as a career option.

 

The benefits of using art to positively influence vulnerable youth are many. International studies have shown that students who participate in not only visual arts, but also performing arts, are significantly less likely than non-participants to drop out of school, be arrested, use drugs, or engage in binge drinking. Other studies are finding correlations between arts education and improvements in academic performance and standardised test scores, increases in student attendance, and decreases in school dropout rates.

 

Specifically, the arts and other related disciplines provide critical tools for children and youth as they move through various developmental stages. Preschool children, before they are fluent in language, are powerfully affected by music, visual arts, and dance. Preschoolers can paint, colour, mould clay, sing songs, and dance in order to convey feelings and ideas. These activities encourage young children to express themselves and learn through the use of non-verbal symbols.

 

Teenagers, on the other hand, tend to struggle with issues of identity, independence, competency, and social role. The arts help to mediate this confusion, while providing a means to express pain and unfulfilled longings during an important phase of growth. The arts simultaneously engage the competent, hopeful, and healthy aspects of the adolescents’ being.

 

In the near future, the goal is to introduce Art on the Street to more inner-city communities across Kingston. Given the high incidence of criminal activity among our youth, it is hoped that these and other art programmes will allow this negative focus to be channelled into other areas, ultimately leading to the development of well-rounded and productive adults.

 

n New Employment Opportunities for Youth in Jamaica is part of the regional programme, New Employment Opportunities for Youth (NEO). NEO seeks to improve human capital and the employability of one million vulnerable youth across Latin America and the Caribbean by 2022 and is s being executed in Jamaica by Youth Upliftment Through Employment (YUTE). Email: [email protected].

 

CAPTION: Artist Kimani Beckford meticulously paints a story with delicate brushstrokes on a mural.

GLEANER: Twenty teachers from six primary and secondary schools participated in a process drama workshop held at the St Michael’s Primary School on Tower Street in Kingston on October 13, 2017. Hosted by The MultiCare Youth Foundation (MYF), the training was aimed at encouraging the teaching of creativity in classrooms and, particularly, the nurturing of creative-writing skills.

 

Presented by Brian Heap, MYF’s volunteer performing arts coordinator and lecturer at The University of the West Indies, the full-day workshop explored the use of basic fun and drama techniques in educational settings, with an emphasis on process drama, story-drama, and drama experiences that support learning and the making of meaning within the school environment.

 

Participants were exposed to various methods of role play and a broad range of stories for children, including books that address common issues faced by students, which can be used as the basis for developing drama experiences in the classroom. The literature provides rich opportunities for problem solving, decision making, and reflection.

 

According to Heap: “By equipping teachers with the requisite creative techniques, they can, in turn, assist children and young people in developing literacy skills, while also refining critical thinking and cognitive skills, thereby helping them to realise their full creative potential.”

 

The Process Drama Workshop is the first in a series of teacher-training workshops being offered under The MultiCare Youth Foundation’s Performing Arts Programme to teachers in the 31 MultiCare-assisted schools in east, west, and central Kingston and Greater Portmore.

 

The programme is supported through grant funding from the American Friends of Jamaica.

 

Participating teachers indicated that the content of the workshop was creative and effective and could easily be applied in delivering the curriculum to students in different subject areas and at various levels. Among them were the principal, vice-principal and teachers of St Michael’s Primary and Infant Schools and teachers from Holy Family Primary, St Jude’s Primary, North Street Primary, Whitfield Town Primary, and Donald Quarry High School.

 

Delivery of these workshops is in keeping with the Foundation’s mission and mandate to enhance the lives of vulnerable and marginalised children and youth through educational and recreational programmes.

 

CAPTION: Workshop participants show off their Certificates of Participation at the end of the MultiCare Youth Foundation’s Process Drama Workshop held on October 11 at the St Michael’s Primary School.

JIS: State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green is calling for more university graduates to pursue political office.

 

Noting that this is part of his ‘Jamaican Dream’, Mr. Green said the country needs its brightest people to serve in Government.

 

The State Minister, who was addressing the Honours Convocation ceremony at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in Mandeville, Manchester, on October 19,     noted that he got involved in politics because he wanted to make a contribution to this very important area of national development.

 

“Consider what would happen in a country where the best and the brightest don’t get involved in politics. Just who would get involved?” he asked.

 

Other aspects of his Jamaican Dream include encouraging tertiary-level students to start youth clubs in their communities to reach vulnerable youth, and for universities to incorporate mentorship programmes for high schools with students serving as mentors.

 

Meanwhile, the State Minister pointed to the need for more Jamaicans to pursue tertiary education.

 

“The reality is that tertiary education is critical; it is no longer optional. It is no longer hard to become a tertiary graduate; we now have online universities, so we have to get more of our young people trained up to the tertiary level,” he said.

 

He noted that the Government has made it easier for students to access tertiary studies, by lowering interest rates on loans from the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB).

“We have reduced the interest rates on students’ loans from 9.5 per cent to six per cent for Pay As You Study (PAYS) loans. We also reduced the interest rates on postgraduate loans from 13 per cent to 9.5 per cent, because you cannot just stop at a first degree in this new world. We have also started to calculate your loans on a reducing balance method, which lowers the amount to be repaid,” Mr. Green pointed out.

 

He said there are also lower rates for areas of study that are directly related to the Government’s growth agenda.

 

Mr. Green said the Government is looking at lengthening the number of years that graduates would have to repay their loans, as it is recognised that it may take some time for persons to find a job.

 

The State Minister lauded the NCU for having produced some of the finest graduates in Jamaica.

 

“I have found that the NCU graduate is much more equipped to take on the working world. I have come in contact with a number of your media graduates and find them to be very professional, honest and hard-working, so you are clearly doing something right at NCU that needs to be emulated,” he said.

He encouraged the students to “maintain your commitment to academic excellence while seeking ways to be of service to your community and the wider nation.”

 

He cited the United Students Movement as providing a platform for young people to give service.

 

“I also encourage you to dream big, broadly and ensure that you do all you can to achieve your dream,” he added.

 

The State Minister noted that the Government has big plans for Mandeville to become a university town, and NCU is critical to achieving that goal.

 

CAPTION: State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Floyd Green (right) is in light conversation with President of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU), Dr. Lincoln Edwards (left), just before the start of the Honours Convocation ceremony on the grounds of the institution in Mandeville, Manchester, on October 19

GLEANER: As Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) continues to be integrated into general education, not only in Jamaica but also within the region, Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator Ruel Reid has reiterated its importance.

 

According to Reid, TVET will become a driving force in propelling the effort to strengthen the economies of the region and the world.

 

While commending the progress made to standardise vocational education and its impact on human capital development and economic competitiveness in the region, Reid said the integration will provide the relevant platform to respond to the demands of the modern workforce.

 

Addressing the WorldSkills International Competition and Ministers Technical and Vocational, Education and Training Summit in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates earlier this week, the minister said with the addition of TVET, the country’s education system is undergoing a much needed transformation in response to changing job market demands and global economic trends.

 

The promotion of TVET, he said, is a strategic move to prepare the Jamaican workforce to seize the employment opportunities that are increasingly opening up in the technical and vocational fields.

 

RELEVANT TO GLOBAL SHIFTS

“While technology is changing and forcing changes in education, the gate keepers of traditional programmes in the major universities must now look at diversifying its degree programmes to students. Policy makers must now drive the discussion of deconstructing the traditional offerings at the tertiary level, making them more relevant to global shifts in the employment market,” Reid said.

 

Reid, who spoke on the topic ‘Voice of the Youth: Ground Realities in the Age of Disruption’, said with the Caribbean Maritime Institute now attaining university status, this change has created major waves in Jamaica that has allowed for individuals who attend the institution to achieve more globally competitive advantages when they begin to seek jobs or move towards entrepreneurship.

 

“A radical shift is needed in the education sector, as economic growth areas such as business process outsourcing, tourism, constructions, agriculture, are significant employers of youth who are trained in TVET,” Reid said.

 

“The way forward is TVET and this need to become a global imperative and all voices must be included as equal partnerships in the process of youth empowerment. Jamaica is on that path of development.”

 

… Summit explores policy solutions in skills development

 

The World Skills International Competition and Ministers Technical and Vocational, Education and Training Summit, held in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates earlier this week, was organised by the Abu Dhabi Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training. It complemented the WorldSkills International Competition and Conference 2017, where leading figures from industry, government and international organisations gathered to shape the global skills agenda, as well as to watch thousands of skill competitors from close to 60 countries vying for gold, silver and bronze medals.

 

The summit provided a forum to explore pressing issues and potential policy solutions in the realm of skills development. It also offered opportunities to engage with partners of the global Vocational Education and Training (TVET) arena and the World Skills community.

 

The panel included: Jamaica’s Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator Ruel Reid; Minister of Education of the United Arab Emirates Hussain Ibrahim Al Hammadi; Director General of Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission Michel Servoz; Minister of Labour and Employment, Republic of Korea, Kim Young-Joo; Engineer, Spectrum Quality, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, UAE, Sara Ahmad; and youth forum participant and WorldSkills Champions Trust representative for Europe and Russia, Anna Prokopenia.

 

[email protected]

 

JIS: The two-year-old Trench Town Polytechnic College in St. Andrew is looking to boost enrolment as it carries out its mandate to equip persons with skills to meet the demands of the labour market.

 

The institution, which started classes in October 2015 offering programmes with a focus on aligning training with industry needs, has already attracted hundreds of students from communities within its vicinity and areas as far away as Portmore, Harbour View and Papine, in day and evening classes.

 

Principal of the institution, Dr. Dosseth Edwards-Watson, tells JIS News that all the programmes are undersubscribed and the administration will be striving to reach more persons.

 

She says that the courses offered are market-driven, matching skills with labour industry needs. “We rely on industry to tell us what is in demand… . At the Polytechnic, we are big on inculcating employable skills,” she says.

 

She notes further that “every programme has entrepreneurship built into it”, so not only are students prepared for a job but to also create their own employment.

 

Dr. Edwards-Watson says that a major focus of administrators and staff is to ensure that the school environment represents all the attributes of care, so that human capital can be developed for national and global impact.

 

“We strive to maintain a compassionate environment and demonstrate a culture of care,” she points out.

 

Located at Eighth Street at the site of the former Trench Town High School, the multidisciplinary community college provides a holistic curriculum that is designed to give students a competitive edge.

 

Through collaboration with HEART Trust/NTA, Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) and the Jamaican-German Automotive School (JAGAS), the college offers programmes in areas such as data operation, auto body repair, customer service, maritime studies, port operations, and logistics.

 

There are also courses in mathematics, English language, career and personal development, entrepreneurship, computer repairs and electronics, social work, renewable energy, culinary arts, theatre arts and production, and scores of other disciplines.

 

Having received the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ) stamp of approval, the institution is now empowered to award 10 associate, 12 applied associate, four bachelor’s, and three applied bachelor’s degrees.

 

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says the institution is providing opportunities for continuous education, filling a gap for students between grades 11 and 13.

 

“This is the model that we are going to replicate right across the country,” he says.

 

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dean-Roy Bernard, notes that often, persons are not trained for available jobs, but the college will “help to close that gap”.

 

CCCJ Executive Director, Dr. Donna Powell-Wilson, informs that the college will be subject to the organisation’s quality assurance process and course expansion to reach more people.

 

She notes that Trench Town Polytechnic is responding to the needs of residents of the area and its environs “at a time when it is crucial for young people, as well as mature Jamaicans, to become certified”.

 

Dr. Powell-Wilson contends that with the confidence that has been shown in the institution by the certifying body, members of the Trench Town business sector must now partner with the college to ensure its success.

 

“All hands are needed on deck to make this venture succeed for Jamaica’s sake,” she says.

 

For President of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Donna Drummonds, having a “model school” in the community known for producing some of the world’s greatest reggae artistes, “is the way to go”.

 

She is urging young people, in particular, to take advantage of the opportunity to transform their lives.

 

Board member of the institution, Pastor Winston Clarke, notes that in its short existence, the college has already made a mark as a “key community asset”.

 

He says that residents now have an opportunity to improve their academic standards and job-readiness skills.

 

“We envision deeper partnerships with other community institutions in offering new and exciting courses,” he says.

 

The college can be contacted at [email protected], or 501-1264, 501-1253.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid (third left), receives the document for the Trench Town Polytechnic College to offer Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ)-certified courses from Executive Director, CCCJ, Dr. Donna Powell-Wilson (second right) at the recent media launch of the St. Andrew-based institution. Others (from left) are Chairman of the college, Dr. Joan Spencer-Ernandez; nursing student, Shanique Rumble; and Principal of the college, Dr. Dosseth Edwards-Watson.

OBSERVER: THE Government has initiated a youth-development programme to engage young people in the promotion of peace while building the capacity of youth clubs to steer community growth.

 

According to state minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information Floyd Green, under the youth club rebuilding initiative, dubbed ‘Youth Club Charge Up’, from which the groups are provided with grants, young people are encouraged to foster conflict solving through joint club and community projects.

 

“We are saying to young people that where conflicts exist, come together, use the youth club as the umbrella to discuss the issues and come up with a project that can build peace throughout the communities,” the junior minister told JIS News in an interview.

 

Following the launch of the programme recently in St Thomas, the youth clubs are now able to grasp opportunities for financial support, training, mentorship and strengthening from the Youth Division in the ministry, while also enabling young people to access programmes for their personal development.

 

It encourages youth to take charge and offer leadership in their communities, and to actively get involved in community-development projects.

 

The state minister said the programme forms part of Jamaica 55 initiatives.

 

“Let us set a new paradigm; let us come together and look at joint projects across communities and clubs,” he urged.

 

CAPTION: Hon. Floyd Green, State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information

GLEANER: The Catherine Hall Primary and Infant School is the latest in a series of schools to benefit from an initiative by the Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) III aimed at building the capacity of school administrators, guidance counsellors, and academic staff to offer support to behaviourally challenged students.

 

Forty-three members of staff from the Montego Bay, St James-based institution, including the principal, vice-principal, and the school’s dean of discipline, turned out for a workshop geared at the development of cognitive skills and curbing at-risk behaviour last Thursday at the Sea Garden Hotel in the Second City.

 

Psychological Services Coordinator with the CSJP III Dr Melva Spence said that the programme, which started in 2016, came about out of realisation that there was a high number of referrals to the psychological services unit by schools due to poor behaviour of students. It was also a response to increasing numbers of incidents of violence in schools.

 

REFERRALS OVERWHELMING

 

“The referrals were overwhelming, and when we do the assessment with them, many of the times, it’s due to grief or anxiety from separation, trauma, or depression, which displays itself as misbehaviour,” she said.

 

Spence said that Thursday’s workshop focused on helping teachers and administrators understand how to support students in expressing emotions and how to reflect on the basis for their actions.

 

“I think the teachers must take more time to process what is going on with the children as [sometimes] the child doesn’t necessarily want to misbehave or to fight, but the emotions that they are feeling, they are not processing them properly, and so it comes out that way. So that’s what we want to achieve, [an environment] where teachers are better able to interact with the students, understand what they are going through, and assist them,” she explained.

 

CSJP hopes initiative will benefit all schools

Stacey-Anne Whittingham-Tucker, psychologist with the Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) III, said the hope is that last Thursday’s workshop for teachers, geared at the development of cognitive skills and curbing at-risk behaviour, will have an impact the wider school community. The training session was held at the Sea Garden Hotel in Montego Bay, St James.

 

Social Worker with CSJP Western Desmond Stewart echoed this hope, noting that primary schools have been targeted to allow teachers to help students receive intervention early.

 

“Some of the teachers say that they were not aware that some of the behaviours displayed by students were due to mental challenges, and knowing this, staff would now be able to approach it in a different way, and they are appreciative of it. We are happy we can help in that way as we understand that if these problems are not solved, it can lead to students becoming dysfunctional members of society,” he said.

 

Principal of the Catherine Hall Primary and Infant School, Dudley James, described the session as informative and engaging. The school is the latest in a series of institutions to benefit from the initiative.

 

“The information that we gleaned from the workshop will be quite useful in the classroom as it looks at the child’s whole cognitive development and at how best we can look at the child’s thought processes and see what strategies we can apply to curtail certain behaviours. For me it is a very important workshop,” he said.

 

Representatives from the Dispute Resolution Foundation and the Restorative Justice Unit also delivered presentations to the participants, featuring ways in which schools can access services.

 

CAPTION: Psychologist with the Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) III, Stacey-Anne Whittingham-Tucker, delivers a presentation to a group of teachers and administrators from the Catherine Hall Primary and Infant School, during a capacity-building workshop at the Sea Garden Hotel in Montego Bay.

GLEANER: Recognising the recurring struggles that parents have to motivate their children, Maverick Communications Limited (MCL) will be hosting a parenting seminar later this month, to give caregivers proper guidance and tips to help their children achieve success.

 

Under the theme ‘Improving Children’s Engagement towards Achievement’, more than 100 parents, teachers and guardian sare invited to learn how to better understand and address the educational needs of children in their care.

 

Melody Cammock-Gayle, managing director at MCL, said it was an issue she acknowledged as a parent herself, as there were challenges in creating an atmosphere that pushed her child to have a deep appetite to achieve.

 

“This seminar was birthed from my own struggles as a parent who wants to see her child operating at optimum from a place of self-regulation and a deep drive to do well. I needed to learn, and I figure there must be other parents like me. So this engagement seminar intends to provide the tools, pathways, social protocols and best practices for parents to engender in children a genuine passion for learning so that they can get, and keep their children tuned in to learning,” she told The Gleaner.

 

Through enriching and impactful presentations, sessions will effectively cover: identifying your child’s learning style and the importance of working with the teacher to co-create assessment criteria; the role of nutrition in learning; keeping cool despite your child’s disengagement; and motivating your child to aspires, and create professional quality outcomes.

 

“It is no secret the role that encouragement and parental guidance play in helping children stay attuned to learning. As parents, we have to know how best to get through to our children, and we promise that this seminar will be just what parents need to help boost their relationships with their children and understand how best to guide them academically,” Cammock-Gayle said.

 

Gathering some of the most popular names in education, nutrition and child care, the line-up of facilitators for the seminar include: Dr Patrece Charles, counselling psychologist; Dr Joy Callender, consultant nutritionist; Kaysia Kerr, chief executive officer of the National Parenting Support Commission, among others. Also scheduled to attend is Minister of State in Education, Minister Floyd Green, who will be delivering a special lunch-hour presentation.

 

CAPTION: Hon. Floyd Green, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information