Teaching and learning - two different things
published: Wednesday | October 15, 2003

THE EDITOR, Sir:

TEACHING AND learning are two different things and those of us who equate them find ourselves looking in the wrong place for solutions when learning fails to occur. In analysing the poor performance by our students at the CXC examinations the experts have erroneously concluded that if the students fail to learn, then the teacher didn't teach.

Impact, the CVM television programme on Sunday, October 5, 2003, gave platform to experts that seem to be armed with the figures but not many facts. These experts went for the heart of the teachers and missed a glorious opportunity to educate the nation on the role and responsibility of the students and their parents in the learning process. Impact parades entrepreneurs, who operate tutorial centres, boasting of the levels of success of the students who previously fail in the traditional schools. Well, I say big surprise, these students are now seeing the subject matter for at least the second time, a little more motivated now that they have failed once and can afford to pay for surrogate parents to supervise their homework. These entrepreneurs rather than taking the opportunity to credit the passing student for working hard and encourage students who are in the traditional school setting to also work hard, sought to increase their revenue base by taking all the credit for the claimed pass rates.

In seeking solutions to the poor CXC performance we need to focus on learning as a process. Each stakeholder, the students, the parents, the teachers, and the Government must have clearly defined roles and responsibilities within the process and must be held accountable when the learning process fails to produce the desired results.

I am, etc.,

IKHALFANI SOLAN, Ph.D.

solan@uwimona.edu.jm