Wesley Barrett, Contributor
SINCE THE release of the 2003 Caribbean Examinations Council's (CXC) Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) examinations, discussion in the public media on the state of education in the island has heightened. Undoubtedly much of the discussion is well-intentioned and is probably aimed at eliciting some reaction to the state of education in the country.
The conversations I have heard have not been particular wide-ranging in the least. They include, however, reflective and sober reflections on some of the key factors such as motivation, values placed on education and the learning environment that among others, determine educational output and performance by students. Much of the discussions seemed skewed towards the question of ranking schools and the allocation of resources to the education sector. There have even been subtle suggestions to 'name and shame' schools that have not achieved high success rates in English Language and Mathematics, even though the factors impacting the schools have not been investigated and assessed by those who make the suggestions.
Before I comment on the above, let me offer congratulations to the 10,631 and 13,986 students who have obtained grades acceptable to enter university and other tertiary institutions as well as to clerical positions, respectively in Mathematics and English Language in the 2003 May/June CSEC examinations.
No doubt the parents of the students from 'reclassified'/'upgraded', 'traditional' and 'technical' high schools are celebrating their children's success. Hopefully many more students and parents will celebrate after the results of next year's examinations are released. This, of course, depends on the support they receive.
REGIONAL EXAMINATIONS
It is instructive to note that this year 4,460 and 3,100 more students obtained the grades referred to above in Mathematics and English Language respectively. In fact the numbers this year represent a more than doubling of the corresponding numbers for 1997. Perhaps a greater number of persons will not interpret this year's results as 'a crisis' or 'dismal'.
Generally over the last six years there has been an increasing trend both in the percentages and in the actual numbers succeeding in the regional examinations. The reclassified schools have been contributing consistently to the actual increases in the numbers. This contribution is expected to continue as more of them make the transition to the CXC examinations.
At present, they enter most of their students for the local Secondary School Certificate examination, an examination that was specifically designed for the New Secondary Schools from which they have been reclassified. It is only relatively recently that these schools have been able, through their efforts and those of the Ministry, to acquire some additional resources (teachers, laboratories, computers) to place them in a position to offer the CXC programme to promising students.
It should suffice to say here as well that their intake of students is implicated in the results of the schools but a discussion on this dimension of the problem will not be pursued here. Of course, the reclassified schools have some testimony of achievement in several critical areas of school activity. Achieving high success rates in English and Mathematics is indeed very, very important but those are not the only subjects of importance in the school curriculum. Given their resource base, some of the schools have achieved some measure of success in English Language and Mathematics.
QUALIFIED GRADUATES
Enquiries from firms in the hospitality industry and elsewhere that employ many of the graduates of reclassified/upgraded high schools, will confirm that the schools do produce many qualified graduates in a range of subjects that are relevant to the workplace. Interfacing directly with the schools will provide much evidence of their adding value. The value added should really be the main criterion for assessing schools. The Education Ministry has been giving much thought to this.
Any notion that the performances of reclassified schools are being deliberately masked by an aggregation of the results of all schools is false. For very many years now individual school results have not been published and that is long before reclassified schools have been entering students for CXC examinations. Schools in the past have expressed disgust at how their published results have been interpreted. Not the least many resent being ranked on very limited criteria and information.
It would be remiss if I did not categorically state that the present results though increasing, are nowhere near what they should be for a country such as ours that wants to survive in a fiercely competitive global economic environment. The need for a very large stock of knowledge workers, imposes the requirement for high levels of success both in percentages and actual numbers of students in existing secondary education. The issue of the 'achievement yield' how many achieve how much, is pertinent. But we won't get beyond the question until we put our fingers on the pith of the problem that is affecting the achievement yield and then follow up with timely and decisive action to treat the problem. We sometimes make good guesses of the contributing factors to success but these need to be subjected to rigorous study for refinement and precision. For example, some will say "put more resources in the schools and they will succeed". Is the problem just about resources? I think not. Undoubtedly large increments of the different categories of resources are needed urgently.
It may be well to note that the CXC National Committee (Jamaica) in collaboration with the National Council on Education (NCE) has developed a proposal to conduct a research study aimed at identifying and isolating specific main factors that are impacting negatively on student performance in English Language, Mathematics and the Sciences in recent times.
RESEARCH STUDY
This study is, the Committee considers, a first step in addressing the problem wholistically. Indeed stating ad nauseam that a problem exists is not helpful at this time since the schools and the Education Ministry know and acknowledge that there is a problem and indeed have been addressing some of the well documented parts of the problem such as resource allocation. The present initiative of the National Committee is designed really to update knowledge and gain greater insight on the problem through a much more thorough and systematic investigation of factors such as time and task, parental and community support and learning environment. In as scientific a way as possible, the study should shed light on the status of the problem in 2003.
What would be disappointing is if most stakeholders do not support a comprehensive and systematic research study as envisaged and commit to respond positively to the findings.
In the meantime we should use the knowledge we have about our schools to make some of the necessary and urgent interventions. These include, and are not limited, to encouraging more persons to put a higher value on education, motivating key persons in the education sector such as students, teachers and parents towards sustained effort and emphasising that students must assume much more responsibility for their learning since learning is internal to the learner and requires much effort on his/her part.
Those who benefit from the outputs of the schools, such as employers and the wider community, as well as teachers, must help in creating a conducive learning environment for students.
The debate emerging is necessary but it needs to be widened considerably and greater cognisance must be taken of available relevant data and information.
Wesley E. Barrett is Chief Education Officer.
