AS A result of the general decline in overall performance at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examinations and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), Registrar of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), Dr. Didacus Jules outlined some steps that should be undertaken to improve performance in the future.
At the official launch of the May/June 2012 results at the Guyana National Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Jules stated that the first step is to have less lamentation and more decisive action. He stated that blaming teachers, ministers or whoever is not going to change anything. Rather, we need to buckle down and do the things that need to be done.”
Speaking about the new technological age, he said: “We are at a historical juncture, not just in the Caribbean but worldwide, where education needs to be redefined. The old paradigms can no longer work.”
He believes that the education system should be changed to meet these new demands since children of the digital era tend to get bored with the plain “chalk and talk.” CXC is trying to meet these demands with the introduction of a digital media CAPE subject, which will include gaming and developing mobile and tablet applications.
According to Jules, like an eco system; the education system is interdependent and inter-related. “We cannot expect that students will perform at university if they do not perform at the secondary level. We cannot expect good performance at secondary level if primary level, which is the level that contributes to secondary, is weak. We cannot expect them to do good at the primary level, if early childhood is non-existent,” he said.
Jules further stated that we need to understand that there are no quick fixes for the problem. However, he believes that there are short term solutions such as investing in secondary education by providing schools with some of the core materials that they need.
The Council is also looking at what they can do about teaching, even though it is not really their responsibility as an examinations body. The Registrar revealed that every year on their website there is an assessment on students’ performance in every subject area.
“We sit on a wealth of information that can help teachers to hone their skills better, to focus more effectively on core areas and on areas of deficiency,” Jules said.
He noted that one major misconception in education today is that some students are not “academically minded”. According to Jules, there is no such thing; every student is capable of learning.
“The problem is not the student. The problem is what are the pedagogies and their approaches that would make it possible for that student to learn,” he said.
He believes that one simple solution to this problem is to make learning fun.
In addition, as an immediate measure, CXC is setting up an expert working group on the teaching and learning of Mathematics and English in the Caribbean. The group will be looking at the history of performances from more than ten years back and looking to see what concepts students are having problems with.
The syllabus itself will also be re-examined.
| ‘We sit on a wealth of information that can help teachers to hone their skills better, to focus more effectively on core areas and on areas of deficiency.’-CXC Registrar |
The Council is also working to make online learning possible. Therefore, if a child is home sick they can still keep up with their school work. Jules advised that from September this year, they will have the capability where a teacher can teach a class virtually from home.
Additionally, with the free interactive online portal www.notesmaster.com, the possibility of forming learning groups is easier.
CXC is also hoping to create, from September, a virtual subject association, with Mathematics and English teachers from across the entire Caribbean, curriculum officers in Maths and English, and also university lecturers of those subjects.
Meanwhile, Education Minister, Priya Manickchand stated that Guyana welcomes the initiative of establishing an expert working group of teaching and learning of Mathematics and English, urging the group to begin its work with haste.
She noted that the Ministry of Education started its Maths/English pilot programme in January, 2012, which saw the ministry loaning text books, study guides and past exam papers among other materials to students from selected schools.
Ms. Manickchand reported that these pilot schools on average did better than the Caribbean and better than the national average in Maths and English. In Mathematics for 2012, the Caribbean has a pass mark of 33% while Guyana has a pass mark of 29.69% and the pilot schools have a pass mark of 39.85%. In English, the Caribbean has a pass mark of 47% while Guyana and the pilot schools have pass marks of 37% and 52.05% respectively.
Manickchand remarked: “We stand ready to further investigate how is it we can do better in all of our schools. We shall note the lessons we learnt through this programme, we are seeking to determine how best we can expand and serve our children. We stand ready to share our experience with our sister nations in the Caribbean as we are eager to learn from their experiences, together as one family of countries with one voice and its one people…”
She also took the time out to congratulate all the top CSEC performers of Guyana, noting that the top students came from all over Guyana and also from public and private schools.