Cutting the curriculum - Science

I'm writing a series of blog posts with the intention of persuading people that the primary curriculum is overloaded with content and needs to be cut. In this post I'm looking at science - specifically a small part of grade 4 science.

The National Standards Curriculum is daunting. (Information taken directly from the curriculum is in blue.) The curriculum emphasizes the importance of developing process skills. Those relevant to this blog post are observing, communicating, predicting, inferring, formulating hypotheses, experimenting.

The curriculum also states “content is easy to forget but process skills remain forever.” I would add that content is easy to access – if you want to know something, look it up. So why is so much content packed into the curriculum?

The curriculum also emphasizes the importance of attitudes: curiosity, objectivity, critical mindedness, open mindedness, inventiveness, intellectual honesty, humility and perseverance.

My suggestions for cutting the content of the curriculum are based on the importance of emphasizing skills and attitudes.

The science for grades 4, 5 and 6 is about 200 pages long. 

I’ve taken a small section which, as a biology teacher, I’m familiar with and concerned about. It's the section of the grade 4 curriculum on sense organs.The GSAT curriculum has been rearranged for the NSC, so that the eye and the ear which were originally taught in Grade 6, are now taught in grade 4. This means they are taught before sound and light (which would include lenses), which I don’t think is a rational move. I concentrated on the following:

Focus question 2: How does the structure of sense organs relate to their functions? (8 lessons). 
(Focus question 1 was Why are sense organs important?)

The content is to be taught during 8 lessons, but the curriculum leaves it up to the teacher to write the lesson plans. The lesson numbers given here are mine and not included in the curriculum.

Lesson 1. The Eye 

Look in a mirror at their eyes and/or examine a model/picture (online/ offline), record their observations (colour, parts) and discuss what they see. Make an annotated drawing of one eye to show the external features and their related functions.

Labels include eyelid, eyelashes, white of the eye, iris and pupil. They can suggest functions of the parts. Looking at how the iris constricts in bright light provides a clue to the function of the iris. 

Research and label diagram of the eye provided by the teacher (cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina and optic nerve ONLY). Using the diagram, show the route that light travels through the eye, and the information then transmitted to the brain.

Sequence this on a flow diagram (cornea à pupil àlens àretina àoptic nerve àbrain). Suggest possible responses of the body after the information is interpreted by the brain.

I would leave most of this out. I think it’s sufficient to tell them at this stage that after light enters the eye it is converted to signals that go to the brain. They will learn more detail in high school. Looking at videos of how the eye works could be an optional enrichment activity.

In groups, examine an eye from another animal e.g. slaughtered cattle/goat/pig and compare the external features with that of the human eye. Discuss and record their observations and share with the class. 

 

I’ve heard so much about children having to get cow eyes, I was surprised they were given as an example only. I think it would be better to get the children to look at the eyes of pets or farm animals, observe how they differ from human eyes and record their observations in drawings or writing.

Lesson 2 . The Ear

 Using a variety of media (electronic or non-electronic) provided by the teacher (e.g. charts, models, online resources), examine the structure of the human ear then label a given diagram of the major parts (pinna, ear canal, eardrum, middle ear, inner ear and auditory nerves) and state their functions, excluding details of the middle and inner ear. (Students are ONLY required to identify the middle and inner ear; no further details are needed.) 

What we normally refer to as an ear is the ear pinna. I think that the children need to know at this point is that the ear’s function of converting sound to signals that go to the brain takes place in the inner ear, basically what is outlined here.

Make a simple flow chart showing the route sound travels through the ear, and the information then transmitted to the brain (pinna à ear canal à ear drum à middle ear à the inner ear à auditory nerve à brain).

Take turns to be blindfolded while another student makes a sound from different points, inside or outside the classroom. Identify the type of sound, direction it is coming from, distance away, loudness of sound etc. As a class, discuss outcomes of the activity and suggest what they think the role of the brain was in identifying the different information about the sounds.

Use graphic organisers found in a word processor or presentation software to aid your construction of the flowchart.

Lesson 3 The Nose

Observe and interact with digital/non-digital resources on the human nose (chart, videotapes, model, educational CDs/DVDs/websites, etc.), label a diagram of the major parts (nostril, septum, hairs, nasal cavity).

Describe and record the scents they smell when the teacher opens various containers. In groups, suggest how they were able to smell and differentiate the various scents. Share their ideas with the class. (Teacher should emphasise that the brain interprets the information and makes us identify the odours.)

 Observe multimedia content on how the nose functions, (video clips, educational CDs/DVDs/websites, etc.), make a flow chart showing how the nose helps us to smell (odours in the air à nostril à nasal cavity à brain).

For homework, in preparation for the lesson on the tongue, children can perform this experiment: Get a small piece of onion. Close your eyes, hold your nose and taste the onion with the tip of your tongue. What do you taste?

Lesson 4 The Tongue

Discuss what children discovered about the onion. Have a discussion about taste – children’s likes and dislikes. What happens to your sense of taste when you have a cold? Is some of what you taste really smell?    Get children’s ideas about what tastes are specific to the tongue.

In groups, search a variety of sources (online/offline) for information on the human tongue. Construct a simple model of the human tongue showing the taste centres (salt, sour, sweet and bitter). Make a flow chart showing how the tongue helps us to taste (substances in food à taste buds à information sent to the brain). Share models and flow charts with the class. As a class, discuss how different tastes are identified (the brain interprets the information from the different taste buds and makes us identify the flavours). 

The tongue

There are some scientists who question the existence of taste centres.

Children should design an experiment to find out if there really are taste centres and where they are located on the tongue. Children may get different results for this experiment because people differ in their abilities to discern flavours.

Instead of constructing a model, children could cut out a tongue shape from a piece of pink paper, label the taste centres on it, and paste it into their books.

Lesson 5: The Skin

In groups, use a magnifying glass to examine their skin at different points of their body, example: the back and palm of their hand; the upper and lower surfaces of the forearm etc. Then, describe and record their observations (skin tone, hairs, sweat pores, creases and folds etc.). Compare the appearance of the skin at the different points of the body examined. Suggest reasons for the differences and their ideas with the class.

In groups, use a variety online/offline of sources (e.g. videotapes, model, computer software, charts, books) to gather basic information on the external structure and functions of the human skin.

Please note – the curriculum does not require students to look at a diagram of a section through the skin, (which is commonly found in 4^th grade text books. Leave that for high school.)

I think it would be good to have a discussion about skin colour. Black pigmentation protects the skin from the sun. White skin gets badly burned in tropical sun. Skin makes vitamin D in sunlight. In temperate climates, where there’s not as much sun in the winter, white skin allows more sun to penetrate and make vitamin D. People with dark skin are likely to be deficient in vitamin D. Bleaching damages the skin and doesn’t help it to make vitamin D.

Lesson 6: Sense organs in the skin

 Identify and record the five stimuli to which the skin responds (pain, pressure, heat, cold and touch). Make a flow chart showing how the skin helps us to feel (stimuli à skin sensors à nerves àbrain).

I would review all the sense organs at this point and relate to Focus Question 1 – why they are important. Discuss how the brain uses input from all the sense organs to make us aware of our environment.  

The following activities can be given for homework.

 Predict what will happen if they insert one hand into a container of cold water, and at the same time the other hand in warm water, then place both hands simultaneously into another container of water at room temperature. Carry out the investigation and record their observations. Compare their predictions and observations. Suggest simple explanations for their observations. Share and discuss their findings and ideas.

Taste samples of fruits, e.g., sweet orange, then sugar, then sour orange/grapefruit, rinsing their mouths with water after each sampling. Record and suggest simple explanations for their observations. Share and discuss their ideas.

Lesson 7: How sense organs can deceive us

Carry out optical illusion activities (e.g. roll a sheet of letter size paper to form a tube with diameter of about 2 cm. Hold the tube with your left hand and look through the tube with the left eye. Place the right hand against the tube with the palm facing the right eye. Move the right hand slowly back and forth alongside the tube while viewing simultaneously through both eyes). Discuss and give possible reasons for their observations.  That’s a good one!

Look at other optical illusions.

What do you see?

Discuss and record ways in which their hearing can deceive them, e.g. reflected sound (echoes) may mislead our ears regarding the origin of a sound. Create a song/poem/drawing/dance etc. to convey how people’s hearing can deceive them.

Review the ways in which their senses can mislead them. Discuss the limitations of the senses. In groups, compose a story on how someone’s senses deceived them. Use story making or presentation software to design and produce the story which should include at least pictures, narration/sound and text. Share stories with class.

Lesson 8: Instruments used to extend the senses.

Do research using a variety of sources (online/offline) or interview a resource person, on how instruments are used to extend the senses, example: detect smoke and odours, view distant objects, view objects at night, detect subtle temperature changes, hear faint sounds, detect vibrations, etc. Make models of the instruments and use these in reporting to class on how the instruments work.

I hope I have demonstrated here that the content prescribed cannot be completed in the time frame given, and that much of it can be deferred to high school.

In case you are concerned that an important aspect of sense organs was omitted,

Focus question 3 is How can I care for and protect my sense organs?

COVID 19 and the Primary Curriculum

COVID 19 has brought into sharp focus inequalities in the education system. While some children, supervised by their parents, have had Zoom classes with their teachers, watched educational videos on Youtube and submitted work to their teachers, others have simply missed three months of schooling. Primary School children will never be able to catch up, because the curriculum is so overloaded with content that there’s no time allowed in it for anything else. 

A student following a class on Zoom

 In my retirement, (I was a biology teacher), I’ve helped children with learning to read, with GSAT and now with PEP. I have looked over class work, assisted with homework and been driven mad by projects, from grades 1 to 6. My opinions are based on what I have observed during the last 15 years, and not on the objectives stated in the curriculum. I realized that one blog post wasn’t sufficient to support my argument, so I’m starting with my list of:

10 Reasons for cutting curriculum

1.         Children need to know that they are loved and wanted and that there is a place for them in society. When children fail to keep up, they lose interest, and start to misbehave.

2.         Children need to learn how to get along with others and co-operate and have empathy. These traits are not developed when there is so much emphasis on competition; and when children are discouraged from expressing their opinions. (See Tracy-Ann McGhie-Sinclair's article on this in the Gleaner.)

3.         Every child has a strength.

a.         Knowing one’s strengths builds self-esteem.

b.         Children’s strengths need to be identified early and coached. Coaching children’s strength encourages them to perform better in their weaker areas.

c.         Praise for good performance is a more effective enforcer than punishment for something done badly.

4.         The Grade 1 curriculum explains to children that we are all different, while at the same time expecting all children to learn at the same pace and with the same attention span. No allowance is made for children suffering from anxiety or ADHD, or even undiagnosed sight or hearing problems. 

5.         The curriculum is designed to inculcate knowledge, skills and attitudes. However, knowledge dominates at the expense of the other two, in spite of the fact that bits of knowledge are soon forgotten. Values and attitudes such as honesty, courtesy, punctuality and reliability are equally as important as knowledge, and are learnt for life.

6.         Children see all assessment as a judgment of themselves. Poor performance in tests lowers their self-esteem, so children label themselves as stupid. The PEP curriculum claims that assessments are student centred and formative, meaning that assessments help teachers identify concepts that students are struggling to understand, and skills they are having difficulty acquiring, so that adjustments can be made to lessons, instructional techniques, and academic support. Teachers have no opportunity to do this, because PEP prescribes factual material to be taught in every lesson in every week of the academic year.

7.         One reason for cramming so much content in the curriculum is that assessment of students’ performance in grades 4, 5 and 6 is the basis on which they are selected for the high schools. Competition for ‘brand-name” schools is so intense that too much attention is given to the children in the top 20% of the ability range. However more important than the top 20%  having mastered grades 7 & 8 work in grade 6, is that all the children should be reading and have mastered computational skills required at their grade level.

8.         Much of the same material that is in the curriculum for grades 4, 5 and 6 is taught again at high school. In fact, some of the better performing students are bored in grade 7, because they’ve done all the work before.

9.     

    Math is a building subject. If children haven’t mastered the basics in grades 1 and 2 they

will flounder in higher grades. Hence the dislike and fear of math in the general population.

10.     The best ways of mastering the English language are by reading for pleasure and by writing one’s own thoughts to communicate with others. Children who are taught to read with access to plenty of books they can read on their own are more likely to enjoy reading. As their reading improves, a whole world of knowledge is open to them. They don’t have to have it prescribed in a curriculum. 

Children's reading room at Hanover Parish Library

I welcome comments on the above. 

I written several blog posts on this same topic including 
Reflections on PEP  and
We are failing our children

Reflections on Jamaica’s Primary Exit Profile (PEP)

Jamaica’s Primary Exit Profile (PEP) is being introduced to replace the Grade Six achievement Test (GSAT). In theory, it is not a pass/fail assessment, but in practice, as was GSAT, given the disparity between secondary schools,that is what it will be. As I said in my blog post of April 2012, “Reflections on GSAT” It is the pressure to perform to get into ‘brand-name schools’ which puts so much stress on the students and their parents.

It is claimed that under PEP emphasis will be placed on project-based and problem-solving learning, with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics/ Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEM/STEAM) integrated at all levels. The approaches will allow the learners to have hands-on experiences that are similar to real-world situations, making the learning experience less abstract and more concrete.

However, many concerns have been raised about PEP. On Wednesday, April 4, 2018, Dionne Jackson-Miller of TVJ’s All Angles hosted a panel from the Ministry of Education to discuss PEP. The panel consisted of Dr. Grace McLean, Chief Education Officer; Stacy Witter-Bailey, Assessment Officer in Mathematics; and Terry-Ann Thomas-Gayle, Manager of Students’ Assessment Unit. The general public was invited to participate via Twitter, Facebook and text messages.

Members of the public were greatly concerned about class size. With as many as fifty children in a class, teachers are hard pressed to implement the methodologies required by PEP. Dr. Grace McLean, Chief Education Officer, said that the teacher/pupil ratio has been reduced to 1:25, and that no classes should have more than 25 students. My question is this: Where are you going to put them? I know of a school in Montego Bay with approximately 1200 students. There are 6 grades with 4 streams, equivalent to 24 classes of approximately 50 children in 24 classrooms. You might be able to employ the teachers, but they would have to share classrooms, which are already overcrowded. Is this feasible?

An underpopulated school in
Mount Vernon, St. Thomas 2011 

One of the main problems for schools throughout Jamaica is that parents opt to send their children to the big urban schools, often by-passing rural schools. Referring to my blog post of September, 2011, Class Size and the Teaching of Reading, in two deep rural All Age Schools, the total enrolments were 40 and 45, and there were 3 teachers, each teaching 3 grade levels. At the other end of the scale was a school in the heart of an urban area, with a total enrollment of 1,720 and a ratio of 37:1. This school has a 6-stream entry, with about 48 children per class, for which 36 teachers would be required. With the stated ratio of 37:1, the school could employ 46 teachers. Why not a 7-stream entry? Because there was no space—all the classrooms were occupied.

One of my main concerns is that the curriculum is overloaded with too much content. Take for example the sense organs studied in Grade 4, Term 2, unit 1. I would have thought it sufficient for children to observe their eyes in a mirror and identify the parts they can see. They would unlikely to be able to determine their functions on their own, but would be able to understand them when told. I think it’s totally unnecessary for them to draw and study a section of the eye and learn the functions of the parts. That is certainly not a concrete activity. 9-year-olds do not have the mentally capacity to conceptualize the internal structure.

 Furthermore, this will be taught again in high school. In addition, the curriculum specifically states that the children should learn the terms cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina and optic nerve only, but in their work book the sclera, choroid, rods and cones are also included! I think the terms cornea, iris and pupil are quite sufficient at this level. Care of the eyes is very important, but surely it doesn’t make sense to expound on the types of lenses needed to correct long and short sight. We are getting into CXC Biology topics here.

Similarly, at this level it is not necessary for children to learn the internal structure of the ear. The senses of smell and taste, and sensations felt by the skin lend themselves well to investigation by children, but it is unnecessary for them to identify parts on a diagram of a section of the skin. The time frame in which these topics are to be covered is very tight, allowing no time for re-teaching, review or helping less able children. My recommendation is that there should be a core curriculum with enrichment activities for the more able children.

This brings me to the most deleterious effect of large class size and overloaded curriculum. The less able children get left behind and end up learning very little. In 2017, 15% of the children failed to achieve mastery in the Grade 4 Literacy Test; and 40% in the Numeracy Test. In an article in The Gleaner on Monday, February 5, 2018: “To really fix education”, the Rev. Ronald Thwaites addressed this problem. He cited an example of a school of a school where the grade-four teachers report that only one-third of their students habitually do homework and only half came into their grade cognitively, emotionally and socially ready for this higher standard. The same teachers and their principal, all well-trained, dedicated and, in two instances, professionally acclaimed, report having to spend up to 40 per cent of class time trying to keep order, to induce children to stop talking, and to attract their sustained attention.

He asserted: “Promotion of underachieving students without satisfactory remediation is both folly and cruelty to all concerned. All we are doing is cascading the problem to the higher grades and, ultimately, to the national scene.” Does he recommend that these children not be promoted to higher grades?

In my opinion, this is not the solution. Why have these children been allowed to reach the end of Grade 4, barely being able to read? One reason is that the teachers in grades 1-3 had to get through the curriculum with large classes which allowed for no individual attention. The children who are not keeping up lose interest and motivation, hence act up. If the focus in grades 1-3 was not to complete the curriculum, but to ensure that all the children acquired basic literacy and numeracy skills, we would be in a better position. One teacher cannot listen to 50 children reading individually, but the children can listen to and help each other. This presents an opportunity for children to work in groups, and to introduce a spirit of volunteerism. To keep the above average children occupied, they can be given enrichment activities. They can also be allowed to read story books. The best way of encouraging children to improve their reading is to have an ample supply of suitable books. In many classes in Jamaica, there are no story books at all.  

This brings me to another concern, why is PEP being introduced at Grade 4, by which time children have been programmed to learn by rote? Why not introduce hands-on project based learning in Grade 1? Perhaps had this been done, the less able children would not have been so turned off education. There would have been something in it for them.
If you are in agreement with what I have said here, please add your voice to those clamouring for change.

 

 

 

We are teaching children, not the curriculum!

 

 

 

Grade 4 Science Curriculum in Jamaica

Ministry of Education, Jamaica.

 In 1999, the Jamaican Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) replaced the Common Entrance Exam. Because Science and Social Studies had previously been given little emphasis, exams in these subjects, based on topics covered in grades 4, 5 and 6, were introduced in GSAT. The curriculum was overloaded with content, much of which would be taught again at the high school level. Great pressure was exerted on the students to get them to commit to memory a large amount of information.  Therefore a decision was made, as I understood it, to cut down on the content and have tests at the end of each of the grades 4, 5 and 6, to give a Primary Exit Profile (PEP). More emphasis was to be placed on developing critical thinking skills and less on rote learning.

A new National Standards Curriculum, for the grades one to nine levels, was written and should have come into operation at the beginning of the 2016/17 school year, but was delayed by a year. According to JIS:

“The goal of the new Curriculum is to improve the general academic performance, attitude and behaviour of students, which will redound to the positive shaping of the national social and economic fabric.

Under the new system, emphasis will be placed on project-based and problem-solving learning, with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics/ Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEM/STEAM) integrated at all levels.

The approaches will allow the learners to have hands-on experiences that are similar to real-world situations, making the learning experience less abstract and more concrete.

The new curriculum will allow students to utilize their own talents, and experiences in the learning process, while facilitating the increase use of Information Communication Telecommunication (ICT) technologies.”

I was therefore disappointed and alarmed when I perused the Grade 4 Science book: The New Integrated Approach – Science Workbook 4 by G. Harper, M. Dennis and D. Ellis published by Gem Publishers, which adheres strictly to the curriculum  produced by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information. The content is MORE than that in the GSAT curriculum. Several topics previously taught in Grade 6 are now to be taught in Grade 4, namely the eye and the ear; flowering plants – types of plant, root and shoot systems and the flower. Forces and work – types of forces and friction; sinking and floating, previously taught in Grade 5, are now in Grade 4. The other topics previously taught in Grade 4 remain, except for Simple and Complex Machines; and Rocks, Minerals and Soils.  It is also unfair to the teachers of these grades, who are not specialized science teachers, to change the curriculum at such short notice.

Furthermore, the content of The New Integrated Approach – Science Workbook 4 is sloppily researched and presented. Many experiments are suggested. Did the authors of the book, or the designers of the curriculum, try out the experiments before putting them in the book? Is there scope for the children to design and carry out their own experiments? Have they been taught how to? In First Steps in Science Activity book 6, by Vilma McClenan, Hortense Morgan and R. Dorothy Pottinger published by Carlong, (1999), is the following statement: “The activities that you will do will require you to use the process or inquiry skills which you have been using in science since grade 1. These include : observing, communicating, inferring, predicting, hypothesising, measuring, planning investigations that are “fair tests”, recording and interpreting data, drawing conclusions and looking for patterns and relationships.”

As far as I know, grade 4 students have been using few of these skills. They are more encouraged to learn by rote and regurgitate information they do not understand. Furthermore, primary schools do not have equipped laboratories. Teachers might be able to bring a thermometer, and a scale but, with 50 children in a class, it would be hard to use them as prescribed in The New Integrated Approach – Science Workbook 4.

The illustrations leave much to be desired. Several are clearly not of the Caribbean. Why, when the book is intended for Jamaican children? In the picture on page 36 of people playing musical instruments, most of the performers are white, and the unnecessary, confusing background of trees is the same background as on page 102, showing some people in a park. How were these pictures put together? The one on page 110 is obviously of the English countryside.

For several topics in the book, students are required to research on an electronic device , and in many instances to download and print pictures. For example, on page 41, students are instructed to print pictures of hearing aids and paste them in their books. How many children have access to a printer, and are able to download and print without help? I have to ask, what is the educational value of this activity? The reason “Teacher says you must do it to get a grade.” What critical thinking is involved here? It is a mindless waste of time and resources.

There are seven end-of-unit tests consisting of multiple choice questions many of which are confusing, for example:

Q6. (page 15) Sandy pasted pictures of herself in her scrapbook. She could be showing:

A.    How living things grow and change.

B.    How living things respond to stimuli.

C.    How living things remain the same.

D.    That living things are visible.

This system of testing, while capable of grading large numbers of scripts in a short time, has the effect of encouraging teachers to teach and students to study for that kind of test. It does not encourage critical thinking, analyzing and inquiry skills. If we want our children to become critical thinkers, we need to cut down on the content of the curriculum and devote more time to the development of inquiry skills. Surely it is not beyond the capacity of the MOEYI to do this? 
Additionally, is any public scrutiny of that NSC is being done by Jamaican stakeholders, as had been done with several previous  curricula? It seems to me that far too much emphasis is placed on the content of the curriculum and not enough on the capacity of the teachers and schools to deliver it; and the ability of the students understand it. We end up teaching the curriculum and not the children. Surely, principals, class teachers, parents and the students themselves should be allowed to have some input in the development of curricula.
  

Learning Disorders – the Struggle is Real Part 2

Mr. Karl Watson

This is the 2nd of 3 posts I am writing about a Symposium “Learning Disorders – the Struggle is Real” put on by the Association of Future Psychologists, a service club at the Western Campus of the University of the West Indies. Mr. Karl Watson was the final speaker at the symposium, but what he had to say flows logically from Dr. Shaw Salmon’s presentation, the subject of my 1st post. She told us about the children who end up in Grade 7 with poor or non-existent reading abilities. Mr. Watson, who is a Regional Special Needs Coordinator with the Ministry of Education, explained the strategies which will be used to identify and address children’s special needs at the earliest possible time. He was an entertaining speaker, frequently replacing his references to “the government” by “sorry, the previous government”, it being only a week after the general election. I am sure he is happy that the new minister has assured the nation that policies will remain the same. He began his address by pinpointing some of the landmarks in Special Education, and lamenting some attitudes.
      For children with special needs:
  1928 saw the establishment of the Salvation Army School for the Blind, and in
  1938  Rev. F.W. Gilby established the Jamaica Schoolfor the Deaf .
     There was no provision for children with intellectual disabilities until 1956, when the Randolph Lopez School of Hope was established.
      In 1975 Jamaica benefitted from a bi-lateral arrangement with the Netherlands government, through which the following were established:

• A formal teacher training programme in special education at the Mico Teachers’ College (now Mico University College)
• The Mico Child Assessment and Research in Education (CARE) Centre for diagnostic and therapeutic services for children across the region.
• Seven (7) self-contained special education units in primary schools, offering intensive instruction for children with special educational needs

At that time, there was reluctance among primary schools to house the special education units because of the stigma attached to special ed. children. Mr. Watson found, during a feasibility study he conducted 3 years ago, that the fear of stigmatization still exists.  
In developed countries, the pendulum has swung from having special schools to including children with special needs having their needs addressed in mainstream schooling. The debate continues about whether this is the best approach. In Jamaica, in 2004, a Task Force on Educational Reform presented its findings to the Ministry of Education, resulting in the Education System Transformation Programme  (ESTP). Implementation of the recommendations has been ongoing since 2005. Among the major activities of ESTP is the improvement of provisions for Special Education.

To effect these improvements, a National Special Needs Coordinator (Dr. Meredith) was appointed, together with Regional Special Needs Coordinators for each of the 7 regions. Regional Assessment Teams consisting of 2 psychologists and 2 diagnosticians were set up. One of their first activities was to identify children with special needs – 7628 were identified in 302 schools. In response, work has begun to establish 20 additional pull-out classrooms and 2 additional self-contained Special Ed Units. A system of early identification and referral, supported by Regional Assessment Teams has begun. The MOE continues to provide examination accommodation for children sitting national examinations.

Over 3000 teachers and MOE personel  have benefitted from training in several areas including strategies to identify special educational needs; Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) for work with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders; Proficiency Pathway: A guide for instruction and intervention at the primary level; and Positive Behaviour Support and restorative discipline.

The Special Education Unit in the MOE cannot operate in isolation and requires the support of other agencies. Aspects of support include    

• Continued collaboration with the Guidance Counseling Unit of the MoE; and the Child Guidance Clinic of the Ministry of Health.
• The recently launched diagnostic and therapy clinic for pre-school children at VOUCH, in conjunction with the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (October 2014).
• Mobilization for the establishment of three diagnostic centres at Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in St James, Church Teachers’ College in Manchester, and the College of Agriculture Science and Education in Portland. These are scheduled for completion by 2016. 

There will also be more public education for parents with regards to special ed.

The most important step in providing education tailored to suit every individual is the early identification of their needs. Hence the introduction of assessment before grade 1. Based on this assessment each child would be deemed ready, not quite ready or not ready and taught accordingly. At the end of Grade 2, there is a diagnostic test to monitor progress. Towards the end of Grade 4, there will continue to be literacy and numeracy tests. In 2018, GSAT will be replaced by the Primary Exit Profile (PEP). Alternative Secondary Transitional Education Programme (ASTEP) will be replaced by Alternative Pathways for Secondary Education (APSE).

At the launch of APSE

At every level in the education system, efforts will be made to teach children in the way they can learn and for them to use their abilities to the optimum. Quoting from the Nathan Ebanks Foundation Conference on Inclusion “Creating Pathways to Inclusive Education”:

The outcome we desire cannot be accomplished with ‘chalk and talk’; as Aristotle said: ‘Educating the mind, without educating the heart is no education at all’. We need the engagement and involvement of all concerned at every level, since ‘Education is not preparation for life ... education is life itself’ (John Dewey).

 

 

 

Closing the GSAT Gap

Library at Kendal Primary, ranked 5th in GSAT
in Hanover. Great Shape Inc donated many books
and assisted teachers at this school.

“Close GSAT Gap” was the headline in the Gleaner on Nov 24, 2015, the gap being between the high rankings of the Prep Schools and lower ranking of the Primary Schools. I would first question the reality of this gap, because the scores for the schools are based on the average score for all children taking GSAT in that school. If you considered only the top half of the entrants (for example the top 3 streams in a 6 stream school) in a selected primary school, you might well get scores comparable to those of the prep schools. The primary schools have no choice but to enter all the children who pass the grade 4 Literacy and Numeracy Tests. The numbers of entrants from some of these primary schools far exceed the numbers form any prep school; for example 257 from Corinaldi Avenue Primary and 251 from Mandeville Primary and Junior High. The prep schools are less likely to have as many poorly performing students, partly because the parents of prep school children are paying high fees and do everything they can to make sure their children get high scores.

The article implied that the prep schools are

In Mount Alvernia Prep Library, presenting copies of
Delroy in the Marog Kingdom, donated by past students.

performing very much better than the primary schools; and that the principal and staff of prep schools are in a position to advise the principals of the primary schools. If the principals of the prep schools took over the primary schools, I doubt if there would be any improvement in performance, given the environment and resources of the primary schools. The GSAT Gaps I am more concerned about are the gap between the performance of boys and girls; (it would be interesting to know the extent of the gender gap in prep schools) ; the gap between the best and worst performing students of any school; and the gap between urban schools (urban here meaning all urban centres, not just Kingston) and rural schools.

 In the GSAT Ranking supplement of the same day there were ‘Edu’ quotes. I select 2 of them which I think have a strong bearing on the GSAT Gaps.

1^st quote from Maya Angelou: “My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.”

Buckingham Primary, a rural school

There are many people who do not see illiteracy as an impediment to advancing in life, and are skeptical of the advantages of education. They know of educated people, including trained teachers and others with university degrees unable to find jobs.  The children of farmers are extra pairs of hands, and are often taken out of school when they reach the age when they can be helpful. In urban areas, boys are sent out to hustle. Other young people get involved in criminal activities, such as ganja growing and ‘scamming’ which they consider to be legitimate means of earning a living. These attitudes are transmitted to school children whose parents don’t insist on regular attendance, punctuality or doing homework.

2^nd quote from William Temple: “The most influential of all educational factors is the conversation in a child’s home.”

This is true all over the world. Studies have shown that 6-year-old children of educated parents have a wider vocabulary and a better command of language than those of less well educated parents. In Jamaica we have the added complication of having two languages. For many children, creole or patois is their only language until they start going to school. When they start learning to read, they have to make an abrupt shift to the unfamiliar syntax of Standard Jamaican English (SJE). They are also encouraged to speak this language at school, reinforced by numerous exercises in writing grammatically correct English. There is resentment against this in some quarters, English being the language of the former slave-masters and the present-day upper classes. As a result, children perform poorly, because all school subjects require competence in SJE. The children who attend prep schools are more likely to be fluent in both SJE and patois, so do not encounter the same difficulties or negative attitudes to SJE. 

I don’t think that the school communities of prep schools would be in a position to address either the language or the attitude barriers to improved performance in GSAT. What could make a difference?

In relation to attitude, there need to be more employment opportunities together with a campaign to inform people about the qualifications needed for these jobs. Politicians are fond of announcing “Jobs, jobs, jobs,” but fail to tell people they will need CSEC English to fill many of these jobs; and that preparation for CSEC English begins in Grade 1 of the primary schools!

In relation to the language dilemma, I submit that children should be taught to read, and have their early teaching in Jamaican creole. This suggestion has been made before and research has been carried out in several countries where a creole is spoken. I quote from an article ‘Creole Speakers and Standard Language Education’, by Gillian Wigglesworth et al, in the Language and Linguistics Compass 7/7 (2013):

“However, Siegel  points out that while there is very limited research on the use of creoles in education, the positive benefits are clear and include increased motivation and improvement in the standard variety as well as improvement in overall academic performance. He also notes that none of the studies in this area show any negative effects.

The benefits of beginning schooling in a child’s home language are well documented."

In Aruba, Papiamento, a creole which has its origins in African languages and Portuguese, replaced Dutch as the official language in 2003. Aruba has one of the highest standards of living and lowest unemployment rates in the Caribbean region. In addition to speaking Papiamento, many people there are fluent in Spanish, English and Dutch,

 Here in Jamaica, Hubert Devonish, Professor of Linguistics at UWI, one of the strongest advocates fighting for Jamaican Patois as a language. He carried out a study in a primary school, teaching the children from grades 1-4 in both patois and SJE. The children, especially the boys, performed better than average in this programme. Teaching in patois could also help to close the gap in performance between boys and girls. Although the results of this study are gathering dust on the shelves in the Ministry of Education, Professor Devonish is confident that Jamaican Creole will become one of the official languages of Jamaica. He carried out a survey in which he found that 70% of the population would be in favour of this. However, there are many Jamaicans who have a negative attitude towards patois.

Georgene Growe (r) donated Delroy in the Marog Kingsom to
the Principal of Kendal Primary School. At left,Gretchen Lee,
a volunteer organizer with Great Shape Inc.

Giving children more access to books for them to read for pleasure would be another way of closing the GSAT gaps. It has been shown that children who read regularly (about 40 books a year) for pleasure perform better in all subject areas than children who read very little. The average prep school child is more likely than the average primary school child. to be an avid reader. Only a small percentage of children make frequent visits to their local libraries, and school libraries vary considerably in their usefulness. Class libraries stocked with enough books at the reading levels of all the children in the class would go a far way towards meeting this need, as I explained in my blog post of September 23, 2014 "How to Help Kids Become Skilled, Passionate, Habitual, Critical Readers". "A class Library Movement" would require funding, but more than that would require the will and the understanding of teachers and parents to make it work. Past students could also be asked to  donate books for class libraries.
So that is my wish-list for closing the GSAT Gaps: a desire for education throughout the population; the teaching of children in Jamaican Creole; and Class Libraries for every class in every school. In the future these libraries would have in them books written in Jamaican Creole and illustrated by Jamaicans!