The Perceptions of Principals, Teachers and Students about the Impact of the Reform of Secondary Education on Access, Quality and Equity on Secondary Education in Jamaica

The Perceptions of Principals, Teachers and Students about the Impact of the Reform of Secondary Education on Access, Quality and Equity on Secondary Education in Jamaica PDF Author: Dorothy Raymond
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Educational change
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Resources in Education

Resources in Education PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning

The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning PDF Author: Peter Barrett
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464813787
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 71

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'The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning: A Synthesis of the Evidence provides an excellent literature review of the resources that explore the areas of focus for improved student learning, particularly the aspiration for “accessible, well-built, child-centered, synergetic and fully realized learning environments.†? Written in a style which is both clear and accessible, it is a practical reference for senior government officials and professionals involved in the planning and design of educational facilities, as well as for educators and school leaders. --Yuri Belfali, Head of Division, Early Childhood and Schools, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills This is an important and welcome addition to the surprisingly small, evidence base on the impacts of school infrastructure given the capital investment involved. It will provide policy makers, practitioners, and those who are about to commission a new build with an important and comprehensive point of reference. The emphasis on safe and healthy spaces for teaching and learning is particularly welcome. --Harry Daniels, Professor of Education, Department of Education, Oxford University, UK This report offers a useful library of recent research to support the, connection between facility quality and student outcomes. At the same time, it also points to the unmet need for research to provide verifiable and reliable information on this connection. With such evidence, decisionmakers will be better positioned to accurately balance the allocation of limited resources among the multiple competing dimensions of school policy, including the construction and maintenance of the school facility. --David Lever, K-12 Facility Planner, Former Executive Director of the Interagency Committee on School Construction, Maryland Many planners and designers are seeking a succinct body of research defining both the issues surrounding the global planning of facilities as well as the educational outcomes based on the quality of the space provided. The authors have finally brought that body of evidence together in this well-structured report. The case for better educational facilities is clearly defined and resources are succinctly identified to stimulate the dialogue to come. We should all join this conversation to further the process of globally enhancing learning-environment quality! --David Schrader, AIA, Educational Facility Planner and Designer, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Association for Learning Environments (A4LE)

School Leadership in the Caribbean

School Leadership in the Caribbean PDF Author: Paul Miller
Publisher: Symposium Books Ltd
ISBN: 1873927819
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Successful school leadership is an issue currently being debated up and down Caribbean territories. Key issues in the ongoing debate include: students’ outcomes and participation in the regional Caribbean Secondary Examinations (CSEC); teacher recruitment and retention; teacher training and continuing professional development (upgrading); and parental involvement. These issues point to leadership at various levels, whether in its exercise or in its influence, and are examined within and across national and regional education systems. Particular attention is given to debates around improving outcomes for students, teacher development and the role of the principal in leading school improvement. A source of debate about practice of school leadership in the Caribbean surrounds the issue of gender. Where are men in teaching? Where are men in leadership positions and positions of responsibility? Unlike in some countries where, for example, men tend to hold more leadership positions than women, especially at the secondary phase of education, in the Caribbean this is not the case: there are more female teachers at every level and more female teachers occupy leadership positions at every level. Within this book, gendered leadership as practised and enacted in the Caribbean is examined from religious, social, historical and political positions, pointing to a clear political dichotomy. There is no unitary definition of what can count as school leadership in the Caribbean, despite clear similarities of practices and approaches. What this volume argues, however, is that within the Caribbean region there are many similarities of experience for the practice and exercise of school leadership which draw on a common framework of teacher training, a common language and a common socio-political history that existed well before the formation of CARICOM through British colonisation. This book does not dwell on the period of British colonisation but discusses the extent to which this period in Caribbean history has influenced the practice of school leadership today, most notably in areas such as curricular and teacher training models. Education in emergency situations, such teaching and learning in severe weather conditions such as hurricanes, is also spotlighted. As a whole, the themes in this edited volume proffer an evidence-based approach to contemporary issues in school leadership in the Caribbean and extend the current literature in the field.

A Qualitative Study of Principals', Teachers',and Parents' Perceptions about Their Respective Roles in Children's Education at Two Jamaican Primary Schools-One Rural and One Urban

A Qualitative Study of Principals', Teachers',and Parents' Perceptions about Their Respective Roles in Children's Education at Two Jamaican Primary Schools-One Rural and One Urban PDF Author: Canute Livingstone McKenzie
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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To educate a child at any institution, three key stakeholders are required: the principal, the teacher and the parent. Even though this phenomenon is de facto (real), there appears to be a perennial controversy among principals, teachers and parents in rural and urban schools at the primary level in Jamaica. This controversy normally occurs when students perform poorly on the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) which is now the Primary Exist Profile (PEP) national exam. Thus, through the lens of the principals, teachers and parents of two Jamaican primary schools (one rural and one urban), this qualitative (narrative) multi-site study investigated the principals, teachers and parents perceptions about their respective roles in children's education at these two un-named schools in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica (a rural and an urban school). Fifty respondents (combined sample size) from both rural and urban schools participated in the study - 13 from the rural school and 37 from the urban school. The primary instruments that were used to collect the data for this study were observation and semi-structured interviews in addition to a tape recorder. The findings of the study revealed that whilst there are major disagreements among the principals, teachers and parents, regarding their respective roles in relation to who is responsible to ensure that the child gets quality education at both schools; there are also agreements among stakeholders concerning their respective roles. Thus, the findings of the study which are paramount to both institutions could serve as benchmarks to improve the principal-teacher-parent-communication, parental involvement, and stakeholder partnership, in that, the results of the study also revealed major stakeholder-weaknesses at both institutions in these quintessential areas. Hence, all stakeholders need to work together collaboratively to provide quality education for the children who attend these schools. This study should be impactful, not only to the stakeholders at both primary schools, but also to other stakeholders and policymakers at the primary level. The implications that the study has examined based on the findings are: implications for further research and practice; implications for the Ministry of Education (MOE) and school administrators/educational leaders; implications for teacher education in teachers' colleges and universities (Jamaican context); and implications for in-service teachers and parents at both schools.

Leadership for School Improvement in the Caribbean

Leadership for School Improvement in the Caribbean PDF Author: Austin Ezenne
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 160752371X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
The chapters in this book should stimulate the reader not only to think about the kind of leadership that is needed to improve schools in the Caribbean (using 'schools' in the widest sense to range from early childhood to higher education institutions) but also other forms of support. The book deals in detail with issues of leadership. At the theoretical level there is exploration of appropriate models of leadership in the effort to create effective schools. At the practical level the importance of the principal's role is explored. This book is very timely and should prove informative not only to current and prospective leaders but also to students and scholars both locally and internationally with an interest in Caribbean education. The chapters are written in a sufficiently user- friendly style to be of interest also to the general public who want to see the process of transformation realised in our education systems.

Assessing the Current State of Education in the Caribbean

Assessing the Current State of Education in the Caribbean PDF Author: Bissessar, Charmaine
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1522517014
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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To meet the various needs of students, administrative policies and instructional techniques must consistently be improved upon. This allows schools to deliver a higher quality of education to students. Assessing the Current State of Education in the Caribbean is a pivotal reference source for the latest research on recent developments and innovations for schools in the Caribbean region. Focusing on teacher leadership, learning assessment techniques, and technology uses, this book is ideally designed for educators, school administrators, professionals, and researchers interested in recent developments within the education sector.

Our Story

Our Story PDF Author: Jonathan Goodrich
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781977236500
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Equal opportunity for children to access "good education" has to be one of the primary obligations of any government. In a developing country like Jamaica, such opportunity is tantamount to ensuring the country's viability if not its very survival. OUR STORY is a collection of first-person narratives by graduates of one of the most visionary and effective yet undocumented experiments in the history of secondary education in the English speaking Caribbean. The poetic prose of graduate Trevor Thomas highlights this shortcoming: "A brilliant meteor had streaked across the bleakness of Jamaica's education landscape, briefly illuminating its dark canopy, but attracted scant attention, and the remains were unceremoniously buried without headstone or epitaph." The observation of Prof. Emeritus, the Hon. Errol Miller, OJ, CD, Ph.D., DLL (Honoris Causa), an internationally recognized scholar on the subject, further emphasizes the sentiment in his exceptional Foreword: "Our Story recounts and reflects upon a unique chapter in the history of Jamaican secondary education told sixty-seven years after it began and sixty years after it ended by some students who assess its impact on their lives." Although OUR STORY focuses on the period 1954-1960, it directly references critical antecedents as well as pivotal outcomes from the period, especially in the area of Education Policy. The revolutionary role of the Hon. Edwin Leopold Allen, the then Minister of Education who envisioned and implemented the Experimental Secondary Classes, and the notable teachers that were the definitive agents of the success of the endeavor are recognized. The inextricable connection between the Classes and the broader history of Secondary Education in Jamaica is boldly clarified in the volume. OUR STORY references Jamaica's political, economic, and cultural history as these unfolded during the period immediately preceding and immediately following, national Independence in 1962. The absence of the story of the Classes from the larger narrative of secondary education in Jamaica substantiates a void in the history that should be addressed. This history and the related influence of the imposed, traditional, generally elitist, and highly discriminatory, imposed British system of education are well known and documented. This history is therefore not the main driver of this effort. Instead, the effort is driven by the realization that the Experimental Secondary Classes have not received the recognition and credit that they unquestionably deserve. The historical linkages with our own stories demand that we acknowledge the nature, cause, consequences, and relevance of the international protests instigated by the worldwide recognition of systemic discrimination against people of color. It would be irresponsible not to do so. The common origins, direct relevance, and impact on how we may view our own heritage, and the future of the land of our birth are inescapable. Notably, the protests are in direct response to historical inequities in the opportunity to access crucial socio-cultural prerequisites such as education, justice, and the benefits that generally accrue from a clearly flawed, artfully marketed participatory economy that is extensively dependent on the education status of participants. Hopefully, as the stories are told and read, the telling will not be in vain.

Jamaican Teachers, Jamaican Schools

Jamaican Teachers, Jamaican Schools PDF Author: Eleanor J. Blair
Publisher: IAP
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Nowhere is teachers’ lives and work more challenging than in Jamaican schools. Teachers in Jamaica are regularly faced with limited resources and challenging students. Teacher pay has been historically low and current conditions continue a long tradition of providing minimal compensation for teachers’ work. Recent school reform efforts has been successful in producing a teaching force that is better educated than ever before, and yet, teachers are seldom given the autonomy in decision-making and/or respect that accompanies the work of comparable professions. Coupled with these issues, teachers regularly face hunger, poverty, behavioral issues and a lack of parental support as part and parcel of their experience in 21st century schools. If teachers are perceived as having low professional status, it is not surprising that they are often blamed for the shortcomings of Jamaican schools. The citizens of Jamaica are firmly committed to the notion that “every child can learn, every child must learn;” however, the reality is that while all children can learn, many children do not learn in this country where the allocation of resources favors the rich and disowns the poor. Public schools in Jamaica vary tremendously across the fourteen parishes. Geography and social class regularly determine both the context and circumstances of teachers’ work, and yet, discussions of teachers seldom acknowledge the differences. There is a place for a more in-depth examination of teachers’ work and teachers’ lives in Jamaica where a consideration of the emergence of teacher leadership and higher professional status can intersect with a vision of new roles and responsibilities for teachers. While many of the reports on Jamaican education consider the role of administrative leaders, there is an absence of any discussion of the role of teacher leaders is school reform. It is interesting that a country can advocate for higher levels of teacher preparation and an upgrading of the professional status of teachers, and yet, ignore the potential power of teachers as major actors directing efforts to reform the schools. Teachers acting as leaders, in a profession dominated by women, would challenge the status quo and usurp preconceived notions regarding the work of teachers. In this book, 21st century descriptions of teachers’ lives and work will accompany a consideration of how the transformation of the teaching profession could positively impact both schools and classrooms across the island.

A Study of Secondary Education in Jamaica

A Study of Secondary Education in Jamaica PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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