Increased Focus on Capacity Building – Senator Reid

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says increased focus will be placed on building the capacity of teachers as part of measures to improve student performance.

Speaking to JIS News following the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) 52^nd Annual Conference at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa in St. James on August 25, Senator Reid said that significant resources have been invested in the training and deployment of mathematics and literacy specialists and coaches to provide support in underperforming schools.

He noted that while these interventions have had a positive impact on student performance levels, more needs to be done to ensure sustainability going forward.

“We have to remain focused and committed. We have to try different approaches. One area, which is being carefully examined, is the engagement of specialist teachers at the primary level. In the first instance, this redeployment would focus on the teaching of mathematics and English,” he told JIS News.

Senator Reid informed that additional special needs coordinators will be employed in September “who will be working with our primary schools to decide on the intervention framework for students in need of additional support”.

This will complement the Proficiency Pathways programme, introduced more than a year ago, through which primary schools are better able to identify students with learning challenges and provide them with closer monitoring and support.

The Education Minister said that teachers and students must also continue to grasp the opportunities being offered in technology.

“Information is now at everyone’s fingertips. It’s now a completely different world, with vast challenges and opportunities,” he pointed out.

Senator Reid expressed his confidence in the nation’s teachers and the JTA and pledged continued partnership with the organisation for the improvement of the education system.

“I want to work towards building and conquering new frontiers in education. Jamaica’s prosperity depends on synergies. No country can achieve prosperity without a thoroughly educated and skilled population,” he noted.