• Category

  • Content Type

Advertisement

PEP Will Help Tailor Learning to Meet Students’ Needs – Senator Reid

By: , December 21, 2017

The Key Point:

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), scheduled to commence in the 2018/2019 academic year, will help to tailor learning to meet the needs of all students, particularly those with special requirements.
PEP Will Help Tailor Learning to Meet Students’ Needs – Senator Reid
Photo: Adrian Walker
Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, addressing parents, teachers and other stakeholders at the Primary Exit Profile [PEP] town hall held at Jamaica College in St. Andrew on Tuesday, December 19.

The Facts

  • “Our intention in this reform of the exit exam, coming out of the primary system, is largely to ensure that we are better preparing our students for the next level of the education system, which is the secondary system. We want every student to have the opportunity to go right up to grade 13 and forward to university,” he added.
  • PEP, which will replace the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) as the national secondary school entrance test, is intended to provide a better and more complete profile of students’ academic and critical-thinking capabilities at the end of primary-level education.

The Full Story

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, says the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), scheduled to commence in the 2018/2019 academic year, will help to tailor learning to meet the needs of all students, particularly those with special requirements.

“The profile [PEP] will allow us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our students, and so we can customise our teaching and learning strategies… . So it’s going to be a very holistic, inclusive-type education system dealing with special needs as well as exceptional students. We can take care of those at the very top and those who are in need of support at the bottom,” Mr. Reid said.

“Our intention in this reform of the exit exam, coming out of the primary system, is largely to ensure that we are better preparing our students for the next level of the education system, which is the secondary system. We want every student to have the opportunity to go right up to grade 13 and forward to university,” he added.

Senator Reid was speaking at the final PEP town hall for the year held on December 19 at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium at Jamaica College in St. Andrew.

PEP, which will replace the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) as the national secondary school entrance test, is intended to provide a better and more complete profile of students’ academic and critical-thinking capabilities at the end of primary-level education.

It comprises a Performance Task Test, Ability Task Test and a Curriculum-Based Test.

PEP will be rolled out on a phased basis beginning in September 2018, with students who are now in grade five to be the first cohort. They will do only the Grade Six components in 2019.

Students who are currently in grade four will do their Grade Five Performance Task in 2019, and in 2020 they will do the Grade Six components.

Students who are currently in grade three will be the first cohort that will have a complete profile generated. This means that they will do the Grade Four Performance Task section in 2019, Grade Five Performance Task in 2020 and all Grade Six components in 2021.

PEP grades will be made available to schools in the third week of June every year.

Minister Reid said PEP will prepare the nation’s children to be critical thinkers with good analytical and problem-solving skills.

He said the profile will better align with the objectives of the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Minister Reid expressed confidence “in the ability of the Ministry based on the systems that we’ve put in place for us to be able to complete all the work (that) we have to do in terms of the final assessments and the final profile.”

“I expect a very smooth landing as we commence the roll-out of PEP in 2019,” he said.

Last Updated: December 21, 2017

Skip to content