CXC Says Safety And Well-Being Of Stakeholders Is First Priority

Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Dr. Wayne Wesley, says the body’s number-one priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of all stakeholders, as it prepares to administer examinations in July.

He made the remarks as he addressed a digital media briefing on Thursday (May 14) regarding the administration of this year’s exams.

“All examination centres and invigilators will follow the guidelines of national health protocols as it relates to social distancing, the wearing of masks and sanitisation,” Dr. Wesley said.

“Rest assured that as the management and staff of the Council continue to monitor the emerging situation, our first priority is the health and well-being of all our stakeholders,” he added.

Dr. Wesley noted that CXC will continue to work closely with local Registrars “to ensure that all the required systems are in place on the ground and wherever there are challenges, we continue to overcome such with the required response to ensure that the solution does not disadvantage any stakeholder”.

The CXC administrates the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC), Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

The examination body announced recently, that CSEC, CAPE and CCSLC students will be sitting their examinations in July this year, with results released in the first week of September.

Dr. Wesley informed that following the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the education system in general, the Council will be offering a modified examination process.

“The modified strategy is to yield valid grades, assess critical competencies, minimise the disruption to the education system during these unprecedented times, and preserve the integrity of the examinations,” he said.

This will include the administration of at least one common paper (multiple choice assessment), and the use of School-Based Assessments (SBAs) and Paper 032s (Alternative to SBA) for private candidates.

“The award of final grades will be based on the moderated SBAs and the multiple choice papers. During our grading process, CXC’s quality assurance process will apply the appropriate weighting to ensure that candidates are treated fairly and in an unbiased manner,” Dr. Wesley noted.

However, there are exceptions to the aforementioned process where candidates will be required to complete additional components for modern languages (Spanish, French and Portuguese), Human and Social Biology, and Visual Arts.

For CSEC French, Portuguese and Spanish, students are expected to write paper one, paper two and paper three, which are the oral examinations. For CSEC, Human and Social Biology, candidates will be required to write paper one and paper two. For CSEC Visual Arts, students are expected to submit their SBAs and reflective journals, the Registrar explained.

“For CAPE French and Spanish, students are expected to write paper one, paper two and paper three and, of course, with school candidates submitting their SBAs. For private candidates, they are expected to write paper one, paper two and paper three, as well as paper 4/2. Those are the exceptions to the modified approach, where candidates will be expected to write additional components,” he added.

Dr. Wesley said that the examinations will be administered via an e-Testing modality in countries that are equipped with the requisite infrastructure.

“However, in territories where the infrastructure challenges are insurmountable it is expected that those candidates will write the paper-based modality,” he noted.