Performances In Maths And English Language At CSEC Being Analysed

A comprehensive analysis of students’ performances in Mathematics and English Language in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations is being conducted, and a report will be presented to Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams.

In an interview with JIS News, National Mathematics Coordinator, Dr. Tamika Benjamin, says she expects the report to be available within the next two or three weeks.

Dr. Benjamin points out that the analysis includes qualitative studies via focused groups with teachers, questionnaires with students and analysing their profiles.

“We’ve noticed some particular trends that are concerning in doing just that. We also looked at the grades. We noticed the average grade for Jamaica used to be a three [and] we’ve seen a shift downward to four,” she notes.

“I also noted that even though students were logging in, they were not necessarily getting the requisite number of contact hours with a teacher. So, if the class [is] normally for an hour, they may have only benefited from half an hour or 45 minutes,” she adds.

Dr. Benjamin says since the Caribbean Examinations Council “made a significant shift in its approach in 2018, by [asking] questions which require deep understanding and reasoning, [developing] those skills and competencies [online] can be tricky”.

“So, that’s one of the reasons we felt we needed to do the deep dive. We think it’s also going to be instructive for us in terms of how we support the schools moving forward and trying to get on track since we’ve gone back to the face-to-face space,” she tells JIS News.

Dr. Benjamin says the Ministry will continue to support the school administrators and students as they continue classes in the hybrid setting.

“We already have a plan for this period, but we recognise, in light of the results, we have to be adjusting to some of those school-based interventions. We want to support those, but we also have to help our teachers to make sure those gaps are filled,” she notes.
Dr. Benjamin points out that the Ministry will “tackle the issues at multiple levels”.

“We want to work at our primary level with our teachers and will also continue to work with our students, especially those who need the additional support. We’ve also been working in this pandemic period with our teacher-training colleges. That was one of the things that we were able to push a little bit more,” she says.

She adds that working with lecturers in teachers’ colleges through capacity building is also a task at hand.

“We recognise that if we can really impact what happens in our colleges, we can really impact the preparation of our teachers, and make sure that new teachers coming into the system are much more prepared to help students,” she says.

Dr. Benjamin said while she thinks using the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) as the tool to assess the national standards curriculum is appropriate, the Ministry has taken note of the recommendations listed in the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC) findings.

The JETC report states that “the recently introduced PEP exam revealed major deficiencies in the level of learning achieved by students (in 2019)”.

“I noticed it’s speaking about doing evaluations on the implementation of the curriculum. I think that’s one very critical recommendation. It’s a good time to look at where we are in its implementation, to what extent is the modality between what was expected to actually happen in the classroom, because remember, it’s more than just what needs to be taught, but it’s how it is to be taught,” Dr. Benjamin says.

“And a big part of that connection is going to be grounded in what happens in our classroom. I know that as a Ministry, we’re currently looking at the recommendations and trying to prioritise them,” she notes.

Additionally, the JETC findings state that starting with the grade-four tests, “girls substantially outperform boys, [and] increased sharply with the new PEP exams in 2019”.

To this end, Dr. Benjamin says there needs to be a review of the teaching methods to engage boys in the classroom.

“In researching how boys learn, they learn best in environments that allow them to touch, to interact with and to explore. If Mathematics instruction, as it often is in Jamaica, is more of a lecture, then the boys are at a disadvantage,” she notes.

“If we look at data generally across other subjects… that trend was sort of evident in other areas, which would seem to support the idea that how we are engaging the boys is mainly our problem. So, we really have to push, and interestingly, if I go to a more tactile hands-on problem-solving approach to teach the boys, it doesn’t place the girls at a disadvantage,” she adds.

Against that background, Dr. Benjamin notes that the Ministry will continue to seek the support of parents as the students readjust to the face-to-face learning and any changes that may come to the education sector.

She says that students who have become dependent on computer assistance throughout virtual classes, may need additional help in this regard.

“As with anything that you’re accustomed to, you have to slowly pull it away so you don’t get the shock response, which can lead to more negative attitudes to the subject than the student even had before. I’m going to assume that most of those students who may have developed that dependency, may have been struggling with different aspects of the subject from before,” Dr. Benjamin argues.

“Parents can look for other tools that can help deepen [their] understanding and help their children use and engage in conversations. I always try to encourage parents and teachers to make the learning real and relatable, to help the student see how it is applied to something that they are doing in real life, so that they’re not learning in a vacuum,” she says.