Teachers Urged to Tailor National Standards Curriculum to Students Needs

Assistant Chief Education Officer in the Curriculum Unit, Ministry of Education and Youth, Dr. Clover Hamilton-Flowers, is encouraging creative use of the National Standards Curriculum (NSC) to cater to the needs of individual learners.

The call is in keeping with the recommendations of the Professor Orlando Patterson-chaired Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC) report, which indicates that tailoring the application of the NSC to students’ learning profile will yield improved performance.

“We understand that the curriculum is basically a guide, and we have recommended that our teachers be creative when using the curriculum… in terms of ensuring you are catering to all of the children,” she noted.

Dr. Hamilton-Flowers was participating in a virtual session on education transformation, hosted by the Adventist-Layman’s Services and Industries (ASI) East Jamaica Chapter, on March 27.

The NSC aims to enhance the quality of education offered to learners and improve the general academic performance, attitude and behaviour of students.

Emphasis is placed on project-based and problem-solving learning, with science, technology, engineering and mathematics/science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEM/STEAM) integrated at all levels.

Dr. Hamilton-Flowers said that “all of the recommendations in the [JETC] report are pointing to the need for us to have that kind of environment that will support the holistic development of each person”.

As such, she said it is imperative that teachers incorporate the unique learning profile of each student in the application of the NSC.

“We have to examine children’s readiness, too. We are not confining readiness to just those cognitive skills; we are also talking about interest, background, a variety of attributes of our children. Once we get the information in terms of profiling our children, as a teacher, you have the autonomy to look at the curriculum and determine how you can extract from that, how to shape the [student] experience,” she pointed out.

The JETC report is a blueprint for the establishment of a comprehensive strategy to improve student performance and educational productivity across the sector.

The 342-page document has 54 prioritised recommendations. Key among these are governance and accountability, early-childhood education, teaching curriculum and teacher training, tertiary education, technical and vocational education and training (TVET), infrastructure and technology, and finance.