-CARLINGTON WILMOT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Students in class at Campion College.Dr. Ralph Thompson, Contributor
FIVE YEARS of data on CXC pass rates are now available and my report this year compares the average 2001 to 2004 pass rate, referred to as the prior period average, with the 2005 results.
The analysis is based on disaggregated figures supplied by the National Council on Education.
Pass rates are calculated as a per cent of total school cohorts, not as a per cent of those allowed to take the exams.
In the category of TRADITIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS (54 of them with a school population of 12,407), the CXC pass rate for 2005 compared with the prior period average are:
In English, 67.2 per cent, up from 54 per cent.
In mathematics, 39 per cent, up from 31.6 per cent.
In the category of NON-TRADITIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS, the CXC pass rates for 2005 compared with the prior period average are:
In English, 12.8 per cent compared with 9.4 per cent.
In mathematics, 4.31 per cent compared with 3.62 per cent.
In the category of TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOLS, the CXC pass rates for 2005 compared with the prior period average are:
In English, 22.4 per cent compared with 22.6 per cent.
In mathematics, 10.82 per cent compared with 11 per cent.
OVERALL PASS RATE IMPROVEMENT
Except for technical high schools, there has been an overall pass rate improvement of approximately 25 per cent, which is good news and shows what can be accomplished when there is agitation and public attention is focused on a problem.
Readers will notice, however, that despite the overall percentage improvement in the pass rates, the results for non-traditional secondary schools, in real terms, continue to be disappointingly low. There are 80 non-traditional secondary schools with a population of 19,696 - mostly children of the poor. If results in this major sector are unacceptable, it means that the overall public education system is dysfunctional and not contributing to national development.
There have been some dramatic movements in the ranking of the 10 best traditional secondary schools in 2005 compared with the previous year's rankings. (Please see table).
In the English rankings, readers will note:
Wolmer's Girls' cops the top spot, ahead of Campion.Immaculate Conception falls to fourth place.New in the top 10 are Wolmer's Boys', Decarteret College and St. Andrew High.Off the top 10 list this year are Montego Bay High, Bishop Gibson High, Munro College and Alpha Academy.In the mathematics rankings, readers will note:
Campion and Immaculate Conception maintain first and second place.New on the top 10 list are Wolmer's Girls' and Decarteret College.The top 10 non-traditional secondary schools averaged 28.04 per cent in English CXC passes this year and a hapless 10.86 per cent in mathematics. This compares with the average for the top 10 traditional secondary schools which were 92.87 per cent in English and 77.75 per cent in mathematics.
Two overall conclusions are obvious from the analysis:
The performance gap between traditional secondary schools and non-traditional secondary schools has not improved. Results for the non-traditional secondary schools in both English and mathematics are quite unsatisfactory, but I refuse to believe that children of the poor are born with any less intelligence than the children of the wealthier class. Without pulling down the accomplishments of the traditional secondary schools (what would we do without them?) we must stop using explanations as excuses for the poor performance of non-traditional secondary schools and take steps to bring them up to an acceptable level.
Across the board, in traditional secondary schools, non-traditional secondary schools and technical high schools, the performance gap between passes in English and passes in mathematics is much too wide. There needs also to be more emphasis on the speaking and writing of standard English, for the lack of these skills is impacting negatively on the ability of students to understand how mathematical problems are stated and, consequently, how to solve them.
In a metaphorical sense, I see the landscape of non-traditional secondary schools in two categories:
There is the 'House of Despair' inhabited by two sets of the hopeless - those not allowed to take the CXC exams at all in 2005 (13,119 in English and 15,090 in mathematics) and those who take the CXC exams and fail (4,061 failures in English and 3,757 failures in mathematics). All of the culled and the failed take up residence in the House of Despair, to join their thousands of brothers and sisters still there from previous years.Then there is the tiny 'House of Hope' inhabited by those who, against all obstacles of the teaching process, manage to pass the CXC exams. There were 2,516 who passed English in 2005 and a mere 849 who passed mathematics.DEFEAT AND FRUSTRATION
It is hard for me to imagine how demoralised the principal of a non-traditional secondary school must be to have in his or her charge 300 or 400 students of whom, year after year, only a handful are able to get Grade III passes. How does that principal live with such defeat and frustration of the education process? What does that principal know that we don't, and which perhaps is being kept a secret - that too many teachers in the system are untrained, that too many teachers lack leadership skills, that too many teachers are mere time-savers.
Under the leadership of its new president, we must look to the Jamaica Teachers' Association to play a more positive role in getting rid of the 'bad eggs' in the profession. Or will the great rationalisation be, 'we can't do better with the calibre students we get'. This may be true, but we have to ask, why have the government, the teachers, the system itself allowed this to occur, and how can we change this sorry state of affairs?
The solution I have been espousing for the past 12 years is to integrate the early childhood sector into the public education system. When will we learn that the ages between birth and six years old are the most critical in a child's intellectual and emotional development which, if stunted at this stage, infects the remaining educational cycle from primary through tertiary. Yet, teachers in the early childhood sector are the least trained in the entire system.
UPGRADING EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS
The next big issue for public debate should be to what level and at what rate the upgrading of early childhood teachers will take place. The Early Childhood Commission, recently established by the Government, seems to me to be adopting a too gradualist approach, centred on upgrading modules by HEART Trust/NCTVET at levels I, II and III. Education needs to be seen as one seamless space from early childhood to tertiary, and if none of these HEART levels are acceptable in the official primary and secondary segments, how can they be appropriate for early childhood education which needs the greatest pedagogic skills?
I continue to urge that, in addition to HEART upgrading, a programme should be instituted for existing early childhood teachers to attend teacher training colleges after their daytime teaching activities are over. Since these teachers earn little more than domestic helpers, government would have to pay directly to the colleges the fees involved.
Such a programme would be self-enforcing. If the teacher does not maintain proper grades, the subsidy ceases. Most, I think, would be at the diploma level in three years, a vast improvement. All early childhood teachers may not be able to be upgraded in this way for lack of space in the teachers' colleges. But a start can be made. If only 20 per cent of untrained teachers enrol in the programme, this would be better than relying exclusively on the HEART training, which seems to be stuck at level I.
I am pleased with the improvements in the 2005 CXC results over the average for the prior period from 2001 to 2004. But the reality is that we are still performing at a 50 pr cent deficit in comparison with our Caribbean neighbours. Until we get early childhood education right, improvements in future CXC results will continue to be less than satisfactory.
