There will be at least three major changes to the Ministry of Education and Youth secondary schools teaching manual in the coming months.
According to Chief Education Officer Adelle Brown, a new Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Secondary Level Pro-gramme will be introduced along with the Secondary Schools Empowerment Programme (SEP) and the E-Learning programme.
"The CXC Secondary Level Programme will be introduced to address the needs of secondary school students who leave school without appropriate certification," Mrs. Brown said during the Education Ministry's Professional Development Conference at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, last Wednesday.
The programme will cater to skills training and ability grouping through programmes such as technical vocational educational training and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate.
Subjects
Core subjects under the programme include English, integrated science, mathematics, modern languages and social studies. Electives will be selected based on national priorities such as health and family life education, education for citizenship, community services, technical and vocational training/ performing arts and information technology.
Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson endorsed the initiative, remarking that "we need to blend thinkers with thinkers who can create."
More than 150 teachers from across the island attended yesterday's conference.
The E-Learning Programme will be a strong focus on introducing students to technology from the secondary level, while SEP
will provide a compensatory opportunity for students who underperformed at the Grade Nine Achievement Test.
