Retired Principal Jeff Broomes has given the Ministry of Educational Transformation a passing grade for its new education plans unveiled on Tuesday.
Pointing out that many of the proposals were recommended by a committee of educators and retired principals of which he was one, Broomes voiced approval for most of the measures.
“I am in full support of the hybrid. I’ve always been a supporter of the combinations exam, but I can also understand why people would say that a one-day, one-off exam is not the best way to test people’s work for five or six years. So, I have no problem at all with the continuous assessment and the exam itself going 50-50.”
He also welcomed the placement of students within the school’s catchment area.
“Another part I like that people are not paying much attention to, which I saw that the minister made the point, I like the residential component of it. So, like 50 per cent of the children from the Haynesville, would go to Queen’s College, 50 per cent of the children from the Greenfields, would go to Harrison College, 50 per cent of the children from the Waterford, Bush Hall would go to Combermere. It reduces a lot of transportation costs and it keeps our children out of the van stand in a major way.”
In terms of the introduction of grades to replace classes and forms, he said this was a “cosmetic change” but he believes it would help with data collection and comparisons.
“We also have to understand, and I think the ministry would know this, that our children go to high school or secondary school a little earlier than, let’s say, America, because their secondary school starts at grade 9. Our secondary school starts at grade 7, but if for what the minister said, it helps with data collection, it causes more comparisons, I have to respect that.”
Broomes further expressed agreement with children attending secondary school for seven years, saying it would “keep them off the block” and allow for a transition on to college or any tertiary education programmes.
However he said: “If all are expected to spend seven years, I think that would be a mistake. That would be a backward move but the idea of creating an additional two years to keep children off the block, keep them in school and learn the environment and help them acquire a few more skills, I have no problem with that at all.”
While retired principal Alwyn Adams was yet to examine the proposals he said the present system was untenable.
“The present system is a system that has come from the 19th century,and we are in the 21st century in a modern technological age. For this country to believe that it can compete with countries outside of the Caribbean, the Asian countries, what they call the Asian Tigers, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the world generally, the United Kingdom and so on, it’s like asking a man or trying to fit a full-grown man, into a suit for which he was fitted when he was a lad.
“It is not possible for the country to be able to maintain its place in the modern technological world with a system that guarantees every single year a handful of bright students, certainly not more than 20 per cent, but consistently a small section of students who are doing well and the majority of students not doing well. Now that can be described by some people as serving the country well, depending on if they believe that the small group of persons that are doing well will be able to manage the economic requirements of the 21st century. Most people would agree that that is not so.
“Therefore, the push by the Government of whichever party would be faced with the problems of economic ruin for the next 15 to 20 years if the present system were to remain. You could easily predict that Barbados will not and cannot maintain its place in the world if you have a substantial number of students, particularly males, who are unproductive,” Adams said, as he recalled that back in 1993 a report of the Ministry of Education indicated that more than 70 per cent of students were coming out of our secondary schools without any certification.” (MB)
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