'Mediocre' schools a major challenge for education ministry

[Karl]

'Mediocre' schools a major challenge for education ministry
BY BALFORD HENRY Senior staff reporter balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com

Friday, September 19, 2014

THE latest report from the National Education Inspectorate (NEI), tabled in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, says that students attainment in English and mathematics surpassed the ministry's targets in only two per cent of the schools inspected up to March this year.

Of the 129 schools inspected between September 2013 and March 2014, 10 per cent just made the target, while 88 per cent fell below the target.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...istry_17572483

[Karl]

So how does the foregoing fit with...

http://www.reggaeboyzsc.com/forum1/s...227#post492227

...and...

http://jablogz.com/2014/06/jamaicas-...rankings-2014/

Give pause on this -

http://www.reggaeboyzsc.com/forum1/s...956#post492956

[Islandman]

Fits with those articles perfectly. We have, and have always had, an educational system that is elitist in nature. A few schools are very good, a sprnking of others are performing adequately, the rest are failure factories.

In fact they have always been failure factories, and probably worse than they are today. The difference today , as Don1 has frequently pointed out, is that we no longer sweep it under the carpet and pretend they do not exist. Maybe that is one of the few benefits we have seen from the so-called "upgrading" of new secondary schools to high schools.

The situation in St Thomas is an excellent example . There is one traditional high school, Morant Bay High, producing reasonably good results and will probably be ranked in or near the Top 10. Sadly, it is surrounded by 3 of the worst schools in the nation, Robert Lighbourne high, Seaforth High and Paul Bogle High. That cannot be a good situation, as the best students AND teachers self-select themselves to attend/teach at Morant Bay High and you end up with a reinforcing cycle. I will be closely watching the attempt by the MoE to break this cycle in the parish using, among other things, the pooling of resources including teaching resources from Morant Bay High.

I hope they find some answers. This is a difficult problem to fix, but it is a fundamental one that must be addressed or we are going nowhere.

[Karl]

Fits with those articles perfectly. We have, and have always had, an educational system that is elitist in nature. A few schools are very good, a sprnking of others are performing adequately, the rest are failure factories.

In fact they have always been failure factories, and probably worse than they are today. The difference today , as Don1 has frequently pointed out, is that we no longer sweep it under the carpet and pretend they do not exist. Maybe that is one of the few benefits we have seen from the so-called "upgrading" of new secondary schools to high schools.

The situation in St Thomas is an excellent example . There is one traditional high school, Morant Bay High, producing reasonably good results and will probably be ranked in or near the Top 10. Sadly, it is surrounded by 3 of the worst schools in the nation, Robert Lighbourne high, Seaforth High and Paul Bogle High. That cannot be a good situation, as the best students AND teachers self-select themselves to attend/teach at Morant Bay High and you end up with a reinforcing cycle. I will be closely watching the attempt by the MoE to break this cycle in the parish using, among other things, the pooling of resources including teaching resources from Morant Bay High.

I hope they find some answers. This is a difficult problem to fix, but it is a fundamental one that must be addressed or we are going nowhere.

On point! ..but is it a difficult problem to fix?

Let us face the fact that it is the quality of the teaching - prep - through to high school - that is the alpha and omega of the problem. ..so fixing must be time consuming - years to weed out the poor teachers and introduce top quality teachers - but most of all must have the guiding hand(s) committed to fixing the level of instructions given...the delivery of education services given.

[Islandman]

Yes it is difficult. Not necessarily technically difficult, but politically difficult.

For example, many teachers and administrators need to be re-trained....many others need to be fired/retired...the good ones need to be properly compensated to match thier abilities and performance regardless of if they have been teaching for 5 years or 25 years.

Try selling those ideas to the JTA or any other teachers unions. Nope!! Every teacher is a good teacher if you ask them.

[Karl]

Yes it is difficult. Not necessarily technically difficult, but politically difficult.

For example, many teachers and administrators need to be re-trained....many others need to be fired/retired...the good ones need to be properly compensated to match thier abilities and performance regardless of if they have been teaching for 5 years or 25 years.

Try selling those ideas to the JTA or any other teachers unions. Nope!! Every teacher is a good teacher if you ask them.

Good chat, sir!

I am convinced every teacher can be a good teacher if motivated to be so.
Those who do not wish to become good should be fired. Period!!!