Have we lost our educational compass?

Let’s ensure that it is inclusive and catering for diverse learning needs so that students can realise their potential and function effectively in our knowledge-based society/ world. Restructuring must include strategies to promote effective partnerships between parents, families and schools in the teaching and learning process.

While we know there are some dysfunctional families facing a number of challenges, we cannot place all the blame on them if their children are not doing well in school.

Schools matter! How many of our teachers and schools are failing to add value to students’ progress? This year 18,180 pupils wrote the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SE A) Examination — creative writing, mathematics, and language arts. While we congratulate those students who have performed well in the SE A, let us not forget that 2,170 pupils scored less than 30 percent.

Eight hundred and three of these students under the age of 13 years will be afforded an opportunity to return to primary school for another year and will resit the exam next year.

What resources/systems will be in place to raise standards/support teaching and learning processes for these and other students? We know there is not enough staff in Student Support Services, guidance counsellors, social workers, educational psychologists etc. How will this impact on plans to provide “special support” for SE A pupils who scored below 30 per cent — and others who may experience challenges at a secondary level? Will education pass them by? What strategies do we have in place to encourage students not to drop out of school? While I do not wish to outline all the statistics shared by the Minister of Education, Anthony Garcia, it is worth noting, as Dr Lovell Francis, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, stated, “a remarkably high number” of pupils are scoring zero in the SE A Exam. Alarm bells should be ringing when we discover that where a cohort of 100 pupils enters secondary school only 20 ultimately graduate.

Francis’ words should spur us to action. He said: “We can’t afford to have 2,000 young people on the cusp of secondary school who are unable to read or write.” He said the ministry must focus more attention on these pupils. We wait to see what action will be taken.

If, as he said, some students are likely challenged by “undiagnosed issues,” what action will be taken to address this and other special needs? Imagine, after seven years in primary school “a remarkable high number” of students scored zero. Earlier intervention is critical if we are to raise standards.

All God’s children are of worth. It is time we put systems in place to raise standards in our educational institutions. Do we have a standards-based system? Data collection and analysis should tell us how our schools are performing.

Garcia stated that the image many have of school supervisors being “glorified messengers” is being addressed and that they, and curriculum advisers, will be visiting schools more regularly.

Regular visits must be informed by a comprehensive framework for monitoring and evaluating school/classroom performance. Is there an agreed framework that they will use — agreed to by key stakeholders — to evaluate school performance/ effectiveness? What data do they collect eg. Do we know which schools have the highest level of school drop-outs and why? How is data analysed, interpreted, stored, used for school self-evaluation? We need a framework for continuous internal school self-evaluation and align this with external assessment of schools — like the Ofsted inspection framework in the UK which considers: 1. A description of the school (the context in which teaching and learning is taking place).

2. Overall effectiveness of the school. 3. Leadership and management. 4.

Achievement and standards.

5. Personal development and well-being.

6. The curriculum (including the hidden/ covert curriculum). 7.

The quality of provision (including resources available/how used). 8.

Home/school/community links.

Let’s promote quality education for all our students.

LEELA RAMDEEN, chair Catholic Commission for Social Justice