School of Education Hits Right Notes

LIKE THE PIED Piper of Hamelin, the School of Education has been helping to guide scores of inner-city children on the path to a better life using music as part of broader research efforts that have been producing positive results.

The School of Education has collaborated with Operation Save Jamaica (OSJ) and Operation Restoration Christian School (ORCS) to undertake research to identify critical needs and recommend solutions to improve the inner-city school system.

Dr Loraine Cook, lead researcher and lecturer in the School of Education, told UWIMONA Now that the research project resulted from a visit last year to ORCS, a Trench Town-based school that assists young people, aged 12 to 19, to catch up on their lessons and acquire relevant skills.

Lorna Stanley started ORCS in 1994 as an after-school programme, but two years later converted it to a full-time institution after she discovered that the majority of the pupils she had been trying to reach had not even enrolled in secondary school. At the time, most of them were male students who were barely able to read and/or write.

Today, students enrolled at ORCS are educated up to grade nine and are allowed to sit the Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT). The successful students are encouraged to accept offers for secondary school places, while others are introduced to skills training programmes offered at the HEART Trust/NTA.

Since last year, the School of Education has been working to extend ORCS’ reach through leading-edge research that primarily includes workshops for educators, observations, recordings and data analysis.

"Last year I went on a tour of the school (ORCS) and decided that I would do some research which would make a difference to the institution," said Cook, who expressed concern at the "stigmatisation" and "social status" of inner-city educators and students. "The goal is to transform the educational landscape in the inner-city communities," she said.

Among the workshops held last school term to support the study and assist parents and teachers in inner-city schools were, "School Culture and Professional Deportment of teachers"; "Discussing the Roles of Parents and Conflict Management within the Family"; and "Conflict Management using Restorative Justice". The workshops were hosted by The UWI, Mona, ORCS and OSJ.

The UWI, Mona has also been engaging the students through music, observing their performances and recording behavioural changes as part of the study. Dr O'Neal Mundle, music lecturer at the School of Education, coordinates the programme which currently caters to approximately 40 students.

"What we have seen so far is that their self-esteem is going up. They are a lot more confident," Mundle told UWIMONA Now during a recent visit to ORCS. The students are placed in three groups, led respectively by Mundle, Claudette Dixon, educator, and Matthew Silpot, lecturer at the Mico University College. Dixon works primarily with the females, while Mundle and Silpot work with the male groups. "We have found that we were able to work with them through music (and) we have been able to address their disciplinary problems," Mundle continued. "We have got them to participate to the fullest, and they seem to be enjoying the experience," he added.
In addition, 15 women from Trench Town, including parents of students who attend ORCS, are members of the Strong Women of Trench Town (SWOTT) choir.

Pastor Bruce Fletcher, ORCS founder and chairman, is elated that the School of Education has embarked on this research project as the stakeholders will use the findings to implement new strategies geared at improving the delivery of education at ORCS and OSJ, which caters mainly to vulnerable young men.

"Dr Loraine Cook approached me in terms of how she could work with the school (and) we were more than happy to have her come because we want to raise the level of the delivery of education to the children at ORCS, which is a remedial school with a lot of boys," Fletcher told UWIMONA Now.

"Since she has come along we have heard some of the input she has made," Fletcher continued. "She has brought along a hard-working team that we know will assist in raising the level of education in the school. We know it is going to be a journey, but at the end of the day their work and recommendations, we believe, will create a better educational delivery for the students," he added.

For her part, Cook told UWIMONA Now that she had compiled some interesting findings and had identified gaps in the system which would be addressed in the recommendation phase. A full report of the research findings would shortly be compiled and made available to all the relevant parties, she said.

"We have an agreement to work on a long-term basis to improve the quality of education at Operation Restoration," Cook remarked, adding that UWI, Mona was committed to using research to effect change. "In doing research, evaluating and initiating programmes – based on what that research reveals – we are able to address gaps and create solutions," Cook said.