University of the West Indies School of Education

Please join the Caribbean Partners for Educational Progress (CoP) and Guest Moderator Mrs. Joan Ernandez for an EduExchange on gifted children. To join this discussion, click "Sign in to join the discussion" button to the right and sign in with your CoP account. Please email the Facilitator with any questions about registration or participation in the EduExchange.

Forum

Welcome
Day 1 January 28, 2014 Defining Giftedness
Day 2 January 29, 2014 Identification of Giftedness
Day 3 January 30, 2014 Treatment of Giftedness

While many students develop at a pace that the education system expects and are adequately challenged by the planned curricula for their age group, there are those who exceed these expectations and earn recognition for advanced academic skills early. Cases such as 10 year old Gianluca Webster who earned a grade one in CSEC Human and Social biology and 12 year old Kutu Ra who passed 6 subjects at the CSEC level brings into sharp focus the case of the gifted child. During this EduExchange, we will examine the issue of giftedness with specific focus on the identification and education of gifted students within the regular school system.  

Loraine D. Cook
December 3, 2013

This study sought to determine the root causes of absenteeism in selected primary schools in Jamaica by investigating the influence of personal, educational, and community factors on student absenteeism from school. Data collection techniques involved the use of focus group interviews with parents, teachers, and community members from 71 schools, and with students (aged 7–12 years) from 10 of these schools, who were identified as having very low attendance rates. The findings suggest that the causal factors for absenteeism do not find their genesis in the family only, but also in the schools, the communities, and the students themselves. These factors combine to accentuate absenteeism in primary school in the rural areas of Jamaica.

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Clement T. M. Lambert and Lorna Down

Jamaican policy makers have prioritized literacy improvement as a matter of urgency within the educational milieu. This has become even more intense during the past decade with initiatives being mandated and implemented to promote this cause. One such initiative is the establishment of literacy research and development centres in two teacher-training colleges with a prime mandate to prepare a special group of teachers to extend literacy improvement efforts in Jamaican schools. While there has been some degree of controversy over the official title of these teachers in training, the name “literacy specialists” has been commonly used to describe the trainees. Studies have been commissioned within the Jamaican context to look at literacy and the Jamaican literacy milieu (e.g., Bryan and Mitchell 1998). However, a study to create a coherent profile of the literacy specialist has not been undertaken. This article is seen as an initial step in providing this profile. Its purpose is fourfold: it explores the literature on literacy specialists; attempts to create a profile of these specialists for Jamaican schools based on the views of selected stakeholders; seeks to position the literacy specialists within the context of the literature and the realities of the Jamaican situation; and explores the implication of such a profile for literacy programmes in Jamaican teachers’ colleges and literacy centres. This presentation will also include a discussion on the origins of the literacy specialist programmes in Jamaica.

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