The Career Advancement Programme (CAP), launched by the Jamaican Ministry of Education (MOE) in January 2010, is a major government policy initiative whose primary aim is to address the problem of inadequate preparation of school leavers for the workforce and further education. This problem was identified over 40 years ago, and a number of policy initiatives have been implemented by successive Jamaican governments to address it. However, it continues to exist.

This paper reports on a study which investigated the relationship between Jamaican children’s texting practice, their knowledge of text messaging writing systems and their ability to write in Standard English. In this study 72 nine- to ten-year-old children from four different schools in the same parish in Jamaica provided information on their texting behaviour by writing an essay, composition, or a few sentences using a chosen text messaging writing system. They were also asked to translate this text message to Standard English.

Revisions to the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate science syllabuses reflect significant changes to the format of the School-Based Assessment and the process of moderation. The paper explores the professional development needs that these changes may cause. These include planning for teaching and learning, understanding administrative responsibilities and maintaining quality assessment. Assessment for learning is proposed as a suitable framework for supporting the professional development needs of teachers through collaborative activities such as teaming and mentoring.

This article examines the extent to which racial/ethnic segregation between Afro- and Indo-Caribbean immigrants in New York City (NYC) impact their language use, particularly in schools. It reports on the results of a year-long qualitative study conducted in two schools—one located in a predominantly Afro-Caribbean, and the other in a predominantly Indo-Caribbean community in NYC—exploring the relationship among racial/ethnic identity, residence, social interaction and language practices with regard to Caribbean immigrant children. 

An earlier study of gendered achievement at the UWI School of Medicine at St. Augustine suggested that most differentials were negligible to small at the preclinical stage and small to moderate at the clinical stage (De Lisle and Pit-Miller 2002). One explanation for these small gender differences was that the stringent selection processes created sample restriction. In 2003, changes were made to the assessment scheme in the biomedical sciences, with the elimination of a number of formats.

About five years after the completion of the Lesotho Environmental Education Support Project (LEESP), a small-scale qualitative study was undertaken to explore appropriate Environmental Education (EE) pedagogy drawing some lessons from LEESP and EE practice in the UK. LEESP set out to establish ‘action competence’ among learners in primary and secondary schools, in response to intensifying environmental problems in Lesotho.

This paper uses a case study of Jamaica to examine the importance of parental involvement in children’s education as a way of improving education and child outcomes as well as of stemming the transmission of conditions of poverty and exclusion across generations. The paper argues that while the involvement of parents is widely acknowledged as critical to the education process, there are systemic and societal barriers which impinge on parents’ exercise of agency in their children’s upbringing.

Based on findings from a study of beginning teachers’ concepts of professionalism in Jamaica, this paper argues for the development of pedagogy in teacher education to address sustainability. The findings indicate that at the core of beginning teachers’ concept of the teacher as a professional is that of the teacher as a change agent. What these teachers mean when they speak of change agents and change agency is the subject of this paper.

In this article, I reflect on my experiences as a novice teacher-researcher. This activity, a requirement for a Doctor of Philosophy degree, was my initial attempt at systematic self-analysis of my work in kindergarten at a public primary school in Montserrat.

This paper tells the experiences and perspectives of six exemplary elementary school principals and their teachers participating in a regional project in the Caribbean. These principals all work in difficult environments and oversee schools which had histories of academic failure. The accounts drew on a number of sources: oral presentations made by the principals in a regional forum; written reports by the principals; interviews with the principals; and questionnaire data collected from teachers from the various schools.