This paper emanates from an examination of the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems in Jamaica. The study was grounded on the assertion that fundamental to nation states achieving global competitiveness, is the existence of appropriate HCD institutions and programmes. The study sought to assess the effectiveness of the TVET system from a policy intent standpoint. It was undertaken using qualitative research methodology and case study method. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used to gather data.

A proliferation of technical vocational education and training (TVET) programmes exists across the Caribbean - in schools, through youth programmes, and in post-secondary programmes. The Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) offers TVET graduates the option to work across different English-speaking countries in the region, where the Level of qualification (I to V) achieved is recognized by employers in each country.

This paper explores the pitfalls, successes, and challenges of the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) intervention, which was anchored by a robust framework outlined in the 1990 CARICOM Regional Strategy for TVET document. Specifically, the paper examines the three critical sections of the CARICOM document to show the achievements of TVET, or lack thereof, since the implementation of the Regional Strategy for TVET.

“Strategies for Human Capacity Development in the Caribbean: TVET Approaches” is a special issue of the Caribbean Journal of Education (CJE) that emanates from the first international conference on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Human Capacity Development that was held in Jamaica during March 4–6, 2012 and which addressed mainstreaming TVET in the Caribbean.

This study investigated whether or not selected Jamaican 'A' Level students' understanding of chemical energetics composed of higher order cognitive skills (HOCS) and lower-order cognitive skills (LOCS) items would be statistically significantly better if they were taught using an eclectic approach than those of their counterparts taught with the lecture and teacher demonstration methods. The sample comprised 132 grades 12 and 13 chemistry students consisting of 30 males and 102 females from five randomly selected schools in Kingston, Jamaica (4 high schools and I community college).

Since the movement towards independence in the 1960s, one of the educational priorities of the West Indies has been to establish its autonomy vis-à-vis the British system. Stafford Griffith states that from 1961, there was talk of creating an examination council in the English speaking Caribbean (West Indian Examinations Council).' In the 1960s, new projects were introduced; and West Indian programmes and textbooks, including the new examinations that we will discuss are, to a certain extent, a continuation of these efforts. In 1972, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), was created.

The Jamaican education system has failed to qualify many of the nation's youths for higher educational pursuits or the labour market upon their exit from high school. Many in the system have speculated that this failure is due to the predominantly direct teaching methodology practised by the nation's teachers.

Multigrade schools have tended to be regarded as inferior to mono grade schools with regard to pupil learning in both developed and developing countries. This article reports on a study of pupil instruction in multigrade and monograde classrooms in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a small Caribbean territory. It finds that multigrade teachers are more aware of the diversity of learning needs in their classrooms and use a wider variety of teaching strategies than their monograde counterparts.