Current teacher preparation programmes, anchored in traditional school organization, do not seem capable of providing beginning teachers of mathematics with the bases that can achieve the changes needed in mathematics education. Beginning elementary teachers of mathematics are handicapped by isolated classrooms, lack of models of expert practice, their school experiences with mathematics, and their own dispositions toward mathematics.

Concerns about the declining quality of education in the school system are being constantly raised in the media by parents, employers, university professors, and others. Such concerns have been the catalyst for much of the thrust toward school reform in Trinidad and Tobago as well as in more developed countries such as the USA (Holmes Group 1986). It is generally recognized however, that school reform can only take place if teachers are equipped to perform the tasks demanded of them.

School personnel often lament the quality of newly trained teachers who, they say, are unable to manage and control classes, and who seem unable to carry out effectively the routines of teaching. Teacher educators decry the rapidity with which the new graduate ceases to attend to important principles and concepts learned in college. Researchers have often referred to the gap between theory (what is taught in college) and practice (what occurs in the classroom).

The article is based on a survey of the differences of opinion on gender and career choice issues of Jamaican students of both sexes at three different levels of education: secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate.

One of the biggest challenges for teacher education in Western societies is to prepare practitioners for the growing diversity within their schools. Massive global migrations over the past decades have given schools and classrooms the “United Nations'' look: students from various racial, ethnic, cultural, language, and religious backgrounds often share the same learning environment.

The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, it is to review progress in the Caribbean context in achieving the goals specified in the Framework for Action of the World Declaration of Education for All (EFA), Jomtien, Thailand, March 1990. Second, it is to identify the constraints faced by the region in the effort to implement programmes and projects to achieve the EFA goals, and further, to determine if there have been unanticipated developments since Jomtien to which the Caribbean must respond.

Though children go to school to learn, the lesson they often take home is that they are not very smart. As these students progress through school, their self-confidence and the satisfaction they gain from school work appear to decline. This paradox has vexed many teachers and parents. Why is the cumulative effect of schooling so negative for some students? Researchers who are interested in motivation and learning have examined how goals for learning (achievement goals) influence not only behaviour but thinking process and learning outcomes.

In this new section, the Caribbean Journal of Education is seeking to develop a conversation with Caribbean teachers about issues related to teaching and learning. We think there is a need for teachers to share their ideas, their successes, and their questions with other teachers and educators. Our aim is to publish articles by teachers, or articles that speak specifically to teachers, which challenge them to reflect on their practice or which share ideas on how they might improve teaching and learning.

The perceptions of 27 student teachers pursuing the Early Childhood Education Diploma Programme in two Jamaican teachers colleges were analysed to determine (1) their perception of the importance of the Educational Foundations and Professional Studies components of their programme and (2) how those helped them become effective teachers. Respondents revealed through questionnaires, journals, and informal interviews that they considered both the Educational Foundations and Professional Studies important.

There needs to be a balance between a child-centred and teacher-directed approach in education, where the learner is seen as a candle to be lit rather than a container to be filled. 
(Jonathan Stephens 1995:13)