The problem of underperforming schools has been a feature of the educational landscape of Jamaica for decades. The scientific literature on school leadership is consistent in the view that the quality of leadership is one of the two most critical factors in determining the performance of a school. This study seeks to explore what specific elements of leadership were responsible for the turnaround that two non-traditional high schools in Jamaica have experienced. The study found six themes in the strategies which were used by the principals to realize turnaround in their schools. 

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) involves the enhancement of knowledge, development of skills, clarification of values and attitudes, and promotion of behaviour for the sustainability of the Earth’s social, economic, and natural systems. Ultimately, ESD is about values, with respect for self, others, and the natural world centralized to ensure equity within and between generations and care for the natural world upon which humankind depends.

The research sought to determine the relationship between adolescent aggression, parenting style and family union. The sample consisted of 200 students attending technical high, newly upgraded high and traditional high schools within an urban inner city community located in the Kingston Metropolitan Region. The participants responded to a questionnaire that addressed their behaviour, behaviour directed towards them, their relationship with their parents, their parents show of affection towards them, the parenting style of their parents and the family structure in which they lived.

Renewed international interest in Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) is testimony to a growing acknowledgement that writing plays an important role in all areas of the curriculum. However, not enough atention has been paid to the workplace where the writing skills of students find final application.

Renewed international interest in Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) is testimony to a growing acknowledgement that writing plays an important role in all areas of the curriculum. However, not enough atention has been paid to the workplace where the writing skills of students find final application. This paper describes research that explores the role and status of writing in the workplace in a developing country.

There are misconceptions in some quarters that tools used by medical doctors are solely mechanical, and that if students who pursue studies in Medical Sciences obtain mastery in the process of elimination and apply this to their multiple-choice examinations they are likely to succeed. However, these are limited views of such professionals and students. In order to be successful, practising and prospective medical doctors, like their counterparts in different fields, utilize other tools in their professional, academic and private endeavours. One such tool is writing.

The philosophical issues relating to liberation as social and political ideal are logical, epistemological, metaphysical, existential and ethical. The question, “what is liberation?” is a logical question because it raises the issue of meaning and the type of reasoning that is unique to liberation discourse.

This paper presents aspects of the acquisition of the determiner systems of Jamaican Creole (JC) and Jamaican English (JE) used by Jamaican children from Creole-speaking communities in their first year of basic school. It shows that mixing within the Determiner Phrase of the native language—JC, with the second language—JE, is highly systematic, and suggests ways in which the language and literacy teacher may capitalize on this.

Jamaican Creole (JC) and Standard Jamaican English (SJE) are the two dominant languages in Jamaica but they do not function equally in certain contexts. In public formal domains, the use of JC is limited since most information from the state is disseminated to the public in English. When JC is used in such contexts traditionally reserved for English, linguistic gatekeepers such as teachers and service representatives (SRs), use corrective gate-keeping practices to repair the speech of their interlocutors.

The articles which form part of this special issue of the Caribbean Journal of Education are the proceedings of a Staff Research Day of the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, held in the summer of 2015. At this event, members of all three sections of the Department presented the findings of research which they were conducting at the time.