In an attempt to improve the teaching of Geography at the sixth form level in Jamaica, a curriculum development project was launched by the author. Its central goal was the production by practising teachers of a range of instructional units in which topics in the Advanced Level S yllabus were to be explored through the use of local case studies. This project was modelled off the British “Geography 16-19” Project and gave emphasis to the role of classroom teachers. The participants helped define the project's objectives, but failed to complete the tasks agreed upon.

In Guyana it is recognised that the output of schooling at all levels starting at the primary level is inadequate to meet the challenges of the 21st century. This paper describes an attempt by the author, as Director of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development to address the problem of literacy at the primary level through curriculum development, specifically the use of Skills Reinforcement Guides.

The CXC/USAID Secondary Curriculum Development Project was established in June 1979 by agreement between the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), the executing agency, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the funding agency. The Project Paper identified the main purpose of this US$2.6 million project as the improvement of the quality of curriculum and instructional approaches used in secondary schools of territories in the region. A related purpose identified is the strengthening of cxÇ in its endeavour to satisfy its mandate (2].

In August 1978, UNICEF agreed to fund this primary school project, and reaffirmed the objectives which had been agreed on in previous discussions with the University. These objectives were: 
 

Curriculum development and evaluation activities are inextricably inter­woven. Evaluation gathers and systematically orders evidence so that teachers and other curriculum workers may make decisions about the state of the learner, about organising and teaching subject matter, and about learning-outcomes.