Although the Language Education Policy 2001 (LEP) developed by the ministry responsible for education in Jamaica has not passed through all the channels for official adoption, it represents the clearest indication yet of an articulated national policy on language education by the government of Jamaica. The aim of the draft policy is to provide a framework for dealing with language concerns in educational institutions with a view to improving language and literacy proficiency.

In an ostensibly ‘English only’ language policy in a dominant Creole speaking linguistic situation, teachers and students involuntarily shift from the official linguistic expectations of the school. This paper is a preliminary venture to discover the social and pedagogical factors causing the shift. The results of a language atitudes survey carried out by random stratified sampling of primary schools in Guyana are presented.