No-one can deny the significance of quality early childhood education in our increasingly global and technological society. Among the many issues involved in providing the highest quality developmental experiences for young children is the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in early childhood education. This paper explores how ICT can be used in early childhood education. After an overview of the status of early childhood education internationally and in Jamaica, developmentally appropriate practices for using ICT in early childhood are described.

The ever-changing needs of society justify the necessity for teachers to engage in continuous learning. Teachers are encouraged to participate in professional development activities that will help them develop the knowledge and skills that are required to meet the needs of a 21st century society.

Revisions to the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate science syllabuses reflect significant changes to the format of the School-Based Assessment and the process of moderation. The paper explores the professional development needs that these changes may cause. These include planning for teaching and learning, understanding administrative responsibilities and maintaining quality assessment. Assessment for learning is proposed as a suitable framework for supporting the professional development needs of teachers through collaborative activities such as teaming and mentoring.

In institutions of higher education, faculty members are increasingly being asked to teach their courses online, usually without any prior experience in this environment or any systematic training to teach in this mode. Faculty require professional development activities aimed at equipping them with the key competencies needed to teach in the online environment. Moving professional development activities for faculty from the face-to-face to the online environment has been explored as a way to increase access by making training more convenient to faculty.

This study investigated the instructional assessment practices, techniques, and challenges of science teachers in Barbados with a view to providing baseline data on the state of the art of this important aspect of science teaching. A total of 55 science teachers drawn from 12 out of 22 secondary schools in Barbados constituted the participants in the study. The self report data obtained by a survey questionnaire revealed that teachers use similar instructional assessment practices regardless of sex, teaching experience, professional qualification, or academic qualification.

Technical and vocational education has become a strong focus area for Caribbean countries as they seek to advance their social and economic status in the globally competitive market. Given this context, schools in the Caribbean offer technical and vocational education and training (TVET) subjects to students from various examining bodies. This paper looks at how schools in Jamaica are doing in TVET in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and the leadership and management principles and practices used in administering TVET in selected top performing schools.

An evaluation of the Dip. Ed. programme (2004-2009) using fourth generation methodology revealed the expectations, claims, concerns, and issues of stakeholders; including Ministry of Education (MOE) personnel and (School of Education) SOE staff, who were concerned that graduates of the programme reverted to practices employed before training. In response to that evaluation, this research investigates the current status of Dip. Ed. graduates’ practice.

This paper presents a two-phased, job-embedded, teacher professional development model (TPD) which employs action research and on-the-job professional support. The model is a response to evaluative research evidence which shows that in spite of their pre-service and in- service training, primary teachers’ traditional perspectives of science education persisted as a barrier to effective implementation of primary science curricula reform. The TPD differs from the Cascade model which is widely used in teacher training. That model transmits teacher learning.