This collection of articles on education in the English-speaking Caribbean were 'volunteered' by academics at the University of the West Indies to mark its fortieth anniversary. They are arranged in two parts. Part One, 'Concern for a System' comprises three sections in which perspectives are put forward on some of the needs of the education system, the societal base and the curriculum change process. In Part Two 'Disciplinary Perspectives', contributors examine curriculum issues to do with the teaching of maths and science, technical and vocational education and the liberal arts.

The adoption of an Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) by the Government of Guyana, has served to highlight that there is a severe shortage of Technical and Vocational skills in the county. In an attempt to reduce the shortage experienced, the agency concerned with the Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP) of Guyana, made available the funds for the provision of, materials, tools, equipment as well as the human resources needed for conducting the three (3) phases of a training programme in the Technical Vocational area.

Divergent discourses in education affecting social investment policies are driven by disparate perceptions of education as value, whether societal, individual, or by restructuring definitions of human capital beyond truncated utility measurements. In that context, powerful policy actors are making decisions based on their class cohort experience of what education should be, resulting in distinguishing evaluative properties that design education policy typologies to fit.

This paper discusses a small scale research study concerned with answering the research question: “What perceptions are held by students regarding networked learning and social media interactions?” This question was part of a wider research focal question: How do digital technologies and digital learning resources mediate Communities of Practice to support participation and learning?

The genesis of this study began with the understanding that there are many Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) public, government, and private schools and institutes in Jamaica at the secondary and tertiary education levels. At the time of this research, there was no specifically designed TVET principal/director preparation program or specialized qualifying credential.

Any programme of sustainable development must include and should emphasize certification in technical, vocational education and training, and also create and support entrepreneurial opportunities for the youth. This research seeks to explore the perceptions, attitudes, experiences, and aspirations of twenty HEART Trust NTA Spa Therapy students while pursuing TVET certification at the HEART College of Beauty Services (HCBS) over 44 weekends.

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.

The buzz word in education today is “STEM”, especially in TVET circles where it appears to be critical in the development of technical minds. It has been argued that “STEM Education atempts to transform the typical teacher-centred classroom by encouraging a curriculum that is driven by problem-solving, discovery, exploratory learning, and requires students to actively engage a situation in order to find its solution” (Fioriello, 2011).

Unemployment is regarded as one of the most challenging economic problems facing the governments of the Commonwealth Caribbean. The available data indicate that unemployment is particularly high among the young cohorts of the labour force (15-25 years), and especially among young females. Several initiatives have been undertaken in the region to enhance the quality and usefulness of the human resource base of the respective countries - curriculum reform, vocationalization of the secondary school system, skills training programs, etc.