Formal education systems tend to experience an ever-recurring need for curriculum change and renewal. One reason for this undoubtedly is that we live in a changing world with changing needs; and education systems have to be always ready to make adaptations for the satisfaction of emergent needs.

In the issue preceding this, we ended the editorial with the following statement and question: 
".. the vastness of the background of persistently continuing concerns raises the question of whether the necessary quantum of research and reflection, as precursors to action, is keeping pace with the volume of 
needs in the Caribbean. Is it?” 
 
A return to the question seems appropriate for the present issue.

Certain continuing problems of educational development in the Commonwealth Caribbean become highlighted, even if only incidentally, as a background to the contributions in this issue of the journal. 
 

Part one of the present paper (presented in Vol. 3 No. 1 of this journal) discussed the need for a study of language aptitudes in the Jamaican context and the relevance of J.B. Carroll's theories in the latter respect. The performance of children in tests of language aptitudes and learning potential was studied, and it was suggested that differences in the social-class profiles of schools were related to differences in the average test-scores of those schools. 

Starting in the introduction to his book, Devonish makes it quite clear that the issue with which he primarily wishes to be concerned is that of language democracy, and specifically the role which Creole languages can and should play in the process of national liberation. The “should'' in the preceding sentence is important. Devonish makes it quite clear that, so far as he is concerned, the issue is resolvable in only one possible direction.

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.

A recent report of a workshop on educational curriculum and remediation held by the Eastern Caribbean Education Reform Project (ECERP), provides an interesting backdrop to language education in the Caribbean and incidentally supports the rationale for this book.

Over the twenty-five years of its existence (1973-98) the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has become the main provider of assessment and certification at the secondary level of education for Commonwealth Caribbean countries other than the Bahamas. 
The CXC examinations can therefore serve as an indicacor of the coverage and effectiveness of secondary education in most Commonwealth Caribbean countries. 

Against the background of the creole-language situation in Jamaica, the present paper examines the need for a study of language aptitudes. Also examined are the relevance of S. B. Carroll's theory of language aptitudes in the Jamaican situation, and the implications that become evident out of a comparison of children's performance in language-aptitude and learning-potential tests. The findings suggest that performance in both types of test is strongly influenced by social-class factors.