The Focus Books comprise a series of eight workbooks, seven of which deal with an aspect of classroom teaching. The last in the series - The New Teacher examines the in-school provisions necessary for the optimal development of the student teacher during practice teaching. The workbooks are written by various authors associated with a now-terminated research and development project.

In Jamaica, there are many sources of data that can provide an evaluation of teachers, students, and schools at the primary level. The NAP assessments of students at grades 3, 4, and 6 focus on academic outcomes in literacy, numeracy and primary level subjects such as science and social studies. The panel inspections conducted by the Ministry of Education and Culture allow for officials of the Ministry of Education to assess some aspects of the management and supervision of a school, as well as the performance of teachers in that school.

In 2004, a regional Task Force on Teacher Education was established with responsibility for and oversight of the professional aspects of teacher educa­tion, as well as for quality assurance, accreditation and accountability in teacher education within the region. Since the accreditation system envisaged would build on the national systems of teacher education and accreditation, it was necessary to obtain documentation on these national systems-the practices and policies in current use in teacher education, and the issues that institutions face.

In 1998, UNESCO carried out an evaluation of countries in this hemisphere in the areas of Mathematics and mother tongue (English, Spanish, French). The results showed that the performance of the Cuban primary school children far exceeded that of any other country in the region'.

The issue of single-sex versus coeducational schooling has from time to time occupied the attention of educators and policy makers in various countries, including Jamaica and other countries of the Carib bean. Proponents of one type of schooling or the other cite a variety of reasons for their preference, ranging from the social, emotional, and developmental outcomes for boys and girls, to superior academic achievement in one type of school versus the other.

Theory and practice have been important components of teacher education since these programmes became systematized in teachers colleges in the early nineteenth century. Forms of theory were first introduced into programmes for preparing teachers in order to modify an emphasis on the craft of teaching. Prior to this, in countries such as the United Kingdom, teacher training consisted mainly of “observing the system by which children were taught" (Seaborne 1974).

While there has been increasing interest in the process of becoming a teacher,very little attention has been paid to the process of becoming a teacher educator. Yet teachers of teachers go through the same process as teachers and experience similar influences that shape the kind of teacher educator they become. Important aspects of the learning process for teacher educators include becoming sensitive to their role and the special responsibilities entailed.

This paper reports on a project aimed at improving the impact of teacher education by improving the quality of teaching in Jamaican teachers colleges. The project is a collaborative one between the Institute of Education and lecturers in one teachers college. The paper begins by locating this research in research on teaching at the college/university and primary and secondary levels, and provides some background to collaborative action research. It then describes the background and purpose of the project and the activities engaged in during the first year.

The Pre-primary to Primary Transitions Pilot Project was initiated in 2002 as part of UNICEF’s support for Jamaica’s Basic Education and Early Childhood Education and Development (BEECD) programme. The overall aim of the BEECD programme is to support those goals of the Government of Jamaica’s (GOJ) five-year education plan that seek to improve the quality of basic education, particularly for poor children from birth to 12 years.