While educational psychology is normally assumed to contribute scientific, research-based ideas to a better understanding of teaching/learning environments, its concepts can be alternatively considered as products of particular socio-historical contexts whose contemporary application may be neither politically neutral nor pedagogically advantageous. This argument is examined with particular reference to psychology in education policy in Barbados over the past decade, which is expected to transform the society through transforming schools.

In Guyana it is recognised that the output of schooling at all levels starting at the primary level is inadequate to meet the challenges of the 21st century. This paper describes an attempt by the author, as Director of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development to address the problem of literacy at the primary level through curriculum development, specifically the use of Skills Reinforcement Guides.

This volume is dedicated to the memory of Professor Dennis Roy Craig, a co-founder of this journal and editor. Professor Craig passed away on February 28, 2004, after a lifetime of service to education in the Caribbean. A true gentleman, of wit, charm and a quiet brilliance, he authored over sixty academic articles published in peer reviewed international journals. His influential book "Experiment in Teaching English" was published in 1968. He was elevated to the position of Personal Professor in Language Education at The University of the West Indies in 1979.

Jamaican policy makers have prioritized literacy improvement as a matter of urgency within the educational milieu. This has become even more intense during the past decade with initiatives being mandated and implemented to promote this cause. One such initiative is the establishment of literacy research and development centres in two teacher-training colleges with a prime mandate to prepare a special group of teachers to extend literacy improvement efforts in Jamaican schools.

The barrage of new trends and new foci in language teaching and learning can create a sense of unease among language educators, pulling them in many directions, as linguistic, cultural, technical, and educational considerations compete for time and space in their conceptual frameworks. It is a feeling shared by all those who are engaged in second language acquisition (SLA).

The Caribbean region has long been in desperate need of professional persons who can address its burgeoning mental health problems. This need has been addressed only minimally and relatively recently by the establishment of a training programme in psychiatry in the Faculty of Medical Sciences (of the University of the West Indies, UWI) in 1965. The small numbers of psychiatrists who have been trained in this programme have been insufficient to meet the mental health needs of the region.

This article provides an overview of over two decades of anti racism policy and practice in Britain, the USA and Canada, and its ineffectiveness in providing equitable education for African Caribbean and other students of minority races. Contributing to this failure are such factors as a serious lack of accountability infrastructure for policy implementation, white teachers’ perspectives on race and meritocracy, and their contestation of anti racism on pedagogical and ideological grounds.

This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the first publication of the Caribbean Journal of Education. The need for a Caribbean journal focused on educational issues had become apparent especially after the School of Education was established at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 1972. In the first issue of the journal, the Dean of the newly established School, Professor R. N. Murray, outlined the reasons for establishing the Journal and the purposes that it would achieve.

The aim of the Caribbean Journal of Education is to stimulate thought and discussion about issues in education that affect Caribbean people in the region and worldwide. The Journal publishes articles that define education in the broadest sense—peer reviewed papers that examine controversial issues from a socio-cultural, historical, or philosophical perspective, as well as reports of research that employs a variety of research methods. Papers that focus on learning in both school and non-school settings, and articles that present critical analyses of education and schooling are encouraged.