Since the movement towards independence in the 1960s, one of the educational priorities of the West Indies has been to establish its autonomy vis-à-vis the British system. Stafford Griffith states that from 1961, there was talk of creating an examination council in the English speaking Caribbean (West Indian Examinations Council).' In the 1960s, new projects were introduced; and West Indian programmes and textbooks, including the new examinations that we will discuss are, to a certain extent, a continuation of these efforts. In 1972, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), was created.

The Jamaican education system has failed to qualify many of the nation's youths for higher educational pursuits or the labour market upon their exit from high school. Many in the system have speculated that this failure is due to the predominantly direct teaching methodology practised by the nation's teachers.

Multigrade schools have tended to be regarded as inferior to mono grade schools with regard to pupil learning in both developed and developing countries. This article reports on a study of pupil instruction in multigrade and monograde classrooms in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a small Caribbean territory. It finds that multigrade teachers are more aware of the diversity of learning needs in their classrooms and use a wider variety of teaching strategies than their monograde counterparts.

This paper assumes that the preparation, orientation and induction of new teacher educators who teach prospective teachers is as important as the preparation of prospective teachers, and is thus worthy of careful scrutiny and analysis.

The often-heard call for a recourse to "foreign-language teaching methods” for the improvement of English-Language teaching in the Caribbean implies a distinction between the concepts of first language and foreign-language teaching “methods” that must be severely questioned. In one sense, teaching a first language is a contradiction in terms: a “first” or native language is one which is by definition perfectly known to those who speak it. Therefore “teaching" must refer to different objectives in each case.

It has been accepted practice in the University of the West Indies School of Education, and in Ministries of Education and teachers' colleges in the Eastern Caribbean that a significant criterion for recognition and certification as a trained teacher is the student teacher's performance in the final teaching-practice exercise during the final term of a two-year training course.

It is proposed to conduct a survey of junior secondary schools in Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Guyana to ascertain typical levels of cognitive development, in Piagetian terms, in different types of schools and localities. The object of the survey is to provide accurate data on levels of concept development which may be used in the preparation and modification of science curricula throughout the secondary school system in the Caribbean.

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. 

Teachers and schools are part of the social and cultural infrastructure of all societies, but they are particularly relevant in developing countries. A good education system is central to the creation of human capital and a fundamental element contributing to successful economic development (Skeldon, 2005). In order to establish and maintain a credible system of education it is important to have a sufficient number of trained and experienced teachers.

The external assessment of Year Three Practicum is an important component of the assessment process to certify teachers completing the teacher education programme in Jamaica. Students are required to complete nine credit hours* (16 weeks) of practicum, distributed over the three years of intramural study at the teacher education institution. The period of practice in the first and second years is assessed internally, with the third year externally examined (Joint Board of Teacher Education 2003).