The Journal of Education and Development in the Caribbean (JEDIC), in collaboration with the Enhancing Teaching and Learning Commitee of the Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of the West Indies – Mona, has brought together this emerging material, with a focus on the unique needs of Caribbean students, lecturers and universities, to a broad audience of scholars, teachers, students, and other key stakeholders via this special issue, “Enhancing University Teaching and Learning in the Caribbean Context.”

This study explored male perspectives of their educational experiences in the Trinidad and Tobago school system. It examined key push factors responsible for leading males away from pursuing higher education as well as factors responsible for male underachievement at the post-secondary and tertiary levels. This qualitative study utilized six focus groups comprising 56 participants from private and public post-secondary and tertiary institutions located in largely North-East, Central and South Trinidad.

In this article I explore constructions of diasporic space in the work of two Caribbean-diaspora poets, Jean 'Binta' Breeze, and Dorothea Smartt, and examine the ways in which circuits of departure, arrival, and return in selected poems, function as sites from which complex, interconnected identities are produced. The region is commonly defined as a space of migratory flows, which are both permanent and impermanent, and characterized by frequent returns 'home' (Trotz & Mullings, 2013, p. 154).

This paper is interested in the ways in which the everyday experiences of Jamaican Canadians function as accumulated moments that mark their collective journeys across time and place, and reveal the complexity of their dual relationship between Jamaica and Canada. Specifically, the paper uses five uniquely Canadian episodes or incidents, occurring in each of the five decades between 1970 and 2012 (the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's independence from Britain) to examine how Jamaican Canadians claim the right to not just legal, but also social citizenship.

The aim of this study was to establish how well students' GSAT language arts scores predicted their future performance on CSEC English A and to determine the impact of students' level of literacy, based on their GSAT language arts score, on their performance on CSEC English A. Using a longitudinal methodology, the performance of four cohorts of students was traced from primary through secondary schools. The results revealed a strong correlation between performance on the GSAT language arts and CSEC English A.

This paper forms part of a larger research study which examined the role of discourse in the changes made to the administration of the Grade Four Literacy Test (G4LT) in 2009 in Jamaica. The literacy test was modified from a classroom-based assessment to a high-stakes nationwide examination. While the broader study focused on changes at the policy level, and how the test changes were discussed in the print media, this paper will focus on how the modifications to the G4LT influenced changes at the level of the school.

Based on the Language Experience and Awareness approach, the Literacy 1–2–3 (L1–2–3) was designed for use in the Language Arts Window in a constructivist teaching/learning environment in Jamaican primary schools. Based on a review of studies on L1–2–3, this paper examined the extent to which characteristics of the innovation, local characteristics, and external factors impacted the effectiveness of its implementation.

The body of Jamaican children's literature which exists today originated with the oral tradition of folktales that evolved over time. Many Jamaican folktales are based on stories of survival. They were shaped by the culture and history of those who lived through re- and dislocation from Africa, brought to the Caribbean, sold into slavery, and established themselves under British colonial rule in Jamaica. Tales of oral tradition in Jamaica often evolve around overcoming poverty, oppressive power structures, race and class struggles, and surviving the hurdles of life in society.

As young girls growing up in rural Jamaica, West Indies, our experiences with positive character development began in our homes. Our parents took the Bible's admonition in Deuteronomy 6 verses 6 and 7 literally: parents were responsible for inculcating biblical principles on their children's minds and hearts.

Former taken-for-granted approaches to the teaching of literature and by extension the teaching of poetry in the Caribbean classroom are no longer stable. Concerns over low student achievement in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination in key areas such as poetry, create considerable debates over how teachers of English in the Caribbean should both respond to and be prepared for the teaching of poetry in the English classroom.