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SchoolTalk the blog is a work in progress. I therefore welcome suggestions on how it could be improved to better serve its intended functions.
I started this blog nearly two years ago. However, after a few posts, it went dormant. Other similar projects took priority during that time. Today, I choose to continue the process. I plan to post an article at least once per week. I will make an attempt to engage you with all issues related to schooling in the state. My main mission is to positively transform schooling in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Join me in this venture; be a part of the dialogue.
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Tuesday 24 August 2010
SchoolTalk is back!
Friday 19 December 2008
Students Must Frst Sign In
A quick response to 'One must sign up or sign out!'
Pee John's article in last week's edition of the Searchlight entitled 'Onemust sign up or sign out!' highlights a challenge that students,parents,teachers and the Ministry of Education have been attempting to cope with for years. However, Mr. John's presentation of this challenge gives me the impression that the students who are not "signed up" are the innocent victims of an impersonal, uncaring system; and Mr. John knows that this is a misrepresentation of the complex reality with which we are dealing.
The actual process of being "signed up" for CXC's CSEC begins in the primary schools and the homes and communities that nurture students. Homes and communities that surround students with noise; raunchy, x-rated moviesand DVDs; violent aggressive music and language; lawlessness; ignorance andirresponsibility are not preparing students to be signed up. Poverty,in and of itself, does not prevent students from being signed up. We have fartoo many examples of students from poverty-stricken homes who have made itand made it very well through discipline, determination, focus and yes, assistance from many agencies designed to help in these circumstances.
Schools where teachers ignore non-readers and children with learning disabilities are not preparing students to be signed up. Social promotion, where children are moved through the system on the basis of age andtime, asopposed to merit and achievement, are again not preparing children tobesigned up. Thus, when students get to the fifth form, there is enoughblame to go around and an over-simplification of this problem does not help at all.
The CXC offers Caribbean Secondary Education Certification (CSEC) to students who demonstrate prescribed levels of proficiency and competence in a range of subject areas. When schools and teachers sign up students for CSEC, they are saying to the CXC, these students have completed the prescribed syllabi, test them and you will find that they are worthy of your certification. Of course, the CXC has to be paid to do this assessment/testing.
Schools ought not to sign up students who are clearly unprepared to merit such certification (in other words, pass the exam). The signing up of unprepared students works against the interests of the students, the teachers, the schools and the Ministry of Education. Students get a false sense of what it takes to receive certification when they are signed up inspite of non-performance. In addition to this, they are wasting their parents' hard-earned money. Teachers run the risk of seeming incompetent when they enter unprepared candidates for exams. Schools are regarded asfailing when a large percentage of their students do not qualify for
certification after being entered for the exam, and the Ministry of Education is then blamed for not monitoring and controlling the outcomes of these schools.
Mr. John's article almost seems to suggest that "signing up" is astudent's automatic right or entitlement, and this is what I find particularly subversive and dangerous. When Mr. John writes "It is not right for a student's education to be curtailed because he has not been signed up for a subject for whatever reason", the "whatever reason" cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. As Mr. John well knows the "whatever reason" very often has to do with the student's delinquency and unrepentant ill-discipline. Most of these students never signed in, and as educators we know that students must take ownership of their learning.
Parents and teachers cannot want thediscipline and the certification for students more that the studentswant it for themselves. Mr. John further states that "the practice of sign upor sign out is not fair, especially when there is no consistency across the country". On the surface, this statement may be true, but as an experienced educator Mr. John knows how misleading such a statement is on its own.
Consistency in signing up requirements for the wide range of subjects and
the wide variety of students involved is an ideal which may not be practical.
Pee John, you know that the majority of teachers struggle to prepare students for signing up, do not make it seem as though we conspire to "sign out" students when you know that most of the students who do not qualify to be signed up, never signed in.
Andrea Bowman
Head Mistress
Girls' High School
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
+17844561307
Pee John's article in last week's edition of the Searchlight entitled 'Onemust sign up or sign out!' highlights a challenge that students,parents,teachers and the Ministry of Education have been attempting to cope with for years. However, Mr. John's presentation of this challenge gives me the impression that the students who are not "signed up" are the innocent victims of an impersonal, uncaring system; and Mr. John knows that this is a misrepresentation of the complex reality with which we are dealing.
The actual process of being "signed up" for CXC's CSEC begins in the primary schools and the homes and communities that nurture students. Homes and communities that surround students with noise; raunchy, x-rated moviesand DVDs; violent aggressive music and language; lawlessness; ignorance andirresponsibility are not preparing students to be signed up. Poverty,in and of itself, does not prevent students from being signed up. We have fartoo many examples of students from poverty-stricken homes who have made itand made it very well through discipline, determination, focus and yes, assistance from many agencies designed to help in these circumstances.
Schools where teachers ignore non-readers and children with learning disabilities are not preparing students to be signed up. Social promotion, where children are moved through the system on the basis of age andtime, asopposed to merit and achievement, are again not preparing children tobesigned up. Thus, when students get to the fifth form, there is enoughblame to go around and an over-simplification of this problem does not help at all.
The CXC offers Caribbean Secondary Education Certification (CSEC) to students who demonstrate prescribed levels of proficiency and competence in a range of subject areas. When schools and teachers sign up students for CSEC, they are saying to the CXC, these students have completed the prescribed syllabi, test them and you will find that they are worthy of your certification. Of course, the CXC has to be paid to do this assessment/testing.
Schools ought not to sign up students who are clearly unprepared to merit such certification (in other words, pass the exam). The signing up of unprepared students works against the interests of the students, the teachers, the schools and the Ministry of Education. Students get a false sense of what it takes to receive certification when they are signed up inspite of non-performance. In addition to this, they are wasting their parents' hard-earned money. Teachers run the risk of seeming incompetent when they enter unprepared candidates for exams. Schools are regarded asfailing when a large percentage of their students do not qualify for
certification after being entered for the exam, and the Ministry of Education is then blamed for not monitoring and controlling the outcomes of these schools.
Mr. John's article almost seems to suggest that "signing up" is astudent's automatic right or entitlement, and this is what I find particularly subversive and dangerous. When Mr. John writes "It is not right for a student's education to be curtailed because he has not been signed up for a subject for whatever reason", the "whatever reason" cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. As Mr. John well knows the "whatever reason" very often has to do with the student's delinquency and unrepentant ill-discipline. Most of these students never signed in, and as educators we know that students must take ownership of their learning.
Parents and teachers cannot want thediscipline and the certification for students more that the studentswant it for themselves. Mr. John further states that "the practice of sign upor sign out is not fair, especially when there is no consistency across the country". On the surface, this statement may be true, but as an experienced educator Mr. John knows how misleading such a statement is on its own.
Consistency in signing up requirements for the wide range of subjects and
the wide variety of students involved is an ideal which may not be practical.
Pee John, you know that the majority of teachers struggle to prepare students for signing up, do not make it seem as though we conspire to "sign out" students when you know that most of the students who do not qualify to be signed up, never signed in.
Andrea Bowman
Head Mistress
Girls' High School
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
+17844561307
Thursday 27 November 2008
Let's Discipline Our Children With Dignity
As teachers we need all the help that we can get to address the problems related to ill discipline in the classroom. I believe that the vast majority of children that come under our care are decent and well behaved. However, there are those who present serious difficulties when it comes to their conduct. I wish to share a video that offers some useful suggestions for managing student behaviour. Spend a few minutes looking at it and share it with a colleague.
I know that the context and culture from which this video comes may be quite different from our own. However, I do think that there is something that we could learn here. Yes, some of our children are difficult. Yes, we need to exercise discipline at times. But, we do not have to use drastic and draconian measures. As the presentation suggests we can discipline our children with dignity.
P J John
mrpeejohn@gmail.com
November 27, 2008
I know that the context and culture from which this video comes may be quite different from our own. However, I do think that there is something that we could learn here. Yes, some of our children are difficult. Yes, we need to exercise discipline at times. But, we do not have to use drastic and draconian measures. As the presentation suggests we can discipline our children with dignity.
P J John
mrpeejohn@gmail.com
November 27, 2008
Tuesday 25 November 2008
Sign Up! Or Sign Out!
By the time this article is published, most if not all secondary schools would have completed the registration process for students sitting the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) examinations leading to the award of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC). In common parlance, “signing up” has been completed and this represents one of the last hurdles that fifth formers must jump on their way to the successful completion their secondary education.
Unfortunately for several students, they have not been signed up to take the examination in several subjects. This stemmed from the fact that their subject teachers did not recommend that they be registered for his or her subject, since the students did not meet the criteria whatever these are. Thus, after five years or more of pursuing a secondary education, hundreds of fifth formers around the country have been told that they are not fit enough sit an examination. Some schools have even taken the draconian decision to expel those students who failed to qualify for a prescribed minimum.
Generally, students are offered a full course load consisting of eight subjects. When “sign up time” arrives, they must meet the criteria in no less than five subjects. This minimum varies from school to school. Indeed, some schools have allowed students to register or as few as three subjects. Failure to qualify may lead to demotion to the fourth form or expulsion from school. In a few cases, students who fail to qualify for the minimum may remain in school and in fifth form providing that they sign up as private candidates!
Another disturbing feature of note is that the criteria for signing up or not signing up a student vary from school to school or even from teacher to teacher. In a few schools, every fifth former is registered to take the examination in all the subjects for which they enrolled (generally eight). Other schools administer a pre-qualification examination, commonly known as the “pre”. The student is then signed up for the number of subjects passed in the pre. Yet, in other schools there is no such examination and signing up is left to the sole discretion of the subject teachers. The teachers in these cases often take a host academic and non academic issues into consideration in exercising this “discretion”. In a few cases student preferences and parental approval are considered in making the final determination about what subjects a student take for the CXC CSEC examinations.
Whatever the system used, the end result is often a large number of students left with nothing to do at certain times in the school day. Imagine a case where a student started fifth form in September taking eight subjects. That student had been occupied for every period of an eight period day. Then, by the middle of November, the student is told that he is now eligible to take just four subjects. What is this student to do during those free periods? Some students may use that time wisely. However, experience suggests that the vast majority of students use the free time to engage in undesirable and disruptive conduct.
Here is another scenario. A subject teacher begins the school year in September with forty fifth form students on roll in her class. By the time she is ready to “sign up” the students, she signs up only ten. What happens to the remaining thirty? Scenes like these are played out over and over again across the country. There are now hundreds of fifth formers languishing on the school premises or even on the streets during the course of the day because they were not signed up for the CXC CSEC examination in certain subjects.
The ad hoc and often inconsistent policies regarding registration for external examinations such as CXC CSEC mask a serious problem in our secondary schools that must be exposed and addressed. The authorities must give leadership in this regard. Several of the practices that have come to light severely contradict the progressive notions that fuel the national agenda for education. In short, they run counter to the ideals encapsulated in the “education revolution’.
It is not right for a student’s education to be curtailed because he has not been signed up for a subject for whatever reason. The practice of sign up or sign out is not fair especially when there is no consistency across the country. The Ministry of Education must look into this matter now!
P J John
mrpeejohn@gmail.com
November 25, 2008
Unfortunately for several students, they have not been signed up to take the examination in several subjects. This stemmed from the fact that their subject teachers did not recommend that they be registered for his or her subject, since the students did not meet the criteria whatever these are. Thus, after five years or more of pursuing a secondary education, hundreds of fifth formers around the country have been told that they are not fit enough sit an examination. Some schools have even taken the draconian decision to expel those students who failed to qualify for a prescribed minimum.
Generally, students are offered a full course load consisting of eight subjects. When “sign up time” arrives, they must meet the criteria in no less than five subjects. This minimum varies from school to school. Indeed, some schools have allowed students to register or as few as three subjects. Failure to qualify may lead to demotion to the fourth form or expulsion from school. In a few cases, students who fail to qualify for the minimum may remain in school and in fifth form providing that they sign up as private candidates!
Another disturbing feature of note is that the criteria for signing up or not signing up a student vary from school to school or even from teacher to teacher. In a few schools, every fifth former is registered to take the examination in all the subjects for which they enrolled (generally eight). Other schools administer a pre-qualification examination, commonly known as the “pre”. The student is then signed up for the number of subjects passed in the pre. Yet, in other schools there is no such examination and signing up is left to the sole discretion of the subject teachers. The teachers in these cases often take a host academic and non academic issues into consideration in exercising this “discretion”. In a few cases student preferences and parental approval are considered in making the final determination about what subjects a student take for the CXC CSEC examinations.
Whatever the system used, the end result is often a large number of students left with nothing to do at certain times in the school day. Imagine a case where a student started fifth form in September taking eight subjects. That student had been occupied for every period of an eight period day. Then, by the middle of November, the student is told that he is now eligible to take just four subjects. What is this student to do during those free periods? Some students may use that time wisely. However, experience suggests that the vast majority of students use the free time to engage in undesirable and disruptive conduct.
Here is another scenario. A subject teacher begins the school year in September with forty fifth form students on roll in her class. By the time she is ready to “sign up” the students, she signs up only ten. What happens to the remaining thirty? Scenes like these are played out over and over again across the country. There are now hundreds of fifth formers languishing on the school premises or even on the streets during the course of the day because they were not signed up for the CXC CSEC examination in certain subjects.
The ad hoc and often inconsistent policies regarding registration for external examinations such as CXC CSEC mask a serious problem in our secondary schools that must be exposed and addressed. The authorities must give leadership in this regard. Several of the practices that have come to light severely contradict the progressive notions that fuel the national agenda for education. In short, they run counter to the ideals encapsulated in the “education revolution’.
It is not right for a student’s education to be curtailed because he has not been signed up for a subject for whatever reason. The practice of sign up or sign out is not fair especially when there is no consistency across the country. The Ministry of Education must look into this matter now!
P J John
mrpeejohn@gmail.com
November 25, 2008
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