The latest incidence of school violence that involved a 16-year-old being stabbed to death by another student while at school, has shocked many Barbadians. It has led to the usual round of discussions about what is to blame and which of many ideas will solve the problem. However, it is clear that since school violence has been an ongoing concern in Barbados in recent years, the solution is likely to involve more than a single approach and therefore necessitates a review of influences on children’s development and behaviour at all levels. This includes influences from the family within which young people grow up through to the society in which we live, and in particular, the education system they are exposed to.
Barbadian society is one in which there is currently great concern about the levels of gun and knife violence that seem to have substantially increased in recent years. This is at a time when greater than ever numbers of children are growing up in circumstances of economic hardship. Barbados’ economic problems in recent years have led to more people losing their jobs and working for low wages that are not enough to sustain their families. Insufficient money to meet living costs and limited supervision by parents or other family members is the reality of life for many children.
As a result, many families are struggling to provide the basic necessities for their children and to be able to spend enough quality time with them. So the government needs to address this reality by reviewing the financial and social support for families that are struggling to cope. This was acknowledged by the Prime Minister earlier in the year and plans put in place to address this situation for the most vulnerable families.
The Prime Minister has also made a commitment to reform the education system since the divisive, selective, secondary school system is clearly a contributory factor to violence in schools. It is now recognized that addressing the problem of school violence requires comprehensive reform of the education system. Therefore, we need to consider major changes, including the one proposed below.
As is often said, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ Therefore, an essential aspect of education reform that will reduce school violence is making every school an important part of the community in which the school belongs. That is, making every school a community school. This means that all children will attend their local primary school and then go on to the secondary school within their own neighbourhood. With all children attending their local schools, communities will be more able, along with parents, families and teachers, to share in the task of supporting the education of children living in their communities. It will involve having respected members of the community, such as church leaders, as well as parents of children attending the school, on each school’s governing body, along with the principal and teacher representatives.
Since parental engagement is essential to the effective education and social development of young people, all schools need to work hard to involve as many parents and families of their students as possible in the education of their children. Parents need to see themselves, and be seen by teachers, as partners with schools in the education of their children. One way to start this process is to invite parents of each new intake of students to come with their child to a meeting at the school, with the principal and teachers, at which it is made clear what parents can do to support the school in educating their children. Home visits by the principal/guidance counselor/social worker should be made to any parents who do not attend. Continued high levels of parental involvement can be maintained by using parent-teacher-student conferences to review progress every term and establishing regular communication between teachers and parents.
Unfortunately, achieving high levels of parent and community involvement is made more difficult within the current education system because of the influence of the divisive Common Entrance Exam (CEE), the results of which require many secondary students to travel to attend schools that are not in their local communities. It also encourages many parents to take their children to primary schools outside of their communities to primary schools with reputations for getting good results in the CEE.
So, the first thing to do is to get rid of the CEE and replace it with a system of geographical zoning, as was described in our article in Barbados TODAY on 14th May 2019, and is summarized here. With zoning, students will attend the primary school and move on to the secondary school nearest to where they live, thereby doing away with the need for selection using the CEE, as well as the hours spent travelling to school each day.
One way to make this feasible would be to introduce a small number of sixth-form colleges. For example, Harrison College and Queen’s College would only enrolll students in their sixth-form years undertaking advanced level courses. All other secondary schools would enroll students in forms one through five. Students would then get into the sixth-form colleges based on their passes and grades in the CXE examinations taken at the end of the fifth form year.
All the remaining government secondary schools will need to have their own geographical zones from which they draw their students. These can be drawn up to ensure that schools enroll similar numbers of students and that each secondary school represents as diverse a socioeconomic population as possible. Compensatory mechanisms can be used to allocate additional resources to schools that have disproportionate levels of pupils from poorer backgrounds, as is done in other countries.
Without the CEE, the focus of primary and secondary schools becomes making every school an excellent one that brings out the best of every single student that attends. In addition to teaching academic skills, including reading, writing and mathematics, primary school teachers will then be able to focus more on personal and interpersonal skill development through teaching social and emotional learning programs. In this way, they will be able to focus on the development of the so-called soft skills, including teamwork, communication, conflict resolution and problem-solving skills, that are necessary for having positive relationships with others and for being successful at work.
Also, teachers will be able to use strategies such as Circle Time and peer support programs to create positive learning environments that prevent disruptive and violent behaviour. Schools can also put into place programs to prevent bullying and the development of mental health problems that promote non-violent conflict resolution. All of these measures will help prevent violent behaviour.
Another important aspect of education reform is that, in addition to teaching academic subjects, secondary schools need to place greater emphasis on technical and vocational education by making these attractive alternative options during the later stages of secondary schooling, as noted in our article in Barbados TODAY on 20th June 2019.
This proposes that while all students will study mainly academic subjects with some technical/vocational courses in the first few years of secondary schooling, they be allowed to opt to follow a curriculum focused on more vocational education, studying for Caribbean Vocational Qualifications, during their fourth and fifth form years. This more vocationally focused option would be available alongside the more academically focused curriculum taken by students aiming to sit Caribbean Examination Council examinations.
So, whereas students following an academic program and sitting CXCs would be aiming to go on to sixth form colleges and then university, those following the vocational route to prepare for taking CVQs would be aiming to go on to institutions such as community college, polytechnic or hospitality school, or aiming to leave school at age 16 years to get jobs.
A further important component of the needed education reform, that will help to reduce school violence, is the implementation of a national policy and effective practices for the education of children with special needs and disabilities, as outlined in our article on this topic in Barbados TODAY on 5th June 2019. By having effective special needs policy and procedures in place, teachers will be able to address children’s learning difficulties, gifts and talents, and ensure that all children develop to their maximum potential.
Specifically, the education system needs to implement effective policies and procedures for educating children with various levels of learning or behaviour challenges. The national policy on special and inclusive education needs to be backed up by specific education legislation for children with special needs and disabilities and implemented through guidelines for schools on how to teach such children. All schools need to have learning support coordinators and there should be initial and in-service training for all teachers on children with special needs and disabilities.
In addition to guidance counsellors in all secondary schools, there should be social workers in primary schools. There also needs to be educational psychologists for assessing children’s needs and helping schools with program planning, as well as parent-partnership services to provide guidance and support for families who have children with special needs and disabilities.
Finally, as recognized by the recent Ministry of Education policy on phasing out corporal punishment in schools, we cannot expect to reduce violence if ‘flogging’ is used within schools as a means of disciplining students. Using violent means to discipline students sends the wrong message and provides a bad example to our young people. We need to promote non-violent approaches to discipline and conflict resolution, as well as have anti-bullying programs to promote positive relationships within schools.
Therefore, schools need to implement whole-school behaviour policies that include replacing ‘flogging’ with a range of other strategies, especially involving parents. With increased involvement of parents, families and communities in schools, discipline will be maintained by the use of approaches such as parent-teacher-student conferences and home-school behaviour programs. In these ways, schools will provide positive examples of non-violent ways of solving conflicts that will contribute to the reduction of violent behaviour both at school and in society.
Garry Hornby has worked as a secondary school teacher, educational psychologist and university lecturer in England, New Zealand and Barbados and is now an Emeritus Professor of Education, living in Barbados. He can be contacted on: [email protected]
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I like a lot of what Gary Hornby has said. Comprehensive education reform in Barbados is not only necessary but long overdue. However, I often caution against accepting solutions presented from outside a system by any single voice no matter how well meaning. There are many subtle nuances that each community must grapple with to solve its own problems in ways that are meaningful, effective, productive, culturally appropriate, and contextually relevant for that community.
Even as I say this, I am all too aware of the reality that prepackaged solutions often look much better than someone saying we will have to work to figure this out. But that is also the difference between boxed-cake and a cake from scratch.
I would like to offer a few alternatives to what Gary Hornby has proposed.
The concept of geographic zoning at the high school level has come up multiple times in our history but it has never gained traction. There are probably multiple reasons for that but the one I would propose it its cultural insensitivity. We instinctively know that all children are different so the solution of creating eight or ten equal high schools with the same programming, while it might speak to equality, does not address equity. It does not speak to how we can effective address the varying needs of our diverse students. How about an alternative? How about the creation of themed high schools? Instead of trying to replicate the same bland vanilla version of a comprehensive instructional program at eight or ten high schools how about creating eight or ten themed high schools? A performing arts high school, an architecture and construction trades high school, a medical-technology high school, language immersion high school, hospitality high school, a STEM high school, a legal and public service high school, an athletic and sports management high school, a business an entrepreneurial high school, and any other variant with might be viable in the context of Barbadian society.
What are some of the advantages to this approach? Every school would need a basic staffing model. For each school the basic core course would be offered; English Language Arts, Math, Science, History and Civics, and Health with Physical Education; but each school would also be enhanced by its own specialty faculty. So, while the Performing Arts high school would have all the core courses it would also have additional Pre-professional course offerings in the arts and the necessary additional faculty to be able to support that Arts programming. Similarly, the STEM school, or the medical technology high school would have additional appropriate faculty and, more importantly, facilities so that students can have a world class education in their field of interest. It is not my intention to completely explicate this model but to simply give an idea of what could be possible.
I disagree with Gary Hornby’s characterization of the CEE.
The CEE is simply an assessment. It is not in and of itself divisive. In the world of assessments there is a fundamental concept of validity. This is “the degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretations of test scores for proposed uses of tests” (Page 11 in Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing published by the American Educational Research Association, Wash. DC.) The CEE is not divisive. It is the current use of the results that may create division. Therefore, I would neither support the vilification nor the elimination of the CEE, but I would repurpose that structure.
Why would I not discard the CEE? Because it is a reliable standards-based test that was developed to measure numeracy and literacy skills of students and it has multiple robust sets of historical data. Literacy and numeracy skills are very important to future academic an employment success for all students. Knowing where students are in their literacy and numeracy is useful data. The real question is how can we effectively use those data?
My answer: As the basis for Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for all students.
If a student has demonstrated significant proficiency in math and literacy, then that student should be allowed to advance at an appropriate pace and be programmed into courses that would challenge them appropriately. For the student who shows deficiencies in one or more areas the question becomes how can we use these data to create support plans and programs for these students that can address those deficiencies and allow students to progress and maybe catch up with their peers? I am an educator. I believe in the power of education. Having data is a powerful tool in helping to design education programs that can benefit students. Having theses data can support the development of appropriate IEPs for students.
What about students who demonstrate significant deficiencies? My first thoughts would be, are there physiological or other reasons to account for these deficiencies? If so, how can they be best addressed? With the power of Biological real-time non-invasive imaging and the knowledge of Brain functioning we can use the science of Mind, Brain, Education to develop protocols to support all children. Even those with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
Probably, the greatest beauty here is that neither the medical imaging technology nor the access to appropriate expertise is prohibitively expensive and, as with all technology, the costs gets lower every year even as the techniques become more efficacious.
Gary Hornby has also struck on the importance of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).
The school system with which I work has also had to grapple with this. Students no longer get much of their social and emotional learning at home or in their community for multiple reasons. Gary has mentioned several of the reasons. The only obvious solution is then to make sure these skills are taught in school. A comprehensive Early Childhood through Secondary Social Emotional Learning program that is contextually relevant and culturally appropriate will have to be devised an implemented.
I am not proposing any quick fixes.
What I am proposing cannot be fully flushed out in a couple paragraphs in any article. I am hoping that the few statements I have shared at least begin a real conversation focused on real and lasting solutions. Solutions created, not by the artificial vilification of a tool that has the potential to be an effective support in an alternate solution, but solutions that can come out of the hard work of reflective professionals willing to listen, analyze, and develop real lasting solutions to the most important issues to any parents; the future of their children.
I am willing to engage in this work and I am sure there are others.