Broomes hails 11-plus go-ahead

Veteran educator Jeff Broomes has backed Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw’s greenlight of the common entrance exam, despite Government’s plans to scrap the test. The ‘Eleven-plus’ is to be held on July 14.

He told Barbados TODAY: “It had to happen. I agree with this move. This has always been my position. I think we got bright intelligent people leading our country who will make good decisions and this is one example of that. I am pleased that our children will get an opportunity to show their worth. These children have worked really hard,” he said.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the exam, originally set for May 5, was postponed. Bradshaw also announced that the Class 4 students will return to the classroom from June 15 to allow for six weeks of face-to-face teaching to prepare for the examination.

Last month, during an interview with Barbados TODAY, Broomes urged authorities to allow the examination to go on, and argued that there is currently no system in place for an alternative method of assessment.

“High schools in America don’t worry about nothing so you know because they have a high school diploma which is based on continuous assessment. What you get in ninth grade, tenth grade, go forward and if you miss the last term it does not matter because you have accumulated enough credits,” he said.

“Maybe this experience should direct education leaders to appreciate the value of bringing continuous assessment into the structure. If they bring continuous assessment into the structure, if we cannot do the exam because of extenuating factors we will still have the records that can make a determination,” the educator added.

Last month, Broomes, who has been assisting Class 4 students with preparing for the examination through facilitating lesson sessions, launched a project to allow 11-Plus students to take a series of six online mock tests.

He said that the sessions had been going well and noted that he was also satisfied that the students will receive an opportunity to work closely with their teachers from next month. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb