New chief outlines fresh school plans

A review of the current curriculum in schools across the island is underway.

This was made clear by the island’s new Chief Education Officer, Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, who said details of that amended curriculum could be made available by the end of the week.

In her first public appearance since being appointed to the post on August 18, Dr Archer-Bradshaw explained that the COVID-19 pandemic and the switch to online learning meant there was a need for the syllabus content to be revamped.

“In regard to the curriculum content, we also understand that we cannot teach the entire syllabus for each term as we had done in the past. As a result, the officers at the Ministry of Education are currently reviewing the syllabus and they are identifying those topics and those concepts that are germane to students’ functioning. This information will be shared with principals and teachers by the ending of the week,” Dr Archer-Bradshaw revealed this afternoon during a press conference to announce the results of the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination (BSSEE).

Maintaining that it could not be business as usual at the Ministry of Education, Dr Archer-Bradshaw said it was not only about teaching the content but also teaching the student.

“We have to make a special effort to ensure that our children’s needs are met. With that, when we begin the term this September we encourage all teachers to perform diagnostic assessments for their children.

“We’re accustomed to employing assessment of learning practices and I encourage you even more to employ assessment for learning. It will not only be about teaching the content but we will focus on teaching the student, ensuring that the student understands,” Dr Archer-Bradshaw said.

The chief education officer said teachers would also be furnished with information pertaining to each student entering first form.

“We understand also that teachers cannot teach in a vacuum or they just can’t teach with the information they have collected in the two weeks. As such, the Ministry of Information will provide pertinent information on each child to the secondary schools. We will do this by means of student profiles, we will also send reports to the secondary schools so that teachers can have a better understanding of the deficits of our children,” Dr Archer-Bradshaw said.

“We advise them also to place the students into groups that they can adequately address all deficits…We want to ensure that whatever we do is meaningful and relevant.”

Dr Archer-Bradshaw also encouraged remediation, which she described as “extremely important”.

She said as continuous training was “high on the chart” for the ministry, teachers would be provided with opportunities at the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College.

The chief education officer said the ministry was also exploring linkages with a university in Finland to provide training for teachers in digital pedagogy.

Dr Archer-Bradshaw said that a Mental Health and Wellness Committee has been established to help students deal with mental health issues and that the ministry had been meeting with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) to discuss how to get students more active physically.

She also said student councils would be revised to give students a voice in pointing out the issues affecting them. (RB)