Update on new blueprint for replacing ‘Common Entrance’ by month-end’

The Ministry of Education declared Monday that it has developed a new framework to replace the Common Entrance Examination.

Education authorities are also mulling the introduction of a Lower First Form in a bid to make up for the educational deficits suffered by students during the pandemic, according to the ministry’s Director of Education Reform Dr Idamay Denny.

She would give no details to journalists on the abolition of the exam, known formally as the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination (BSSEE). She gave an assurance that by month-end, the public will be given an update on its progress.

“We have already developed a draft framework for the new structure of the system,” said Dr Denny. “I know most people would have heard the Government say that we are looking to get rid of the Common Entrance. We are looking at the development of a new structure that takes the interest and the needs of all of our students into consideration and I know Barbados is wondering what is happening in that regard.

“So we have developed a draft framework that we are discussing internally now and which we intend to bring to our stakeholders very, very shortly. Our stakeholders being our schools, our principals and our teachers and then the general public, and once we have had feedback from these consultations then we are going to make some final decisions which we will communicate to Barbados during the course of the upcoming year so that you are aware of how we plan to pursue the change in the structure of the system.”

No timeline has been worked out for the formulation of the new framework though she insisted that the public would learn more by September 30.

She told reporters: “It is difficult to say we are going to complete it by x time because there are a number of things we have to put in place and we must have those consultations and we must consider the feedback that we get from the consultations. But one of the things we are going to do, that we are committed to doing is making sure that as we go along we keep you informed.

“So I may not be able to tell you right now that we are going to have a final programme for you by the end of September or by the end of October, but I can commit to telling you that at the end of September we can tell you where we are and how much more we have to go.”

She maintained that the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the need for curriculum reform, though the Mottley administration had signalled its intention to abolish the BSSEE early in its term.

Of the coming reform, Dr Denny would only say that critical changes were also required at the secondary level while the exam is being abolished.

She said secondary principals had recently met with management at the Barbados Investment Development Corporation (BIDC) to discuss new subject areas.

“I believe that as we go forward and strike up that alignment with the BIDC we are going to see a number of very important changes and additions to our curriculum, especially at the secondary level, changes that are going to help our children to become more engaged…That is a critical plank of our reform efforts,” Dr Denny said.

Government is also in full support of a recent suggestion by the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) that some students be allowed to take another year because of the learning deficits caused by the pandemic, she said, adding that the Ministry of Education itself had previously recommended it.

“I don’t think it was the BUT that made the suggestion…but I made the point that one of the plans we were putting to the secondary principals was that they might have to institute lower first forms in order to deal with some of the deficits that the children came to them experiencing,” Dr Denny said.

“So the ministry is fully in support of it because it is a suggestion that came from the ministry at the outset. We are not saying that all schools should do this but we are saying that when those secondary schools get a list of children that have been assigned to them in the coming days then they need to look at the performance and make decisions as to whether they will need to institute [a] lower first [form].”

(randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)