CXC announces new C-TECH qualification in ‘character building’

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) on Tuesday announced a new qualification –C-TECH – to certify the building of character of secondary school students, in a bid to offer more than just academic qualifications,

Addressing the inaugural Ministerial Summit on Educational Assessment, CXC Registrar and Chief Executive Officer Dr Wayne Wesley said the aim is to reduce the number of secondary school students leaving without certification.

He said the regional exam body’s Research, Insights and Production Innovation Department has started discussing a new design of the framework for the award of a new certificate to be named the Caribbean Technical Education Certificate (C-TECH).

“C-TECH will be a broad-based qualification geared towards character development, technical and applied competencies for employment, entrepreneurship and good citizenry; in other words a sense of regional pride,” he said.

C-TECH is intended to give opportunities to as many secondary school students as possible through regional certification while they decide on sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) or Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) in the future, said the registrar.

Dr Wesley said: “The C-TECH would represent the minimum competencies for an individual to perform in society while providing opportunities for students to continue to pursue the CSEC and CAPE at an appropriate time of readiness.”

The CXC Registrar said that approach would provide equity with all qualifications issued by CXC, ensuring that parity is placed on qualifications.

Citing the World Economic Forum’s 2016 report on ‘New Vision For Education, Fostering Social and Emotional Learning Through Technology’, he said there are 16 critical skills for the 21st century that students should achieve. These, he said, fall into the categories of functional literacy, competencies and character qualities.

The CXC virtual summit is being held under the theme, Facilitating Transformation Through Assessment, and is a high-level dialogue among education policymakers from across the region.

CXC said the agenda will include roundtable discussions where participants will explore the curriculum policy in various territories, with particular emphasis on new topical areas for learning, approaches in teaching and strategies for assessment.

Regional education ministers are expected to share their perspectives and national experiences during the three roundtable discussions scheduled for the summit.

“These discussions around critical education transformation issues which affect the region’s education system will play a critical role in the development of CXC and the region,” the CXC said in a statement. (BT/CMC)