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By Dr. Dan C. Carter
Government Senator Lisa Cummins, Minister of Energy and Business Development, proclaimed very loudly in the Senate on November 17, 2022 that she was “a firm advocate for complete education sector reform”. She continued that she was “very clear on all occasions that I am a proponent of a complete deconstruction and reconstruction of the education system”.
This sentiment has since been made official policy by the substantive Minister of Education, Technology and Vocational Training, Kay McConney, whose ministry has published a document for public debate entitled Education Reform Brainstorming Session, August 2022. One of the three main planks of the proposed process is the abolition of the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination (BSSEE). The minister must be commended for taking this very bold step since it was the missing element in the White Paper on Education Reform published in 1995.
Near 30 years hence, we have seen the transfer of children from primary to secondary become the most controversial and acrimonious debate in education in Barbados. This situation has been inevitable since the Common Entrance Examination has continued to have a divisive impact on Barbadian society by perpetuating an educational system that puts citizen against citizen and sister against brother, based simply on the secondary school to which one is allocated.
This position has been best articulated by the President of the Barbados Union of Teachers, Rudy Lovell who stated: “We have a transfer system that puts the people from the heights and terraces in one school and puts the people from the villages in another school. As long as we maintain that system, then we are going to have those types of problems.”
Additionally, within the last two years, the constant commentary within education circles has been the very serious acts of violence within our secondary school system. One very chilling admission from one of the teacher union leaders is that all the disciplinary approaches seem to be failing. President of the Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools, Stephen Jackman, then laid out the steps taken by school administrators, with the assistance of the Ministry of Education, by increasing the number of guidance counsellors and the introduction of safety counsellors to help in curbing acts of violence among students. It must not be overlooked also that at all secondary schools there is security, albeit perhaps not enough. For example, I recently drove into the Princess Margaret Secondary School and was stopped by security personnel there. I am here addressing school security within the context of secondary schools.
While not singling out Frederick Smith Secondary School as a dysfunctional institution, nevertheless, because it has attracted such public attention within the past three years or so, I was inclined to comment on the school even before the most recent incident because it seemed to have fallen victim to a series of unfortunate incidents. From murder to on-compound assault, Mr. Jackman, who incidentally is the President of BAPPSS, must be the most concerned citizen in Barbados.
However, it is a fact that the Frederick Smith Secondary School, formerly known as the St. James Secondary School, formed part of our evolving secondary system since the 1950s when such schools were established. While they originally were seen as very distant cousins of the older grammar schools such as Harrison College and The Lodge and publicly ridiculed by a Barbadian society obsessed with the grammar school psyche, the newer secondary schools, after some 70 years, have become an important and integral part of the total secondary school system.
I believe, therefore, that the time is opportune for these once “newer secondary schools” to be treated as equal institutions within the Barbadian educational system. While the Education Act of 1981 legislatively created a unified system, it never however, removed the social disparities of class that defined post-colonial Barbados. For schools such as the Frederick Smith Secondary, their status will remain until the system rids itself of a practice, where the schools’ children are assigned based on a “one-shot” examination.
Such a system ensures that all children with similar aptitudes are herded into certain schools. The result is that schools such as Frederick Smith continue to be seen as second-class institutions. The public’s negative view of them is mirrored by their children, some of whom regret bitterly when informed that they have gained entry to these schools. It is particularly difficult, therefore, to expect these children to exhibit behaviours consistent with those of their peers who attend schools where Barbadian society feels are the “good” schools. Yet, the former newer secondary schools, in spite of their stigmatisation by the Barbadian public, have been able to produce exceedingly outstanding graduates and citizens.
I am not therefore convinced that increased security measures, as though these schools are penal institutions, are the best way forward. I always believe that school climate is very critical to the enrichment or decline of a school. For instance, I stepped on to the compound of The St. Michael School last year and was immediately impressed by the quiet and peaceful environment of the school. Remember, this school is a part of the traditional grammar school culture.
If the former newer secondary schools are to fully play their role in developing well-rounded citizens, then their primary school intake cannot be so decidedly skewed towards children getting 30 or less marks in the Common Entrance Examination. These schools must be given an equitable portion of the talents on transfer from primary to secondary. Teachers at these schools are competent and able to teach any child coming from the primary section. It must be frustrating to a school like Grantley Adams where their teachers are confronted yearly with an intake of students generally receiving below 30I’m marks.
The reform roll-out indicates that these secondary schools will now be given a fairer share of students with higher cognitive abilities; that these schools should experience a greater mix of abilities and that parental support will be a deciding factor in enhancing the status of these schools. Education minister McConney must be prepared to follow the words of her colleague, Senator Cummins and be prepared to “deconstruct” and “reconstruct” the educational system if it is to meet the demands of the 21st century.
Dr. Dan C. Carter is an educational historian and author.
