Former education minister advises hold on 11-plus abolition, other changes

Former Minister of Education Ronald Jones is warning the government against rushing to transform the education system as the end result could be a “hodgepodge of madness”.

He contended that while reform was necessary, there was no need to completely change the system but rather tweak and adjust certain problematic aspects.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY following a prefect installation ceremony at the Arthur Smith Primary School on Tuesday, Jones was vehemently opposed to the Ministry of Education’s plan to introduce a two-stage secondary school structure, with Junior Colleges of Excellence for children 11-14 and Senior Colleges of Excellence for children 15-18.

“I don’t support fracturing the schools again into two pieces . . . . A school must be allowed, not in its fragmented form, to develop a culture of excellence in whatever it does,” he insisted.

Using Springer Memorial Secondary School as an example, Jones added: “Springer developed a culture of excellence in its sports and used that sports to develop a culture of excellence in its academics. And that’s why they got a sixth form that has been doing well in areas of excellence. Don’t dismantle that now by calling them a junior academy or senior school of excellence. If we go and rush headlong because we set up too quick a timeline, we’re gonna create a whole hodgepodge of madness.”

Jones said that while he is “not opposed to the reimagining or the transformation” of the education system, “it must be along the continuum that has been established over time to make sure that it works”.

Based on the proposals set out by the Ministry of Education, next year could be the last year students sit the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examinations (BSSEE), commonly referred to as the 11-plus exam. Jones said the exam should be improved rather than abolished.

He contended that primary school children should be exposed to various assessments throughout their journey which should go toward final grades when they leave the primary level; systems should be put in place for slow learners when they transition into secondary school; and teaching methods should be tailored to meet the needs of each child.

“There are a lot of things that we have to do before we reach [the point of] abandoning the 11-plus or not. What happens to a lot of the students’ work during their entire school life when they just do one exam? I still believe that there should be some retention of what we call the 11-plus or some assessment methodology. But I want students’ work over time in the schools to count for something. Right now, it is discarded and only what counts as something is the 11-plus when you go on one day and do English, Maths and Composition. That can’t be what learning is all about. It has to be a holistic framework.

“ . . . . At the level of Infants B or Class One, there must be a national assessment that will go home on their reports, that is collected and collated, that tells you of this child’s educational journey. So you do Maths, English, Science, Social Studies and Health, all part of that national assessment which contributes to your final exit exam, final exit grade,” Jones said, adding that there should be a National Assessment Bureau or division within the Ministry of Education.

He insisted that people all learn differently and that should be taken into account in the teaching and testing environment.

“I know children who after they were doing a comprehension couldn’t write one word on the paper but ask them a question on the same paper and they get all right because they are what we call audio learners. Other people are visual learners. So how do we capture those learning methodologies and other learning manifestations for students?

“We have pigeonholed the system too much into one particular assessment methodology . . . . We shouldn’t be too hasty to change the 11-plus but change the assessment methodologies. Even the fact that children have to sit the exam at a foreign school, we create this [feeling] that this is the biggest time of their life, so ‘we’re gonna move you out of your [school] because this thing is going to be [major]’. But we don’t need that,” the former teacher and education minister contended.

He added that technology could play a major role in improving the teaching and learning process. Jones said it is currently not being taken advantage of.

“We are into technology but yet we are not assessing children using the technology in a sensible way. Yes, people will talk about children cheating but we have long passed those modalities in education. The child who understands concepts can use any tool . . . . Once you set up your in-school arrangement and you manage that process, there’s nothing wrong in using the technology to carry out the assessment methodology or the assessment modalities. We are still scared of making great leaps in our assessments,” Jones said.

In this regard, he recommended that the government, with the help of non-governmental organisations, should ensure that each household with children had Internet access.

He said if Internet connectivity was not “widely available . . . many of our children are still going to be paddling”.

As it relates to the children considered “slow learners”, Jones said more emphasis should be placed on getting them ready for the 11-plus exam and even if they received low grades they should move on to secondary school.

However, he said that during their first years of learning at the secondary level, they should have to do foundational courses to address their deficits.

Regarding the proposed changes at secondary schools, Jones agreed that children should be allowed to stay in school until the age of 18 – a proposal put forward by the education ministry.

Jones said he submitted a document containing his suggestions on the reform process earlier this year to the office of the head of the education transformation oversight committee. He promised to share it with the public.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb