New climate school to lead education reform

Barbados is set to break ground on its first-ever climate school within the year, as Prime Minister Mia Mottley on Tuesday announced a major step in the government’s education reform agenda, including the creation of a state-of-the-art Chelston Academy.

She made the announcement about The Chelston Academy during the opening of the multimillion-dollar Oceana Innovation Hub on Bay Street.

The school is to be located at Chelston Park, Collymore Rock and will be developed in partnership with the XQ Institute—an American non-profit organisation that describes itself as dedicated to reimagining high school. The climate school will be followed by another dedicated to robotics and artificial intelligence, said Mottley. No details about this school were announced.

“With respect to the Ministry of Education’s transformative process as we go forward, the work that will be done at Chelston will start shortly and will be undertaken over the course of the next year,” she revealed.

The prime minister described the partnership with the XQ Institute as a strategic move to ensure Barbadian students are equipped to thrive in an increasingly complex global environment.

“We can lead the world by creating the Barbados Climate School, which will focus on persons from fourth form and fifth form, the lower sixth and upper sixth,” Mottley said. “On a parallel track, we will also create a similar school for robotics and AI because without these tools of resilience and inquisitiveness and capacity, our children are liable to become victims of this world rather than shapers of their destiny and firm craftsmen of their fate.”

The government’s partnership with the Oakland, California-based XQ Institute to develop the Chelston Academy as a climate school represents one of the first major international applications of XQ’s approach, which is better known in American education.

Formed ten years ago in Oakland, California, the institute launched the XQ Super School Project as an open call for innovative, student-centred high school models, resulting in over 10 000 participants and the awarding of more than US$100 million (BDS$200 million) in grants to support the most promising ideas across the United States. 

XQ works in partnership with educators, communities, and policymakers to redesign schools using research-backed design principles, with a focus on fostering critical thinking, collaboration, and lifelong learning among students. The institute is also known for its collaborations with major educational organisations and its commitment to equity and excellence in education.

Prime Minister Mottley, addressing Tuesday’s Oceania opening, stressed that the transformation of Barbados’ education system would not happen overnight but required sustained commitment from all education stakeholders.

“The government is committed to doing this through a multi-year process. It is the early learning that makes the difference. It is the early diagnosis that makes the difference. I therefore thank you in the Ministry of Education, in spite of all that you have to endure, for you staying the course and recognising that the process of transformation in education is not a one-year or two-year process,” she said.

She also had a message for school leaders and parents: “You are the leaders that will make the difference for the kind of children that we will raise in this country, working in partnership with the parents.” 

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb