PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION

IN THE CARIBBEAN

Edited by Ruby King and Halden Morris

The Institute’s Annual reappears after an absence of two years, in 2003, the fortieth anniversary of the Institute of Education at Mona. The Annual showcases the research and development interests and work of the academic staff of the Institute. It also welcomes contributions from other educators. This issue, Perspectives on Education in the Caribbean, features articles on wide-ranging areas of education by leading researchers in their respective fields.

The Institute of Education was established in 1963 at the request of governments of the Commonwealth Caribbean and was given a dual mandate; to carry out indigenous research in education and to promote teacher training and the development teachers’ colleges in the region.

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Contents

Introduction

Viewpoint

1. Challenges Facing the OECS Education Sector: The Case of St. Kitts & Nevis
Timothy Harris

Information Technology in Education

2. Critical Ingredients for Integrating Information Technology into the Education System
Halden Morris

Developments in Secondary Education

3. Teacher Turnover in Schools in the Reform of Secondary Education Project, 1993-1997.
Errol Miller

4. Starting from Scratch: CXC Music Examinations for Caribbean Schools.
Joan Tucker

Curriculum in Teacher Education

5. Teacher Education and Teaching Quality in Cuban Schools
Hyacinth Evans

6. Infusing Key Issues of Sustainability in the Teaching of Literature
Lorna Down

7. The Revised Jamaican Teacher Education Curriculum: Stakeholders’ Responses to the Language Arts and Social Studies Components

Clement Lambert & Vileitha Davis-Morrison

Introduction

The Institute of Education Annual is a fully refereed publication of the Institute of Education on the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies and is a vehicle for the dissemination of the department’s research and development. This, the fourth issue, appears after an absence of two years and commemorates the establishment of the Institute forty years ago. The title Perspectives on Education in the Caribbean has been selected because the papers discuss situations and developments in several Caribbean states. The first paper, “Challenges facing the OECS Education sector: The case of St. Kitts & Nevis,” appears first as a new feature: Viewpoint. It was originally presented to the School of Education, Mona, as a contribution to a panel discussion on “Challenges facing the OECS Education System”. In this paper the author Timothy Harris, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Education, presents background information on St. Kitts & Nevis and on its education system. We learn that unlike most other Caribbean countries, St. Kitts & Nevis has achieved universal access to both primary and secondary education and has also been able to equip all public schools, both primary and secondary with a computer lab. He outlines the country’s investment in education and lists the major achievements to date. In addition, he examines a number of challenges related to the teaching profession, student attrition and school violence. He concludes that the challenges may be addressed by curriculum renewal in teacher education, by the allotment of greater resources to education and by the increased involvement of the community in the life of the schools.

The other papers are organized into three sub-themes: Information technology in education, Developments in secondary education and Curriculum in teacher education. In the information technology in education paper, Halden Morris identifies and describes the elements and their ingredients that are considered critical for integrating information technology into the education system. These are: motivated people, adequate hardware, appropriate software, an informative website and an efficient Internet service provider. He identifies planning as a key factor in the successful integration of information technology in schools. This paper is important for policy-makers, planners, and school administrators who wish to introduce information technology.