Exploring the context of Education

• Study of the History of Schooling in Jamaica 1866-1962
• A Study of Gender Differences in Academic Achievement at the Secondary Level
• Gender Perspectives on the School Experience: What Are the Issues?
• The Transition of Jamaican Students from Pre-school to Primary
• Interaction of Industrial Organizations with Educational Institutions
• Structure of Intellect Model among First-Form Students in Five High Schools across Jamaica
• Re-Analysis of the Factorial Structure of Psychometric Tests: A Preliminary Investigation

Publications

A Study of the History of Schooling in Jamaica, 1866–1962

Researcher: Dr. Ruby King
Sponsor/Cooperating Agency UWI, Mona Planning and Estimates Committee
Period Ongoing since 1990

Project Description

The focus of the investigation has been on the purposes and characteristics, and growth and development of elementary education as it evolved and was practised in Jamaica during the period of Crown Colony Government. In addition to documentary/archival research, the content of reading books, syllabi, and examination papers used in elementary schools and teachers colleges during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was analysed.

Findings
The roots of the present system were established during the same period when the culture of the elementary schools and the teachers colleges was being established, that is, 1892–1914. This confluence has been largely responsible for the intractability of the weaknesses in the system.

The research has been extended by research in the USA into how education for the ex-slaves there was structured and the substantial linkages between educators in Jamaica and the USA during the period. Indeed the research points to the existence of a community of educators in the North Atlantic during the late nineteenth century, with Jamaica playing a significant part.

Outcome

Several articles based on the research have been published in refereed journals or as chapters in books. The more recent publications are listed below. In addition, a book on the history of working-class education in Jamaica is being prepared.

Articles

• 1998. Educational inequality in Jamaica: The need for reform. In Institute of Education annual, vol. 1, ed. Ruby King, pp. 65–87. Kingston, Jamaica: Institute of Education, UWI, Mona.
• 2000. Violence and schools in Jamaica: Historical and comparative perspectives. In Institute of Education annual, vol. 3, ed. Hyacinth Evans, pp. 1–15. First read as a paper, “Violence in schools in Jamaica: Historical and comparative perspectives”, School of Education Forum on Education, November 1998.
• 2002. John A. Savage and the establishment of elementary education in Jamaica, 1863–1879. Caribbean Journal of Education 24 (1). April.

Chapters in Books

• 1998. Education in late-nineteenth-century Jamaica: the American connection. In Before and after 1865: Education, politics and regionalism in the Caribbean, ed. Brian Moore and Swithin Wilmot, pp.13–22. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers.
• 1999. Education in the British Caribbean: The legacy of the nineteenth century. In Educational reform in the Commonwealth Caribbean, ed. Errol Miller, pp. 25–45. Organization of the American States.
• 2000. History in the curriculum of public elementary schools in late-nineteenth-century Jamaica. In Dimensions of teaching and learning: The Caribbean experience, ed. Monica M. Brown, pp. 95–113. Kingston, Jamaica: Institute of Education, UWI, Mona.