Creating pathways to success for every child
THERE IS no secret that successive governments have done a terrible job at ensuring the nation’s youth are educated. Sadly, despite t remendous investment which have led to some improvements, most of our students still leave school without certification.
The data suggest that at the end of each school year there are approximately 40,000 students who complete their required five years of secondary school in one of the 171 high schools across the country. However, most students do not leave school with certification. At the end of 2019, for example, only 38.2 per cent of the grade 11 cohort obtained five subjects, including math and English (9,234), five subjects including English only (4,235), or five including math only (392). In 2018, the percentage of students obtaining five or more subjects was 36.2 per cent, 33.5 per cent in 2017, 33.3 per cent in 2016 and 34.1 per cent in 2015.
Additionally, between 2015 and 2020, nearly 5,000 students repeated grade 11 in secondary schools and there are many attending one of many independent schools offering CSEC. The education ministry reports that at the end of grade 11, around 27,000 students do not typically have an option available to them in the secondary school system because they were unable to attain the required subjects that would allow them to matriculate to sixth form or a tertiary learning institution (TLI). What an awful reality!
Given the situation, it is clear we have failed miserably in ensuring every child learns and is empowered to achieve their fullest potential. A plethora of reports point to several challenges such as teenage pregnancy, high-school dropout, a large uncertified labour force and an appallingly large number of unattached youths in communities, among other things. These should concern all of us and jolt the Government into action to do everything in its power to create pathways for success for every child in every nook and cranny of this country.
About two weeks ago, the education ministry launched the Sixth Form Pathways Programme (SFPP) which is expected to expand access to learning opportunities for students in secondary schools. SFPP has five options (or we can call them pathways) and caters to students’ diverse interests and needs. It extends and mandates a seven-year high school programme, instead of five, to, inter alia, provide additional time to ensure students leave school with an associate degree, CSEC and City & Guilds subjects, vocational qualification, or CAPE Diploma or Associates Degree. 135,000 students are expected to benefit over the next five years.
WIDESPREAD ATTENTION
The announcement attracted widespread attention and mixed reaction from parents, educators, commentators and concerned citizens. Questions have been raised about the need for the SFPP, the demand for a sevenyear programme, what makes it different, and what challenges it is expected to address. Concerned stakeholders have also asked about what is being done to reduce the number of students who finish grade 11 who do not obtain five or more subjects.
As I understand it, SFPP is not a panacea; it is merely one of a plethora of interventions being pursued to give more of our students a pathway to success. These interventions include those under the Brain Builders Centres for children up to three years, and the modernisation of basic schools to create infant departments and support them to meet the ECC Registration and 12 Standards Certification for early childhood institutions. At the primary school level, there is the standardised assessment for learning, learning support intervention and assignment of math and literacy coaches to underperforming schools to provide clinical support in numeracy and literacy. In high schools, there are math and literacy coaches too, access to the student support pathway coaches, and personal development and psychosocial support. This list is of course not exhaustive, and the interventions may not be in every single school. Of course, we can debate the effectiveness and the impact of these initiatives and suggest that there ought to be greater synergy but that would require a separate commentary.
I strongly believe the Government has a duty to provide more options and opportunities in the secondary school system for every student to be given a fair chance to achieve their fullest potential. The traditional pathways – sixth form, and college and university for those who do well is insufficient. While the number of students enrolled has increased significantly, too few students are benefiting from this option. On average, just about 9,236 students access the traditional sixth form annually out of a cohort of 40,000 students. This is an increase from 3,162 across 53 schools in 2010. Today, 153 schools offer a sixth form programme and there are 9,482 students in lower six and 5,195 in upper six.
WELL INTENTIONED
Based on my research, the Sixth Form Pathways Programme seems well intentioned and, if implemented properly, would serve the nation well. In the 2020/2021 school year, SFPP was piloted in some schools among 5,222 students with 78 per cent of them returning for year two despite the challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic. It’d be good if we can hear from some of them and their parents/guardians about how the programme has been.
A seven-year programme isn’t particularly unusual and is seemingly in keeping with what is done in many countries. A quick review of data provided by the World Bank revealed that, save for the Caribbean and some countries in Latin America and Africa, students in many countries typically spend between six and eight years in secondary school. Already, many of our students redo subjects in government-funded and independent schools and enrol in vocational programmes. I therefore cannot fathom the resistance to formalising what obtains and bringing them into the public school system. Of course, it’d be great if our students perform better academically to reduce the need for so many of them to redo subjects in grades 12 and 13 under this new programme.
The Government cannot continue to leave so many students behind. We cannot continue to toss so many of our students out of the system at the end of grade 11 with nary a concern for what they do next. Perhaps concerns should be more focused on issues related to school readiness such as physical space, resources, materials, teachers, etc, awareness among parents/guardians and students, and stakeholder buy-in. Let’s also ask what the implementation of the programme will look like and how the ministry plans to monitor and evaluate its successes as well as apply the lessons learned.
Let’s create pathways for success for every child while at the same time aggressively address the issues across the education system so every school offers all our students a fair chance of success like traditional high schools that do well.