PISA results: Jamaica should aim to be at the top in 2027
THE GLEANER published, on January 24, the results of the performance of students f rom Jamaica on examinations related to Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). One of the areas highlighted was the relatively poor performance of our students in mathematics compared to students from OECD countries.
This prompted me to do two things.
First, to revisit two recommendations from my public lecture in March 2021 titled: Education Transformation in Jamaica: from crawling to flying.
The number one recommendation is that we should not focus on incremental changes such as a three per cent increase in the performance of students: Grades 1 to 3 in core subjects such as mathematics. Science and English i n CXC examinations. We should instead go for dramatic changes such as 40 per cent improvement in the performance of students at grades 1 and 2 in these subjects in CXC examinations.
The major purpose of this analogy was to reinforce the point that education transformation is about radical and dramatic changes in our education system.
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATION
A specific recommendation is that we should target our students from our secondary level institutions placing in the top three countries in the world on PISA tests. Let us seek to achieve this by 2027.
Second, the review of the recent PISA results for our students also prompted me to bring an important historical event in 2019 to your attention.
The Mico University College hosted the inaugural International Mathematics Education Summit in 2019. This is the event on which I will make some further comments.
The summit was held under the theme: Mathematics Education for Sustainable Economic Growth and Job creation.
The summit was organised in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information. The college also collaborated with the Inter-American Development Bank and t he University of Plymouth United Kingdom Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching to stage this global event.
The summit brought together international presenters from Finland, Japan, United States of America, New Zealand, France and the United Kingdom, who joined with presenters from Jamaica to share knowledge, experience and expertise in the teaching of mathematics with participants from Jamaica and other CARICOM countries.
One of the international speakers from the OECD countries spoke on PISA, its role and the areas on which tests in mathematics, science and reading focused.
In the summit, special attention was given to teaching methodologies and strategies essential for preparing students to acquire important competencies, these competencies i nclude important areas such as critical thinking, complex problemsolving, creativity and innovation. These competences will enable graduates to function effectively with a high level of productivity in the workplace of the future which will be shaped by rapid changes in technologies, especially artificial intelligence applications.
What is important to note and have national conversations about are some of the recommendations from this summit. Also what actions have been taken and how actions on these recommendations can be used to improve the performance of our Jamaican students on the PISA tests, CXC Examinations and Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT).
MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS
Major recommendations from the International Mathematics Summit 2019
1. Internationalising of mathematics testing, measurement and teaching in Jamaica through linking with the PISA.
2. Preparation of teachers for assisting students to perform at the highest level in mathematics by focusing on building pedagogical skills and competencies of mathematics teachers to: –address students’ misconceptions and errors in mathematics and their fear for mathematics
– provide students the opportunity to showcase their creativity and innovation in mathematics The performance of our Jamaican students on the PISA tests is consistent with performance of our students in mathematics and science in CXC Examinations. So this is yet another wake-up call for national action to have dramatic improvement in the performance of our students in mathematics and science. These are the foundation subjects for realising our aspirations for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) subjects to which we are giving national priority attention in our education transformation agenda.
A good place to start is the implementation of these major recommendations.
The most important point in these recommendations is the urgent need for emphasis on teacher education and training in the teaching of mathematics. This should be expanded to include the teaching of science both the individual subject areas physics, chemistry and biology as well integrated science, a major issue is that countries outside of Jamaica have similar needs for competent teachers in these areas. Hence they are recruiting our best teachers in these subject areas. In order to compensate for the impact of teacher migration in these subject areas I’m recommending two strategies:
1. A special teacher education and training programme, which should focus on teaching – learning methodologies for mathematics and science. These methodologies should include the use of a mix of psychometric tests – personality, emotional intelligence, aptitude and achievement – as well as the use of artificial intelligence apps in teaching courses.
The following groups should be targeted:
• Students in teacher education institutions
• Lecturers in all colleges and universities
• Teachers currently serving in our schools – early education, primary, secondary – and HEART/NSTA Trust.
2. Use the strategy of over training – training more teachers than we need in these subject areas to compensate for migration of teachers in these subject areas.
Let us commit to achieve the mission critical objective of Education Transformation: Jamaica among the top three countries in the world in mathematics, science and English on the PISA Tests in 2027.