Improved test scores will require long term commitment
Last week the results of this year’s Primary School Examination were released … and like the rest of the media we dutifully honoured the country’s top scorers. But beyond the students’ well deserved accolades, the rest of the scores have a more significant meaning to the nation’s educational system. News Five’s Kendra Griffith reports.
Kendra Griffith
The problems facing Belize?s educational system are not exactly a mystery, and every year they come to the forefront with the release of results of the Primary School Examination.
This June was no different. Five thousand nine hundred and fifteen students in approximately two hundred and eighty-two primary schools sat the two-day test. And while there were improvements in the Math and Science scores, English and Social Studies saw a fall. Most importantly, none of the subjects? national mean percentage went above sixty, a score designated as merely satisfactory by the Exam council.
Maude Hyde, Chief Education Officer
?I think we can look around us and agree that reading has taken a second or maybe third place or maybe even less in many, many homes. Reading needs to be encouraged.?
The Ministry of Education says they are working diligently to solve the problems, especially in English.
Maude Hyde
?The Ministry has partnered with the joint Board of Teacher Education to launch a programme Caribbean Centre of Excellence in Teacher Training. And that programme particularly targets using methods in reading to get children to want to read more. That programme has proven the most successful recently to bring students reading and comprehension ability to higher levels.?
Alan Genitty, Deputy Chief Education Officer
?Another initiative on the part of the ministry of Education in addressing the language arts curriculum, we are presently revising the language art curriculum to make it more user friendly and this summer we will be doing countrywide training of all teachers.?
Jamuna Vasquez, Hummingbird Elementary
?I think the first thing that we need to address is the fact that a majority of our children go to school and that English is not their first language.?
According to educators, more reading is not a quick fix to the problem. They say that the key to improve the students? scores lies in the way the language is taught.
Jamuna Vasquez
?We need to start teaching English as a second language. Our kids can do much better overall if we start addressing that. I think that?s the first place where we need start addressing. They are not comfortable taking the exams in English and I think that?s the first areas we need to look at.?
Diana Azueta, Teacher, Grace Primary
?Most children now don?t speak English, it?s not a first language in the home, so that?s another factor. And so unless we can show them the importance of speaking English and understanding English they will have no interest and without the interest the level falls.?
When we asked educators of this year?s three top performers the key to their success, they all agreed on one thing: don?t wait until the last minute.
Diana Azueta
?If I am to be honest, we start from standard four. We don?t wait for standard six. For me I think that it?s working on attitudes because your attitude will determine how far you?re going to go. See, we work on attitudes first and setting goals and to get the students to believe that they could achieve and then we worked on all the subjects, the skills and then the understanding.?
Jamuna Vasquez
?Well we start preparing really early. We actually started preparing from the lower division. We try to bring all the teachers to see how we have a continuation, because the exam is really looking at the whole primary school, how the children have fared in the whole primary years, so we start preparing very early. When we get into middle division, we are aware that the exam in coming up and that we are preparing them to take that exam. So in standard six what teacher does is a lot of reviewing, covers a few topics and we just focus in on what we need to get done.?
Deanna Nisbet, Principal, Belize Elementary
?We actually begin from I would say pre-kinder. In pre-kinder we have a very structured programme and teachers work very hard both in lower, middle and upper division. I think it?s about preparing them from the moment they start school and I think that is where our success lies. Of course it also lies with the hard work of our teachers. They work very with the teachers, they are very dedicated and they demand a lot of them.?
But teachers alone do not educate a child.
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
?How important is parental involvement??
Deanna Nisbet
?Extremely important and I will say also that in our case, we still could improve in parental involvement. I mean I think overall and maybe I shouldn?t say this, but I think overall our parents are not paying enough attention to their children. I think that we need to work with them more, we need to listen to them more.?
Jamuna Vasquez
?Parents are the first teachers, and I think that is dropping through a lot nowadays. Parents don?t pick up their part of the responsibility. Schools are very important, but I think parents are the children?s main teachers and the encouragement from home to learn, to study, is extremely important. I?m sure if you talk to all the children who did well, they had a lot of parental support, so that?s vital.?
Alan Genitty
?The managers must play a very important role, principals as education leaders within the institution must put in certain interventions to address these areas of weakness within the system within the school, and parents must play a very, very key role in assisting with the education of their children.?
And until all these vital pieces fall into place we should not expect to see much better results in the Primary School Exam.
Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
This year the Ministry of Education highlighted several schools which have consistently increased their P.S.E. standing. They include Crooked Tree Government School, Pancotto Methodist, Grace Primary, La Immaculada, St. Andrews, and Holy Redeemer to name a few.
