MoE to Include Families in Literacy Campaign
Rose Bradley
Doctor Rose Bradley was also asked why students are still struggling with reading and writing in the primary school classrooms. She says that a number of factors are at play, but it is expected that the new and dynamic teaching strategies, combined with empowering families, may have a positive overall impact on how students do in school.
Dr. Rose Bradley, Literacy Consultant, MoE
“One of the challenges that I know especially in some of the schools we are working on, is the early stimulation. By the time the students get to us, they are already five and sometimes that is a little bit late. Even though we are talking about reading and writing, the oral language development and the early stimulation is very important. And sometimes in the home situation they are not getting that. So, those early skills or the foundation skills are very important. And so that is one of the reasons why we struggle with literacy in the schools. And then, too, when we get them we have to realize that Infant 1, Infant II, Standard I are very critical years and so we really have to emphasize that if nothing else, the students learn to read, write, communicate and be able to think critically because that is going to affect their academic performance right across the board.”
Andrea Polanco
“Is there anything the Ministry would consider, or perhaps already doing, in terms of empowering communities, families, parents, to play a part in this?”
Dr. Rose Bradley
“Right. One of the things that we are working on is creating a national policy to sensitize others n the community, because, right, it is not just the schools. But we also want for families to play a critical role and sometimes, too, I think because families, a lot of the mothers are younger too and they don’t understand the whole importance of interacting with the child. There are a lot of things that you can do in the home. You don’t really have to buy fancy toys, but there are things in the home that you can use and play time – getting the child to talk and interacting with the child from an early age and setting those foundation skills in.”
