Welcome to UWISpace, The University of the West Indies Institutional Repository for Research and Scholarship
This archive was established by the UWI Libraries to support the dissemination of knowledge by providing open access to the digitally preserved intellectual output of the University. Here we aim to collect together in one place the research and scholarship of members of the UWI community. UWISpace provides a platform for the collection, organisation, access and preservation of scholarly information in digital formats.
Departments and individuals wishing to deposit their research material in the UWISpace archive can email the administrators, or phone (868) 662 2002, Exts. 84419, 82241, 82215 at The Alma Jordan Library, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago.
All items in the UWISpace repository are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
Courtesy: The Caribbean Charts and Engravings Circa 1555-1818. The Alma Jordan Library. The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.
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Recent Submissions
The E-Learning High School Project in Jamaica and its effects on Students’ Attainment at the end of Compulsory Schooling
(2022) Pitter, Granville William
Integrating ICTs into schools is important in educational reform worldwide. Several studies have been published about e-learning and ICTs' effectiveness in the classroom and by extension on high stakes school leaving examinations. Despite the implementation of e-learning projects in developing countries such as Jamaica, a significant number of projects used different measures to determine goal achievement. This study evaluated the effects of the E-Learning High School Project Pilot (e-LHSPP) on students’ attainment at the end of compulsory schooling. A total of 68 schools, 26 pilots, and 42 other schools were included in the study. Administrative archival quantitative indirect data and documents were collected from the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC), the Ministry of Education, and other government agencies in the piloted subjects of English language, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, and Information Technology. An evaluative research design using a quantitative approach with indirect data and pre-existing administrative archival documents as data was used in the document analysis. The quantitative analysis results revealed that the e-LHSPP showed very small increases in students’ performance of less than 1 average GPA point in mathematics, chemistry, and Information Technology in 2009 and chemistry and Information Technology in the spillover year 2010. The results for both years were not statistically significant and the effect sizes for each of the subjects were small. The document analysis produced five themes which are (1) Technological support for success, (2) Key stakeholders' involvement and outcome, (3) Institutions' contribution to the eLHSPP, (4) Supervision of the project, and (5)The resources available to the eLHSPP. The supervision of the e-LHSPP at all levels needed improvement, the ICT equipment, for the most part, was adequate but there were shortcomings in student preparation, administrative inefficiencies between agencies, ICT integration training for teachers, and online access to educational databases.
It takes a village to raise a child: School, family, and community involvement in high schools in Jamaica
(2022) McPherson, Marisa Alicia
Research indicates that schools that involve the family and community in a mutual and collaborative relationship are generally more successful. This relationship is endorsed by all stakeholders as a launchpad to boost the academic performance of children, increase school retention, motivate students, and strengthen families and communities. However, despite the compelling case for school, family, and community involvement, there is relatively little empirical evidence documenting its merits (practice and subsequent outcomes) in developing countries including Jamaica. A qualitative case study of four Jamaican high schools was employed to document the merits of school, family, and community involvement, and data was collected using interviews, observations, and document reviews. Epstein’s Theory of Overlapping Spheres of Influence and six typologies of school, family, and community involvement helped guide the research to facilitate the comparison of the ways in which schools that have been ranked high and low- performing by the National Education Inspectorate, Jamaica involve the family and community. The research looked at the strategies schools used, the possible outcomes of this involvement, and the challenges faced. The study offers a revised theoretical framework of Epstein’s model applicable to the Jamaican context and, potentially, to similar developing countries. Key findings reveal that both high and low-performing schools experience challenges in involving the families and communities, but the high-performing schools are intentional and make school, family, and community involvement a priority. The high-performing schools have strong leadership, and their involvement programmes are multidimensional and linked to particular areas of engagement. These schools exude an atmosphere of positivity and ii commitment to the process; they are student-focussed; they build relationships, collaborate, and form partnerships with stakeholders; and family and community involvement is a schoolwide initiative. This led the schools to experience the greatest overlap with the family and community based on Epstein’s theory. In addition, this study shows that leadership is crucial to the success of a school, family, and community involvement programme. Therefore, it is proposed that leadership be embedded at the centre of Epstein’s model. This research provides some benchmarks for further similar studies in Jamaican or international school settings, especially in developing countries, and provides critical information for families, teachers, policymakers, and school officials attempting to design and implement family and community involvement initiatives. The study also identifies key implications for further research, policy, and practice for education policy planners. Keywords: school, family and community involvement, school and family involvement, school and community involvement, low-performing schools, high-performing schools, high school, Jamaica.
Principles of higher education institutions in postcolonial Barbados: A study using life history as a decolonizing methodology
(2016-06) Butcher-Lashley, Jean
Life stories of indigenous or colonized peoples can be located within a decolonizing agenda. Our biographies can influence our professional life. However, if not contextualized or examined against the social, political, cultural or whatever context from which they originate, our biographies and life stories can be disempowering and assist in ‘fortifying patterns of dominance’ (Goodson, 2013, p. 5). I take a decolonizing life history approach to explore the biographies of Barbadian higher education principals working at particular times within the island’s recent history from the period 1987 to the present. This approach allows me to see how the stories of principals are set within a colonial, sociohistorical, political context imbedded with the meta-narratives of a colonial hegemony still in existence within a Barbadian context. In various ways this affected the way principals functioned in the professional sphere. It may therefore be necessary to include in training programmes, space for principals or persons in leadership positions to reflect on their life experiences and to attempt to contextualize those life experiences.
Barbados’s Trident: A Multipronged Approach to Combatting Childhood Obesity through Advocacy, Policy, and Education
(2024-02) Dumé, Gabrielle; Sullivan, Megan T.; Syed, Adib A.; Vij, Pritika; Wang, Yufeng; De Souza-Kenney, Leanne
The focal point of the Barbadian Flag, the trident, is said to represent a break away from British colonialism, with the three spokes symbolizing the creation of a government of, by, and for the people. In 2007, against a backdrop of the increasing presence of noncommunicable diseases, the Caribbean community convened at the Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago to produce a declaration directly targeted at combatting and preventing such diseases. Barbados has one of the highest levels of commitment to this declaration. This report details the manner in which Barbados was able to achieve success in combatting childhood obesity by using a “trident” of advocacy, policy, and education as well as the challenges it has and will face in the process. We explore Barbados’s multifaceted approach to combatting childhood obesity and describe the contributors to childhood obesity, initiatives undertaken to combat it, barriers to the success of these initiatives, and strategies for future implementation. Holistic, cross-sectoral, and people-centric policymaking have been crucial to the country’s approach, made possible by an active partnership between government and civil society organization.
A Night of Their own
(1965) Abrahams, Peter
Manuscript of "A Night of Their Own" previously "This Passing Night". It looks at an underground movement working against apartheid in South Africa tries to enlist the sympathies of the Indian minority in Natil.