Strengthening of secondary education: Phase II - General curriculum: A study of five parishes. Final report to the Government of Jamaica and the United Nations Development Programme
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Date
Jul. 1988
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Faculty of Education, UWI
Abstract
This study sought to obtain information on the curriculum, curricular practices, and related matters in the all-age schools of five parishes in Jamaica-Kingston, St. Andrew, Clarendon, Manchester, and Trelawny. Survey data were obtained from all 165 all-age schools in these parishes, but the ethnographic investigation of curricular practices, innovations, problems, goals, needs, and beliefs was carried out in 10 schools-two in each parish. The study provided comprehensive data on the condition of the schools, and the nature and extent of the teaching and learning, that goes on in them. It also revealed the many sources of contradictions within the system, for example, there is a contradiction between students' and parents' goals and aspirations on one hand, and the curricular offerings on the other; there is a contradiction between the careers desired by students and the possibilities of access to those careers; there is a contradiction between teachers' views of teaching and definition of the teacher's role and the way in which teachers teach. The data indicated that students' lack of meaningful engagement in teaching/learning activities, and indeed their poor achievement in school are attributable to many factors, which can be grouped under three categories: physical and working conditions, teaching strategies, and organizational or school level practices