CXC and science: Some issues about Basic and General Proficiency

Abstract

This article discusses the definitions of Basic and General Proficiency in the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Secondary Education Certificate fact sheet and attempts to assess their implications for science programmes being developed by CXC. It views the Integrated Science (General) syllabus coverage as aiming more at finding the maximum load students can carry, than the minimum factual base needed to support the major concepts in science. Other issues raised are the need to indicate the percentage of the ability range to be accommodated by Basic; specification of teaching hours needed to complete the syllabus, and the possibility of overlap in examination papers