The new junior secondary schools of Jamaica

Abstract

This study sought to provide information on what was taking place within the junior secondary schools--an institutional innovation in Jamaica--by describing schools as they attempted to achieve their aims in their sociocultural milieux. The descriptive method was used to explain the similarities and differences in implementation of the official aims in four selected schools in different areas--a rural agricultural area, a rural small town, an urban depressed area, and a less depressed urban area. Data were gathered from the principals and teachers in structured interviews. Principals, teachers, Grade 9 students, school leavers, parents, and community leaders were further asked to select the three aims that they considered most important to the students in their community. Among the major findings were that: 1) the image of the academic grammar school as the ideal type secondary school tended to persist quite strongly among the students of the junior secondary school, their parents, and members of their communities; 2) nevertheless, with few exceptions, the comprehensive principle had been firmly established among the principals and teachers of these schools, despite their own grammar school background; 3) the staff of the schools had devised innovative programmes to serve their students' needs; and 4) the home economics programmes were performing an invaluable function in contributing towards the improvement of home and family life. It was concluded that the junior secondary programme, through its social and practical emphasis, represented a positive advance towards making secondary education more functional to Jamaica's national development