SECONDARY EDUCATION: The Knife's Edge & The Future of Tertiary Education

By Dr. Didacus Jules

The United Nations Human Development Report of 2010 in reflecting on the last two decades of human progress observed:

“The past 20 years have seen substantial progress in many aspects of human development. Most people today are healthier, live longer, are more educated and have more access to goods and services. Even in countries facing adverse economic conditions, people’s health and education have greatly improved. And there has been progress not only in improving health and education and raising income,but also in expanding people’s power to select leaders, influence public decisions and share knowledge.”

Notwithstanding these gains, new vulnerabilities and unprecedented challenges have resulted in reversals in some countries. Pandemics, natural disasters and the near collapse of the world financial system have unraveled many gains of recent times.

National education systems in the Caribbean have been through successive education reform and “transformation” projects over the past three decades in particular and the results are textured. While there have been some significant results, we are yet to show meaningful systemic transformation or any universal improvement in performance to the levels anticipated by several of these reforms. The most outstanding result of these decades of effort has been huge improvements in access to education for the general population and for women in particular.

There are some common features of the reforms that have been undertaken. Firstly they have been largely sectoral – specific initiatives have been undertaken at a particular level of the system and invariably predicated on an analysis that suggests that focusing on that particular component of the education system would “correct” weaknesses or imbalances and lay a foundation for progress.

 Secondly the selection of the priorities for action has often originated from prescriptions promulgated by exogenous actors (the multilateral agencies, funders or consultants from think tanks and universities “abroad”). So the reforms were consistent with whatever was the prevailing “flavour of the day” – when funding was available for primary education, primary education became the priority focus; when curriculum reform was posited as the panacea for the problem of education, curriculum initiatives were the rage.

Education as an eco-system

These compartmentalized approaches to education reform have not yielded the anticipated results because we have failed to see the education system as an ecosystem. Just as in a natural biosystem, an education system works effectively when its interdependencies are balanced and work in symbiotic harmony. Changes in one domain –unless complemented and supported by changes in other related domains – will not yield the anticipated results.

If you change the curriculum, you must also change the way you train your teachers so that the delivery of the new curriculum can be optimized. Teachers must in turn change the way they teach; the schools must be equipped to support the delivery of the new curriculum; principals, curriculum officers and education officers must be oriented to supervisory modes that are reinforcive of the new curriculum; assessment must mirror the changes and accurately assess what is expected of the new curriculum.

Every level of the education system is interdependent on the other. Unattended weaknesses and deficiencies at one level only exacerbate the problem at the next level. Foundational weaknesses cannot contribute to competitive performance at the higher levels and what we see as the end product of the educational process is the concatenation of these weaknesses. All of this is further nuanced and impacted by external factors in the wider society, the community and the home. Put simplistically, poor early childhood development leads to weak primary performance which in turn translates into stunted secondary achievement which leads to mediocrity in tertiary education.

Status of secondary education in the region

The record of secondary education in the Caribbean is textured. Over the past 20 years, great progress was made in the provision of access to secondary education. By the year 2000, eight Caribbean countries for whom data was available recorded averages of 85% gross enrolment.

The graphic illustrates the dramatic increase in access achieved in some of the countries over the decades.

The statistics point to the strong political will exercised since the 1980s to significantly increase gross secondary enrolment. Dramatic movement from 76% to 94% in Grenada within ten years; moving from 37% in 1980s to 82% in 2000 in St. Vincent & the Grenadines; recording gains in Jamaica from 69% in 1980s to 87% in 2000 and  progressively improving in St. Lucia over two decades from 32% in 1980s to 74% by 2000.

For the Caribbean as a whole the movement from the 1970s to today has been impressive.

While this greater access signalled a greater democratization of education in the region, the insufficient attention paid to questions of quality has now created a different level of secondary education challenge. There are more boys and girls in secondary school but not enough is being done to cater for the diversity of that expanded population. The current population is more varied in its ability profile, has wider socio-economic status differences, and represents a more complex mix of learning styles.

1| 2 | 3 | Next Page