THOUGH the National Education Inspectorate’s (NEI) latest report has shown that approximately half of the school lessons observed by inspectors were ‘unsatisfactory’, it has admitted that “some innovative practices and the use of time and other material resources were unearthed during inspections”.

The latest data released at a press briefing last Wednesday was compiled from the inspection of 129 public schools between September 2013 and March 2014, where a total of 115 primary and 14 secondary schools were inspected. A total of 803 schools, representing 84 per cent of the total 954 across all six administrative regions of the Ministry of Education, have already been inspected.

The report explained the urgent need to ensure that there is the requisite link between pedagogical practices and the national curriculum, but in its analysis, pointed to commendable efforts by schools which provided valuable insights into ways in which some school leaders are working to ensure that their students are successful, as well as useful examples for others to emulate.

“In this round we witnessed the addition of time-on-task in many schools in innovative ways that were variously called ‘early work’ or ‘early bird’ and ‘after school’. This means that already, some schools are implementing innovations to better facilitate the delivery of the national curriculum,” the report said in its recommendations.

“This is an effort to allow the students the opportunity to have more contact time which will help them to interact with the breadth of curriculum topics and associated activities.”

In light of this, it said consideration should be given to the formal extension of the school day on a phased basis in those schools where it is deemed necessary.

The full NEI report will be available to the public after it is tabled in Parliament next month.

The report seeks to build a culture of accountability in the education system, turning the spotlight on the quality of education in the nation’s primary and secondary schools, and providing the ministry and various stakeholders with timely and relevant data for school improvement and policymaking.

The NEI also recommended that because too many schools failed to modify and enhance the national curriculum to suit the various needs of the students in them, teams of curriculum officers from the Ministry of Education should support the in-school curriculum teams in adapting the national curriculum to meet the learning needs of the students.

“A concerted thrust should be made to incorporate more community resources by the schools’ leadership teams in the provision and support of enhancement programmes. For example, students should relate more closely with the social and economic activities in their local communities which will give them a sense of appreciation of the value of the people and industries to their communities and how they contribute to national development.”

The NEI said the research strengthened its knowledge of the pervasive deficits in mathematical skills in key areas such as measurement, computation and reasoning at both the primary and secondary levels.

“Continuous in-service training in mathematics should therefore be mandatory for all primary- level teachers over the next five years,” the NEI recommended. “This will help to build the capacity of the system from the ground up.”

— Petulia Clarke