The National Education Trust (NET) is undertaking a programme aimed at strengthening the integration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM) into the fabric of the country’s education system.

Executive Director of NET, Latoya Harris-Ghartey, said that the initiative seeks to build and enhance the capacity of teachers, assist the Ministry of Education and Youth with its education management system, and build seven new STEAM academies.

“The schools will be purpose-built for STEAM in that they’re designed to create that environment that promotes STEAM into teaching and learning, but it maximises creativity, curiosity, intellectual rigour, and innovation,” she noted.

She said that the buildings will be climate-resilient, green, and technology-driven.

“Those are important elements and what I would say is no compromise for us in the buildout,” Harris-Ghartey said.

She was speaking at the recent launch of a National STEAM Education Report, at the residence of the British High Commissioner in Kingston.

The study was commissioned by the British Council and involved a partnership with NET and the United Kingdom (UK)-based STEMunity.

It assessed the status of STEAM education in Jamaica and provided recommendations for the next steps to be taken to achieve growth and expansion.

The study aligns with the Ministry’s initiatives to expand STEAM education across the sector, as Jamaica moves to become the technological hub of the Caribbean.

Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, in her remarks said: “This is [part of] our strategy for research and development.”

“It highlights the critical importance of excellence in STEAM education to ensure the continuous development of a pipeline of talent to support both local and foreign direct investments (FDI) and an active ecosystem for our start-ups here in Jamaica,” she added.

British High Commissioner to Jamaica, Judith Slater, noted that in the UK “we’ve done a lot of work in [this] sector, and we’ve been wanting to share this and add it to the Jamaican context”.

“We want to ensure that the business sector and the education system are clearly aligned to ensure that there is a steady stream of graduates to go into these sectors,” Slater noted.

Among the main recommendations from the report are facilitating the development of a STEAM Centre in Jamaica, which will be charged with coordinating all activities related to the development of a national STEAM culture.

It also proposed securing funding for a National STEAM Fund, as well as formalising linkages involving schools, industry, private STEAM education partners, national scientific organisations, community-based organisations, parents, and students.

A survey of the STEAM education landscape was conducted starting at the early-childhood level and encompassing institutions at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Results indicated that there is a high level of STEAM content integrated into the early-childhood curriculum, with particular emphasis on science, mathematics, experiments, and graphing.

The report noted that the Ministry developed a set of standards, based on international benchmarks, to guide STEAM education as provided in the National Standards Curriculum (NSC).

The results show that the standards developed by the Ministry are primarily science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-based and do not consider many of the skills honed through STEAM education.

“At the kindergarten to grade-nine levels, there is broad integration between the [Ministry’s] standards and the NSC, but only 21 per cent of the reviewed curricula is well aligned. Just over two-thirds are exploring and developing alignment, while 11 per cent are not aligned,” the report stated.

The report consisted of five sections with each covering an aspect of the STEAM ecosystem such as the concept of STEAM education and its value to the nation, the challenges to developing such an ecosystem, and an approach to overcoming the challenges.

Davina Henry