KINGSTON, Jamaica—Minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for skills and digital transformation, Senator Dana Morris Dixon, has described psychometric testing of participants in the Learning and Investment for Transformation (LIFT) programme as a “big deal”.

She explained that psychometric tests at their core are designed to measure an individual’s capabilities and behavioral style, adding that the tests are scientifically validated and provide valuable insights that are hard to obtain from other sources. She said in the business realm the tests are transformative tools for hiring, team building and personal development.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for a cohort of 509 LIFT participants at the Pegasus on Friday, Morris Dixon noted that the psychometric testing gave “us insight for our work at HEART”.

“We found that all of you (participants) performed really well in digital literacy simulations. And you were all very good in your verbal reasoning. And I note that all 509 of you have at least five CXC’s. So this is a very good cohort…it says that we’re doing something right if when we do the psychometric tests, they score highest on digital literacy and verbal reasoning,” Morris Dixon said.

She added that the testing provides valuable information “not just to us who are navigating this programme”, but also for the students “so they can better understand who they are, and also in building their career, understanding where they could position themselves”.

“And as we go through this one-year programme, there are going to be parts where we do additional training.

And when you’ve done psychometric testing, when you have real data in front of you, you can tailor the training to make the kind of interventions that we need to make,” she added.

LIFT is a $2-billion Government of Jamaica programme, aimed at bolstering the social mobility of 500 youth annually, over a five-year period.