THE Ministry of Education has implemented a new tactical approach in an effort to improve the performance of students in mathematics and English language in external examinations at the secondary level.

This initiative, which involves exposing students in 56 targeted schools to extended learning hours, is, according to Acting Chief Education Officer Terry-Ann Thomas Gayle, a recipe for success.

“We believe that if we have good teachers, we spend time in delivery and good curriculum delivery which speaks to the pedagogy, we will have great passes and so our tactical approach looks at three broad areas — the extended learning and teacher support, accountability and performance tracking,” Thomas Gayle said at Wednesday’s post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House.

She argued that extended learning, where students are exposed to a minimum of five hours for mathematics and English language, will yield better outcomes.

“We are also looking at students doing extended activities outside of the regular school curriculum delivery. These extended activities speaks to camps, webinars, one-on-one sessions with experts in the areas. We have begun training and professional development for our heads of departments English language and mathematics. They have begun several rounds of training as it relates to curriculum delivery, customising the curriculum to the levels of the students that they have under their charge,” she said.

Thomas Gayle said the ministry embarked on this initiative following the disappointing performance of students in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations this year where passes declined to 38.9 per cent, from a high of 54.6 per cent in 2019.

“But we are not daunted because we know that students’ performance is dependant on a lot of variables and while we don’t have control over everything, there are some things that we do have control over and we have been working assiduously in addressing these areas,” said Thomas Gayle.

She told the media briefing that the intervention involves more hand-holding with principals, heads of departments, and students in schools where the performance was unsatisfactory.

According to Thomas Gayle, she is confident that the new tactical methodology will work and that students will be successful in upcoming June exams as this has was successfully done for grade 5 students sitting Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations.

“We used the same approach at the primary level and we saw the increased performance at grade 6 and we believe that our high schools are more than capable of improving the students and so we are comfortable and we are optimistic that this will yield the success that we so desire,” added Thomas Gayle.

She pointed out that the ministry has put in place performance tracking where all the data it has garnered on students is used to ensure that the lessons done are customised based on their level.

“We have data coming out of PEP, we have data that shows how the students perform in the different skilled areas across these subjects. We have done our standardised six-week tests across these 56 schools. That data will also be pulled during the month of December to see the areas that were taught from September to now, how the children are doing in these areas and then after we look at those performances, we will do another set of interventions, where we do the hand-holding if needed,” said Thomas Gayle.

She said the ministry is also in discussion to look at offering scholarships and grants to students who do well under the initiative. Top schools and teachers will also be recognised.

Thomas Gayle also called on Jamaicans to volunteer to support the initiative and become English and maths ambassadors.

“Can you do math? Are you a lover of math? Are you an excellent English language person? You can volunteer. Do you have an hour to spare? Can you go on a link and help a Grade 11 student with a particular topic? This is how you play your part in ensuring that we help our students. I am encouraging the entire Jamaica to become a part of this tactical approach where we build the capacity of our teachers, our students in delivering the math [and English] curricula.

“In order for you to help, you can volunteer at volunteer.trend-ja.com, and I’m looking forward to seeing persons volunteering to help contribute to the success that we need for our students’ performance,” said Thomas Gayle.

In the meantime, permanent secretary in the education ministry Dr Kasan Troupe said 30 people have already signed up on the volunteer portal.

“We are engaging them in training, we are sensitising them about the transformational agenda so they can be our voices in the field and they can champion the cause for change in their individual space,” said Troupe.