New JTA president says teachers see PEP as GSAT on steroids
Published:Wednesday | August 21, 2024 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Dr Mark Smith, the newly installed president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), wants a review of how examinations such as the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) are administered to ensure that students maintain an interest in education.
Smith, who was delivering his inaugural address at the JTA’s 60th annual conference at the Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny on Monday night, intimated that the PEP examinations were not much different from their predecessor, the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).
“I am struck by the plethora of calls from teachers and students re the PEP examinations; some say it is nothing more than the GSAT on steroids, and as Jamaicans we do not use steroids,” said Smith. “The reality is that we have now stretched over three years, and we are seeing burnout among our children; we are seeing it, we are on the ground … . We are seeing young children who have lost a passion for learning.”
He wants Education Minister Fayval Williams to carry out the review.
“Minister, I believe you and your team will take counsel and revisit and examine that, while we embrace the idea and the concept behind the PEP, of promoting a greater level of creativity, divergent thinking, and critical thinking, some of the challenges lie in the age appropriateness and the complexity of some of the tasks that children are asked to do,” said Smith.
“I yearn for the day when our education system does not create just pockets of excellence on a sea of mediocrity but moves towards embracing every child having that sense and that opportunity of being everything and anything they can imagine,” added Smith.
Smith, who has replaced Leighton Johnson at the helm of the JTA, suggested that there should be a greater focus on how exams are assessed so that children will not be graded based on standards that are hard for them to reach.
“Understand that as human beings, our trajectory to success takes different paths. I am therefore suggesting that we re-analyse how we write these examinations and that we look at the assessment matrix and take the opportunity to do the level of evaluation and review necessary to ensure that it is better aligned to empower and achieve its goals, rather than becoming a burden to our children,” said Smith.
“I often indicate that I am not obsessed with ranking systems, and it seems to me that society is now obsessed with ranking systems. I believe in doing what is in the best interest of students, not chasing rankings. The time has come for us to lean towards a more inclusionary model of education that validates the multiplicity of talents and abilities of our children,” added Smith.
In June, the Ministry of Education reported that students’ performance in the 2024 sitting of the PEP examination has shown improvement across all subject areas compared to 2023 and 2019, when the last full sittings of the assessments were held.
For mathematics, 60 per cent of students were ranked as proficient or highly proficient, compared to 41 per cent in 2019 and 57 per cent in 2023. For language arts, 67 per cent of students were proficient or highly proficient compared to 55 per cent in 2019 and 60 per cent in 2023; while for science, 70 per cent were proficient or highly proficient compared to 49 per cent in 2019 and 64 per cent in 2023.