Automatic promotion not a feature of Sixth Form Pathways, says education ministry

The Ministry of Education and Youth says its Sixth Form Pathways Programme (SFPP) does not include automatic promotion to upper sixth form at the same school.

The statement follows a Gleaner report last week, highlighting the distress of a mother after her daughter was barred from continuing the sixth-form programme at the Immaculate Conception High School in St Andrew because she obtained a grade four in one of four Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) subjects.

The mother accused the school of being unreasonable as her daughter had acquired Grade Is in computer science and digital media, a Grade II in communication studies, and a Grade IV in food and nutrition.

Although a Grade IV is considered a pass at the CAPE level, the school’s policy only allows students who have achieved grades I-III in unit one of their CAPE subjects to advance to grade 13.

The SFPP, launched by the education ministry in 2020, allows students who complete grade 11 to pursue an additional two-year course of study with alternative opportunities alongside the traditional sixth-form curriculum.

However, “there is no specific reference to automatic promotion to upper sixth form at the same school in the policy”, the ministry stated.

It noted that it is not mandatory for a student to complete the last two years at their current secondary school, but access must be provided to allow completion at an established secondary school or partnering institutions aligned with their career goals and the programmes offered there. Students also have the option of pursuing their first-degree post-Grade 11.

Further, the ministry said that when students do not meet the criteria for sixth-form acceptance, especially in traditional high schools, they are supported by the school administration to access alternative spaces and usually are immediately accommodated given their performance record and association with preferred schools.

COMPELLED BY SPACE, PROGRAMME ISSUES

Outlining that the traditional sixth-form programme in some schools pre-dates the implementation of the SFPP, the ministry stated that some of these institutions are compelled to enact a school-based policy that outlines acceptance and continuation criteria because of the limited physical space and programme options.

“This approach reflects the competitive academic environment of traditional high schools, highlighting the students’ strong academic performance. In a competitive space environment, the school accepts, based on meritocracy, only the students with the highest Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and CAPE Unit I grades to lower sixth and, ultimately, upper sixth form among other criteria such as involvement in co-curricular activities and their behaviour profile,” it said.

This perspective was shared by Stacy Reynolds, principal of Immaculate Conception High School, who, in defending the school’s policy, stressed the need for the institution to maintain its conventions.

“One of the things I think we need to remember is that there are standards. Standards are set and there are expectations,” she had said.

However, the National Secondary Students’ Council (NSSC) has called for a reform of such policies, with its president, Laurel Williams, advocating for schools to, instead, adopt practices that “reflect a more comprehensive view of education”.

The ministry, in the meantime, emphasised that while 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the grade-11 students are provided with the option to pursue the traditional pathway at their traditional high schools, there are other alternatives that can be explored.

”Students, however, can access other options in other institutions enabled by the Pathways Policy. The important thing to note is that a learning space is guaranteed for every child when available spaces are combined across all learning spaces both at the secondary and post-secondary level,” it said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com