Dr Grace McLean, chief education officer at the Ministry of Education, said that they were working assiduously to give teachers the necessary support to make sure that there are no irregularities in the preparation of students for the new Primary Exit Profile (PEP).

McLean, who was speaking at a sensitisation and consultation session for grade six teachers on the National Standard Curriculum and on PEP in Montego Bay, St James, on Tuesday, said that everything was being done to enhance integrity and fairness.

"In the [PEP] mock assessment, there were a few [issues] that we picked up, which would have been presumed to be teachers' responses," said McLean.

"There is a rubric for the marking, so we know how it is to be marked, and so we can easily pick up whether or not the students are using their own responses."

The National Pilot Performance Task was administered in June in preparation for the implemen-tation of PEP, which has replaced the Grade Six Achievement Test.

McLean said that the ministry would meet with schools to make assessments and recommen-dations. She also told The Gleaner that the teachers must be commended for doing their best to follow guidelines and instructions so far.

"We expect that our teachers will operate with the level of integrity that we expect all our professionals to have. We have our means of being able to review the [PEP examination] papers and to make a determination as to whether or not there would have been a coached response," she said.

"The observations from the papers are not considered to be irregularities at this time. Teachers would have tried their best to conduct the assessment based on the guidelines given. The observations picked up from the papers will be utilised to support the teachers and to provide the guidance required for the first administration of the PEP performance task."