Schools to combine classes to solve SFPP student overflow
Published:Saturday | September 10, 2022 | 12:09 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
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The administrators at a number of Corporate Area schools are planning to integrate classes and hire part-time teachers to accommodate the influx of students expected under the Sixth Form Pathways Programme (SFPP) as resource concerns linger. Tivoli...
The administrators at a number of Corporate Area schools are planning to integrate classes and hire part-time teachers to accommodate the influx of students expected under the Sixth Form Pathways Programme (SFPP) as resource concerns linger.
Tivoli Gardens High Principal Marvin Johnson said that last year, his school had roughly 60 students in sixth form, a number he expects to double this year as the SFPP is introduced.
Some of these students, he told The Gleaner, will be integrated into the grade 11 classes.
“That’s the only other way we can accommodate them. The ministry will not give us additional teachers, so we have to integrate the students into the existing classes. But the grade 11 classes are not huge, so some of the students can be integrated,” he said.
Johnson said that his school has not been seriously affected by the teacher migration crisis, with only four resignations before the start of the new school year. Two of the posts have already been filled.
The Kingston inner city-based Tivoli Gardens High will be offering all three options under the SFPP – Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) studies, technical and vocational courses, and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) resits.
The SFPP is being introduced this year to extend the number of years students undertake secondary studies to seven, allowing them to get trained in various skills, prepare for tertiary studies or take another shot at CSEC subjects.
Johnson is pleased that students are expressing interest in the different areas of the programme.
“The response has been very good. Quite a number of students are opting to return to us. Some are opting to go to other schools, but we still have a responsibility to at least track them,” he said.
Kingston Technical High Vice-Principal Victor Jackson noted that the SFPP offers students a second chance to attain certification and they are eagerly taking up the opportunity.
The programme was previously piloted at the school with only a few students, but as their numbers grew, the space to accommodate them became smaller.
Jackson expects the space challenge to be even more severe when they return in the next two weeks.
“We have tried innovative ways to deal with that in the past. What we do is try to maximise the use of our space through timetabling. A lot of the time, we couldn’t find a homeroom for those students, but we try to use areas in the library and labs. But I foresee that we are going to have a little bit more challenges now because the numbers have grown significantly,” he told The Gleaner.
Kingston Technical has also opted to integrate students doing CSEC resits into the grade 11 classes, but he is concerned about the challenges the large class sizes could bring.
“We would do much better if we were able to hire more teachers. We hire a few persons part time to help, [but] it is not satisfying the need, especially in our core subjects – maths and English [language] – as those class sizes are already large,” Jackson said.
He shared that his already-overextended teachers would sometimes accommodate lessons in extra classes.
“I don’t know if we take on more than we can manage. I don’t know if we are overly ambitious, but we are pleasantly surprised to see that we have been doing so well with those students,” he said.
Jackson said that a space has been earmarked on the school compound to build additional classrooms.
Meanwhile, at St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS), Vice-Principal Damion Lawrence is expecting 180 SFPP students to report for classes in the third week of the new school year.
The school will only be offering options for students wishing to undertake CAPE studies or pursue technical and vocational courses. CSEC resists will not be offered.
“We don’t have those resources, so until we can get those resources from the ministry, we can’t take on that pathway,” Lawrence told The Gleaner.
Additionally, he said that STATHS offers 18 CAPE subjects under Pathway One as well as four skilled courses under Pathway Two. Because of this “heavy timetable”, the school will be engaging part-time teachers.
“I know a number of principals are not in support of this Pathways programme. We had a system that was working. Why try fix something that’s working?” he asked.