The Ministry of Education is, this year, to begin groundwork on the implementation of various recommendations made by the task force report on education.

Ruel Reid, special adviser to the Minister of Education, said while work would be carried out this year, some of the recommendations would be implemented in the 2009 academic year.

The task force report on education was tabled in Parliament in 2004. The report, which was commissioned by then Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, made several sweeping recommendations, including the licensing of teachers, the increase of student contact hours in school, and literacy and grade-level remediation.

"We will standardise the core curriculum for grades seven to nine and use the ROSE (Reform of Secondary Education) methodologies. We are going to put our best teachers in grades seven and nine and ensure that there is a proper transition from grade six to grade seven or first form," Mr. Reid told The Gleaner.

Literacy specialists in schools

He noted that literacy specialists would be deployed to targeted schools and the placement system in high schools would be revisited.

Mr. Reid said the grade nine student cohort will be doing a national test as well as a test for literacy.

"We want to ensure we have a creditable system. To validate this, non-traditional high schools will be targeted with the support they need," said Mr. Reid.

The former Jamaica Teachers' Association president also said more excellent teachers were needed in the sector.

"I believe we have too few excellent teachers in the system. The fact that we have so few who feel that they can be elevated to the level of master teacher is very worrying," said Mr. Reid.

He added: "We have less than 50 master teachers in the system. We have to provide attractive salaries to attract and retain the best."

Extending school-leaving age

The special adviser said the ministry will be extending the school-leaving age to 18. Students, he said, will be given an academic or vocational option where they can do the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) to Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), or CSEC/Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence to Caribbean Vocational Qualification, Level Two.

"No child will be leaving school by 2015 without certification. HEART will be a flagship institution to ensure that no more of our youth is left behind," said Mr. Reid.