Not adding up -Experts call for more training to boost teaching standards for mathematics
Published:Monday | January 17, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Nadisha Hunter, Gleaner Writer
A group of experts has painted a dismal picture of mathematics teaching standards in some high schools, claiming continuous training is required to raise teachers' performance in public-education facilities.
The team, led by former national mathematics coordinator of the Ministry of Education's Education Transformation Programme, Tamika Benjamin, recently conducted a two-month assessment of six high schools under the Mutual Building Societies Foundation's (MBSF) Centres of Excellence programme.
The six schools assessed under the Victoria Mutual Building Society and Jamaica National Building Society-sponsored programme last November to December are McGrath High in St Catherine, Seaforth High in St Thomas, Green Pond High in St James, Godfrey Stewart in Westmoreland and Mile Gully and Porus High in Manchester.
Former Regional Mathematics Coordinator Novlet Plunkett said only 49 per cent of the teaching staff in the schools that were assessed was trained in mathematics education, and that a further 15.6 per cent did not have Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) or General Certificate of Education-level mathematics.
"What will make the difference is your attitude and commitment. Even though you may not be trained to teach the subject area ... what you need to do is to take advantage of every training opportunity that comes your way to improve yourself," she encouraged teachers in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday.
Plunkett charged that the lessons taught at the schools needed to be more student-centred, saying that there is need for more active discourse between the teachers and the students in the classroom.
But Grace McLean, chief education officer in the education ministry, said mathematics was not really an issue of grave concern and that the ministry has implemented strategies to raise the standards in the schools.
"As a country, mathematics is an area that we have really not performed exceptionally well over the years but the ministry is taking steps to ensure that we build the capacity of our teachers and we provide the kind of support that our students need for us to see this particular area improved," McLean said.
She said the ministry continues to have workshops and training sessions yearly for all teachers across the island.
Benjamin recommended that teaching strategies should be improved to engage students; and that continual training programmes be implemented to assist them to improve their knowledge base.
"We identified the use of didactic and expository approaches to teaching as one of the main downfalls of teachers," Benjamin argued.
She further said lessons were centred on procedure rather than concept development.
In addition to training programmes, the group recommended that common planning meetings, led by the heads of the mathematics departments, should include regular activities to keep teachers stimulated and reminded of mathematical concepts.
Only 21 per cent of the teachers of the schools received fair scores on a test designed by the expert team to determine the level of knowledge they possessed on a wide range of mathematical models.
In addition, the team recommended that the schools videotape classes in an effort to capture best practices that can be used as benchmarks.
Dr Renee Rattray, programme manager of the MBSF, confirmed that each school under the Centres of Excellence programme would be provided with video cameras to assist them with recording practices that could be incorporated into training and planning.
President of the Association of Principals and Vice-Principals, Wentworth Gabbidon, supported the call for more training to improve the standards of the teachers, saying that there continues to be a growing concern in the subject that needs to be addressed.
"For years now we have been focusing on making lessons student-centred. Sometimes the environment does lend itself to that kind of teaching but people have to be flexible and creative in how they teach," he argued.
He said, however, limited resources continue to be a major problem which hampers the teachers' ability to teach.