Review planned for teacher training to avert math crisis
Published:Tuesday | August 13, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Jermaine Francis, Staff Reporter
The level of passes in this year's Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams have indicated that students across the country are still struggling with mathematics.
Education Minister Ronald Thwaites said the country was on the brink of a mathematics crisis and drastic measures would have to be taken if the country is to escape the doldrums the latest Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) statistics have shown.
Presenting the 2013 CSEC results at his Heroes Circle office, yesterday, Thwaites expressed disappointment with the mere five per cent increase in mathematics passes.
"We recognise that as a nation, we are facing a crisis in respect to our attainment in mathematics and we have much ground to cover to attain the targets for mathematics as established in the National Education Strategic plan," Thwaites said.
He said one of the major factors accounting for students' continued underperformance in math was teachers' inability to deliver the subject in both primary and secondary schools.
"Many teachers at the primary and secondary levels of the education system are not fully equipped to effectively support the teaching and learning of the subject," the minister noted.
He said a 2011 education-ministry census indicated that only nine per cent of mathematics teachers are qualified to teach the subject to grade-11 students, the class level at which most students sit CSEC exams.
Unqualified teachers
Forty per cent of the mathematics teachers in the country's high schools have not received any formal training in math education and are therefore unqualified to teach the subject.
Thwaites added that, at the primary level, 39 per cent of the teachers delivering the math syllabus never passed the subject at the secondary level.
He said the ministry would be undertaking a comprehensive review to bolster its training of math teachers at universities and teachers' colleges.
"We are anxious to move the teaching of mathematics towards where students can solve problems rather than simply know theorems," Thwaites added.
He said the ministry would also be implementing an intensified mathematics programme along with the national mathematics policy come September.
Thwaites said the programme would ensure that math educators have the requisite skills to deliver content and mandate set contact hours for teaching of the subject.