Lynda Quamina-Aiyejina

June George (Principal Investigator)

There is growing concern worldwide about the level of achievement of boys. There is such research published on the gender gap in educational achievement in which girls seem to be outperforming boys. It was against this backdrop that this consultancy was conducted.

The overall purpose of the consultancy was interpreted to be the generation of strategies to correct the perceived underperformance of boys in the school system in Trinidad and Tobago, particularly at the primary level. Such strategies were to be arrived at after certain preliminary work had been undertaken, viz:

• A review of pertinent literature and pertinent government policy documents

• A statistical analysis of the performance of boys throughout the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, with information on the early childhood sector provided where available

• An analysis of steps that are being taken in some schools to deal with the issue

• An analysis of Ministry of Education curricula and testing materials for gender bias with respect to boys‘/girls‘ achievement

• An analysis of the level of implementation in schools of relevant strategies as outlined in government documents

• Consultation with significant stakeholders

Further, the terms of the consultancy stipulated that recommendations were to be made for appropriate library resources and appropriate teacher professional development programmes that could assist in achieving the goal of enhanced performance levels by boys.

 

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June George
March 1, 2003

Any attempt to improve the quality of basic education in schools immediately places the preparation of teachers as the point of central focus, since teachers and teaching are accepted as important factors in the success or failure of children. The role of teachers in contributing to the quality of education has been well acknowledged. Joyce and Weil (1972, p. 4) refer to the teacher as the “mid-wife of educational change” who is expected to provide an education that will equip the young to survive and develop to their fullest, and which will provide them with a sense of social responsibility and the ability to make informed choices in a consistently changing complex world. The preparation of teachers must, therefore, be afforded the care, attention, and support needed to ensure that the desired outcomes of the teaching/learning process are achieved.

The Multi-Site Teacher Education Research project (MUSTER) has explored initial teacher education in five countries – Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, and Trinidad and Tobago. National research teams have collected and analysed data on key dimensions of the training process including the characteristics of those selected for training, the curriculum processes they experience, the perspectives and working practices of those who train
teachers, the outcomes of training, the reflections of newly trained teachers in schools, analysis of supply and demand for new teachers, and projections of the resource and cost implications of meeting national targets to universalise primary schooling.

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