National Education Inspectorate Jamaica

National Education Inspectorate
June 1, 2010

Basic Information about the School

Woodford All Age School is located in the parish of St. Andrew in the rural coffee farming community of Woodford. It is an extra-small school with approximately 80 students. With four teachers including the principal, the student teacher ratio is 20:1. The average daily attendance is 82 per cent. Most of the students are from the immediate community with some coming from Papine. They are generally from a poor socioeconomic background, with many of the families being seasonally employed on coffee farms or in low income jobs. Approximately 46 per cent of students are beneficiaries of the PATH programme. Students are generally polite and welcoming. Some students and parents express concerns about poor students’ behaviour and some parents feel that there is a lack of support from parents regarding their children’s behaviour. The general perception of the school is improving and this is supported by the increased number of enquiries for admission in September.

Overall Effectiveness of the School

The overall effectiveness of the school is unsatisfactory

Leadership and management are unsatisfactory. The principal has done a lot in a short time to improve the ethos of the school but he still has some way to go in moving the school from unsatisfactory to at least good. The school lacks effective instructional leadership, systems of accountability and reliable governance. It also lacks a school improvement plan to keep it focussed and to guide the process of moving the school forward. The quality of teaching and learning is unsatisfactory. Most lessons have a narrow range of activities and are not child-centred. Students are passive learners with little opportunity to apply their learning or to develop research and problem solving skills.

Students’ performance in English in national and regional tests is satisfactory and they make satisfactory progress in the subject from their point of entry to performance in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT). In mathematics, students’ performance is good in relation to national and regional tests. However, when tracked from Grades 1 to 6, their overall progress in mathematics is only satisfactory.


The social and personal development of students is satisfactory. Most behave well, have good attitudes to school and keep their school environment clean
The school is adequately resourced but the resources are mainly underutilized. Curriculum and enhancement programmes are unsatisfactory. Although attempts have been made to modify the curriculum at Grades 4 and 5, this is not consistent across the school. For most of the students, work is not differentiated to meet their varying needs.

The safety, security, health and well-being of the school are unsatisfactory. Students feel safe at school but engage in potentially dangerous activities in the playground. The school lacks perimeter fencing and is a thoroughfare for some members of the community.

Although students’ emotional needs are catered for through guidance and counselling, there is insufficient monitoring of punctuality and attendance. The reported use of corporal punishment in one class is an inappropriate means of controlling behaviour.

The following key strengths are identified in the school:

  • Performance of students in mathematics and English, especially with the additional support from the homework centre and a volunteer who teaches extra lessons in mathematics.
  • A clean and tidy school compound with staff and students being proud of their school environment.
  • Positive attitudes of most students
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Elaine Foster Allen
National Education Inspectorate
November 1, 2010

The First Chief Inspector's Report on Education in Jamaica

In 2010, the National Education Inspectorate (NEI) completed its first round of inspections on 30 public schools at the primary and secondary level. By highlighting the strengths and weakness of the approaches and practices of these schools, valuable feedback and lessons are encapsulated in this comprehensive report.

The report focused on 8 key indicators of school effectiveness:

  1. Leadership and management
  2. Teaching and learning
  3. Students' performance in regional and national examinations
  4. Students' progress in relation to their starting point
  5. Personal and social development
  6. Human and material resources
  7. Safety, security and well-being

The Evidence

The NEI observed over 1100 lessons across thirty schools (23 at the primary level and 7 secondary), 60 percent were Mathematics and English Language classes and the remaining were lessons from across the other areas of the curriculum. The Inspectors also conducted 321 interviews with staff: principals, vice principals, guidance counselors and senior teachers as well as 123 on-site interviews with students during the course of these inspections.

In addition, 6275 students responded to the Inspectorates student satisfaction survey, two thousand seven-hundred and eighty-four (2,784) parents gave their perception of their children's school and 499 teachers expressed their views about the teaching and learning culture and leadership in their institution.

Key Findings

It is at the Primary level that leadership is weakest. Of the twenty-three schools inspected, thirteen were rated as unsatisfactory on all components and eight were considered as satisfactory. Only in one Primary school was the leadership and management assessed as good. The report noted that leadership was weakest in those schools where the principal failed to demonstrate focused strategic and instructional leadership and did not hold staff accountable. In one such school the inspectors noted that although the principal had a good relationship with staff, she failed to hold them accountable for improving student performance. The team noted that in these instances:

The leadership lacks the rigor and drive needed to improve teaching and students' achievements and progress. The Principal's and teachers' low expectations of the current and potential performance of individual students and groups of students contribute to the Principal giving limited direction and guidance to teachers with the goal of improving standards. Insufficient energy is placed on instructional leadership which holds teachers accountable for the impact of their teaching on students' learning.

According to the findings, self evaluation, which is critical to improvement planning has not been "fully embraced by the school management culture" and was evidently deficient at both primary and secondary levels. The report noted that "insufficient use of data allows many members of staff to remain unaware of the extent of poor performance" (p. 26). The implementation of effective tracking systems was identified as a problem that plagued many of the schools. Specifically, action goals tended to be too wide, next steps needed to be identified and limited monitoring of the progress toward goals. Conversely, those who were successful in this regard had clear, measureable goals and strong emphasis on teaching and learning.

The report found that at the primary level where teachers function as generalists, their knowledge of subject areas was weakest whereas the reverse was evident in secondary level teachers who function as subject specialists. However, in terms of students' progress in relation to their starting point, the primary level was rated as satisfactory, while performance on this indicator at the secondary level varied depending on school type.

In approximately half of the schools inspected, the curriculum and enhancement programmes supported learning effectively and scored satisfactorily or higher on the safety, security and well-being indicator.

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