The Human Resources Department participated in a CXC meeting and is now equipped with the knowledge to build skills for the Territory’s workforce. Photo: Internet Source

BVI representative, Human Resources Manager, Ms Kaisia Penn recently benefited from the information shared at a stakeholder’s engagement forum held for heads or designates from Government’s Personnel, Human Resource and Services Commission and other established departments, in Barbados last month.

Ms Penn said that the forum afforded human resources professionals from the region the opportunity to fully understand the suite of qualifications offered by CXC, and how these qualifications may be used to best meet employee training needs.

She said, “The meeting provided quite a bit of background information that in my opinion, would be beneficial to the people of this Territory as it pertains specifically to regional opportunities for training and development. From the perspective of local employers I see the qualifications offered by CXC as relevant, easily accessible options for meeting some of the training and development needs of the local workforce.”  

Ms Penn added, “I want persons to understand that CXC is not just for secondary school, which is what we have come to know. Typically only the CSEC is pursued in the BVI, which is the most prominent secondary level CXC qualification. However, CXC also offers qualifications for children at the primary school level (CPEA) in addition to post-secondary qualifications inclusive of Associate Degrees (CXC-AD) in Business Studies, Humanities, Natural and Social Science and Applied Science.”

She further added that though each qualification targets persons at specific educational and developmental phases, anyone at any age can complete any of the qualifications based on their individual educational needs and abilities.  Ms Penn shared that the BVI being a part of the Caribbean region should take full advantage of these offerings, especially the Public Service, being the largest employer in the Territory.

The six qualifications currently offered by CXC are: The Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA), Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC), Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ), The Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and CXC Associate Degree (CXC-AD).

 The Department of Human Resources has committed to partnering in an effort to help educate others on the qualifications offered by CXC, in addition to promoting the many advantages of utilising CXC to help build the skills and capabilities of Officers in the Public Service.

The Caribbean Examination Council was created to meet the educational and educational testing needs of the Caribbean. The Council was established in 1972 by an agreement signed by the Governments of 15 English-speaking Commonwealth Caribbean countries, one of which is the British Virgin Islands.