Primary Five exams a ‘colonial monster’ – resident
“I’m particularly happy to learn that the Primary Five [Exam] at some time will no longer exist, that colonial monster called Primary Five has ruined so many lives and I’m really proud and happy,” the resident said.
The resident made the statement during a meeting called with residents and the Minister for Education, Hon. Myron V. Walwyn, along with officials of the Department of Education at the Sir Rupert Briercliffe Hall last evening, November 6, 2013 on the introduction of Key Stage Testing in the Primary schools of the territory.
He remarked that sometimes in education, it is like relay race, “you take it so far and somebody takes it to the finish,” he added.
According to the resident, a number of studies and suggested actions were looked at in the past, most of which spoke to the elimination of the exam. Despite these suggestions, the resident noted, “that monster, unfortunately, we were not able to get rid of it.”
The Ministry is hoping to implement four key stages in a child’s formal education which will be evaluated with five broad standardised tests which will be administered at stage one, class three, class five, form three and form five.
The test will not only be content based but will test student’s ability to think critically as it will include the testing of application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation skills.
Presently, only two key stages are being administered, at class five and at form five. With the implementation of the Key Stage Testing, the format of Primary Five will take on a new role. A strong remediation system will also be implemented as the Ministry is hoping to reduce the current retention level.
The resident congratulated the Ministry and Department of Education for their endeavour in what he described as a valuable aspect of education and encouraged them to take a look at previous efforts made and examine the unfortunate outcomes.
Education system biased towards girls
During the meeting, Dr Charles Wheatley also voiced several of his concerns on the issue, noting in particular that the way in which the current the education system is designed, expresses a bias towards females.
“In this whole process I hope that we will give attention to the way boys learn over the way in which girls learn; they do not learn and they do not function in the same way,” Dr Wheatley said.
“Our system of education has really been more biased to girls and that’s why girls have always been able to do very much better than the boys,” he argued.
According to Dr Wheatley, males and females were not wired the same way. In support of his argument he asked whether persons ever noticed that women can carry on three conversations at once with three different persons. “Have you ever seen a man do that?” he asked.
He suggested that this be taken into account and noted that boys learnt in a ‘practical way’. “They learn the same ideas and the same concepts, but their approach is something [different].”
Dr Wheatley said he simply wanted to point this out and hoped it would be something that could be looked at.
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18 Responses to “Primary Five exams a ‘colonial monster’ – resident”
We want nothing to do with the NDP and their activities, but you will see us out after the elections voting them r@$$ OUT
Myron did not go to school here he went to Antigua or did not finish school here now come trying to impose someone else culture on we