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As Jamaicans, our team spirit is second to none. We know how to rally when the time comes. If you have had the pleasure of being in the National Stadium to watch a qualifying match with the Reggae Boyz, you know what I am talking about. It is electrifying. We get on bad in the stands. We even tell the coach how to organise the players. Everybody becomes experts.

I want to challenge us as Team Jamaica to harness that energy and passion to treat with education, as we do other areas that are important to us. Many of us need to get out of the stands and participate!

Education evens the score and levels the playing field. It separates productive nations from those that are unproductive. And, every child is entitled to a good education. It is his or her basic right – and it is our duty to get it right!

I am often accused of being impatient; and that I don’t understand that things take time to change. But, the more I visit schools in Jamaica, the more impatient I become, because I am convinced that students don’t have time! All they have is now.

They can’t wait for more resources to be provided or for Parliament to review, amend or pass the next act, policy or regulation; they can’t wait for the next visit by the education officer or for teachers to get higher wages. They can’t wait for a poorly performing principal or teacher to retire in two years. They don’t have time!

Our annual statistics show us we are nowhere near where we ought to be as a country in the development of our students, who are struggling to simply attain passes in maths and English. Fewer than half, or only 49 per cent, of our students passed maths in the 2014 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations, and more than 40 per cent failed English. Many more did not even have the chance to sit examinations in these basic subjects, but graduated from high school unprepared to transition into the world of work.

In some schools, five out of a cohort of 200 pass maths after five years in high school! And too often the heads of the Maths Department in some schools have never passed the subject themselves. It is as if we are at half-time in a

football game and we now have to make some critical and tactical decisions if we want to get some goals in the back of that net. Only goals win games!

Therefore, we need to redefine and build a clear rationale to educate the people we serve. We need to ask ourselves, “Who are we serving and what are we preparing them for? Sadly, when I go into classrooms, I, too, often see students seated in neat rows being fed the same diet in class after class.

We need an injection of disruptive innovation in our system; and, this requires a Team Jamaica effort, because education is a team sport. There are some great things happening in schools and classrooms across this country, but in too many places, there is a one-size-fits-all approach. How then do we expect to achieve creativity and innovation?

Our education sector faces resource challenges, as there is simply not enough, especially in our rural schools, but I have seen leaders who inspire creativity, manage strategically and, as we say in Jamaica, ‘tun dem han mek fashion’, to support success in the most underserved schools.

Research the world over tells us that the two biggest contributors to the success of schools are the quality of leadership and the quality of teaching and learning.

According to the National Education Inspectorate, after inspecting 85 per cent of schools, leadership is satisfactory in only about 46 per cent of our schools, which really means leadership is merely meeting the minimum standards; while in 40 per cent of our schools, leadership is unsatisfactory, and THREE per cent are in need of critical support.

This is why my organisation, Jamaica National, has partnered with the Ministry of Education to support their efforts to improve the leadership in schools. We did this under the five-year Centres of Excellence Programme, which was created and funded jointly by JNBS and VMBS in six rural high schools across Jamaica, and we continue to do so under the iLead programme, being implemented by the JN Foundation and the Ministry of Education, in schools in the parishes of Portland, St Thomas and St Mary.

The JN Foundation supports the leadership, school boards, education officers, principals, middle leaders and student leaders in these schools to shore up their systems of management and accountability; clearly define their visions and goals; set targets, and, most important, we provide coaching, mentorship and collaboration at all levels.

This is a mere drop in the bucket, but already there are ripples. So far, we have touched the lives of approximately 10,000 students, 700 teachers, and 100 leaders. A school like Green Pond High School, which is in a very volatile community here in Montego Bay, is not the same place today, having gone through our programme. School leaders there have opted to do things differently and are challenging their students and themselves to achieve better results … and THEY HAVE!

We have to remove the labels and eliminate that dangerous single story that says schools which are called ‘non-traditional’ cannot succeed. ALL SCHOOLS MUST BE GOOD SCHOOLS and be staffed with the school leaders who can manage various learning capacities and student challenges, and who can create the environment where value can be added despite the level at which the school receives the student. Now, more than ever in our history, we need a soundly educated workforce to take us in the direction we wish to go as a country.

Our classrooms are like football fields in many ways. There is plenty of talent waiting to be unearthed, and our school leaders are the captains, coaches and technical directors who must tap into students’ potential. Schools must become the centres of innovation in our country if we want an innovative workforce.

We need school leaders who:

*Challenge the status quo.

*Use data to inform what they do; and not simply rely on ‘feelings’.

*Collaborate and work closely with all stakeholders and form meaningful partnerships.

*Take responsibility for every student’s performance.

*Create a culture of success by setting high expectations for all students.

*Develop the environment in which children learn by discovery, and appreciate that mistakes are part of the process of knowledge building.

It’s urgent that we no longer see ourselves as spectators. We have a part to play in creating futures with positive outcomes that will, in the final analysis, benefit all of us.

– Dr Renee Rattray is director, education programmes, JN Foundation. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/focus/20150621/education-team-sport

THERE is a buzz at Papine High School in St Andrew: the school is increasing the number of subjects offered at Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), and it is participating in a range of arts, music and sporting events — all with a view to making the institution a school of choice in the Corporate Area.

Earlier this month, a cohort of 14 students sat CSEC physics, a first for the school. The accomplishment was the culmination of an informal three-year mentorship programme spearheaded by two staff members of the Physics Department at the University of Technology, Jamaica.

One of them, George Ferriera, explained that he was inspired to take on the project when he learned that the school did not offer physics.

“It has been challenging at times for me and my colleague, Hector Simpson,” he said. “However, the students were very interested, and the principal most supportive; therefore, we tried to stick with it.”

Formerly a secondary school, Papine High has been steadily forging its way into uncharted waters and has been including traditional subjects in the school’s curriculum.

“We have always performed well in vocational subjects, and now we are also doing better in other subjects, such as biology and mathematics,” explained Principal Leighton Christie.

The school recorded a 39 per cent increase in its CSEC maths results in 2014.

Educators and students also hope to celebrate another first next month, when the school’s drama club will compete against 14 other high schools across the country in the inaugural JN Shakespeare Schools’ Championship.

The cast of 15 students has been faithfully rehearsing excerpts from Shakespeare’s acclaimed play Hamlet, from which they will present a 30-minute drama adapted to the Jamaican context.

Sponsor Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) will provide funds for an all-expense paid two-week visit to the United Kingdom for the winning school to participate in the Shakespeare Festival, in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The competition, the brainchild of Jamaican UK resident Dr Tony Sewell, is supported by a team of drama mentors, led by Dr Brian Heap of the Phillip Sherlock Centre, at The University of the West Indies.

Dr Sewell noted: “Most of our students read plays, but never have the opportunity to see them performed; and, in the case of Shakespeare, his plays were meant to be performed to fully appreciate the nuances of the dramatic action.”

“To be the first winner of the competition would be great,” said Melissa Gibson, head of the drama club, who is preparing the Papine High School students for the competition.

“My students are a bit nervous, but they are enthusiastic, and we will show that they have talent, which can emerge to represent Jamaica,” she added.

Principal Christie has also been celebrating his students’ successes in other areas. “We placed first in the School’s Gospel Choir competition this year; and our students have been called on to participate in teams representing Jamaica in cricket, hockey, and squash, as well as track and field,” he outlined with pride.

He is confident that Papine High will continue to excel in many areas, as the teachers are committed to ensuring that students perform well.

“My staff members display keen interest in student welfare and development, and are prepared to go the extra mile. They even provide free extra classes on the weekends and during mid-term,” he explained.

Plans are on-stream to venture into new territories, such as a breakfast programme to start in September, which will be partially funded by proceeds from a recycling project, in which students assist in redeeming plastic bottles for cash.

The project will augment the existing school-feeding programme, which relies heavily on the chicken-rearing and vegetable farming undertaken by students who study agricultural science.

These, according to Christie, are critical elements since some students sometimes arrive at school without having had a meal.

“Like other educational institutions, we do not have enough resources, therefore, we need to be creative and use what we have well,” he maintained, noting further: “My objective is to send increasing numbers of students on to pursue tertiary education and make Papine High one of the schools of choice in the Corporate Area.”

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/Papine-High-School-celebrates–firsts-_19152773

MINISTER of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna has encouraged members of the Jamaican Diaspora to lend their support to the enrichment and further development of the artistic and cultural legacy that has helped to make Jamaica a formidable global force.

Minister Hanna was addressing delegates to the 6th Biennial Jamaican Diaspora Conference, who were specially invited to a featured mounting of the Rastafari Unconquerable exhibit and Sunday dinner at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, Sam Sharpe Square, which was hosted by the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) on June 14.

“I’m also inviting you to come back to Jamaica and join us in this year’s Emancipation and Independence Celebrations under the theme: “Proud and Free…Jamaica 53,” she encouraged the overseas delegates, who hailed from the United States of America, Canada and, the United Kingdom.

Acknowledging that Jamaica holds pride of place as one of the “cultural capitals of the world,” the culture minister emphasised that her ministry has been working to “better manage the country’s cultural agencies and boards”.

To this end, she highlighted the fact that this year will see the opening of three new museums — Simon Bolivar Centre in Kingston, National Museum West in Montego Bay, and the Natural History Museum of Jamaica, to be located at the Institute of Jamaica.

“These new museums are in addition to the four other facilities, which we implemented in 2014,” she added.

Minister Hanna also disclosed that she was looking forward to the announcement of Jamaica’s Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, as a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and, she will be travelling with a team to Bonn, Germany for the 39th session at the end of the month.

“I will be leading a team to attend this session, to make the presentation for the Blue and John Crow Mountain National Park to be accorded World Heritage status, a designation that would make it the first mixed site recommended in the region,” she said, adding, “It would join 32 other such sites around the globe.”

The special tour of the Rastafari: Unconquerable, exhibit formed part of a series of activities organised by Jamaica National during the Jamaica Diaspora Conference, which was held from June 13 to 18 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

In his presentation Earl Jarrett, general manager of Jamaica National, encouraged the Diaspora Conference delegates and guests to pledge their support to cultural entities, such as the National Gallery of Jamaica and the National Museum West, which seek to maintain the foundation of the nation’s rich cultural heritage.

“We ought to enable the second, third and fourth generation Jamaicans in the diaspora to have an appreciation of their past; and, what better way to do so than to undergird the institutions that have been charged with this responsibility,” he emphasised.

He also implored the conference delegates and guests to aim to “broaden the conversation by adding another element to the discussion — and that is preserving our history and culture through support of these institutions, beyond the Diaspora Conference”.

In addition to a viewing of the special exhibit on the history of Rastafari in Jamaica, the more than 200 guests also viewed the award-winning photographs of rural high school students, who participated in 2014-2015 cycle of the JN Foundation Resolution Project exhibition, under the theme “Rites and Rituals”.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Hanna-calls-on-diaspora-to-support-the-arts_19152929

JAMAICA’S road users can now know where fatal road crashes are occurring daily with the development of the JNGI Fatal Crash Map.

According to Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee, director of Mona GeoInformatics Institute at The University of the West Indies (UWI), anyone can now retrieve this information online.

“We want to be able present information to stakeholders as it happens,” Dr Lyew-Ayee told guests at the crash map’s launch at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge, UWI, Mona campus, last Thursday.

Sponsored by JN General Insurance Company (JNGI) and the JN Foundation, the map is updated every day using data supplied by the Police Traffic Division. It is available exclusively on the website at www.jngijamaica.com and has data from January 1, 2015.

“You are nine times more likely to be killed in a road crash in Jamaica than you are in England. As a major motor insurer in Jamaica, JNGI has a substantial vested interest in this situation improving,” said Chris Hind, general manager of JNGI.

Hind indicated that the JNGI Fatal Crash Map is a follow-up to the company’s “Crash Hot Spot” road safety campaign launched three years ago. Conceptualised from research conducted by Dr Lyew-Ayee, the most dangerous stretches of the road network were identified and branded by JNGI, using signs and billboards to warn road users to take special care.

“Last year, we lost 331 lives on the road and 90 were pedestrian,” said Senior Superintendent of Police Calvin Allen, head of the Traffic Division.

“We have zeroed in on those areas,” he continued.

Earl Jarrett, general manager of Jamaica National Building Society, lauded the joint venture.

“A relationship developed between Mona GeoInformatics and JNGI, along with other elements of the JN Group,” he said.

This collaboration led to the production of a road safety documentary ‘Decoding Dangerous Roads’; as well as research into other risks associated with the Jamaican environment.

“The management of the reduction of road fatalities must depend on bringing greater knowledge and awareness to the process,” Jarrett continued.

He also gave credit to the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) for originally reaching this conclusion, which led to the start of the research by the Mona GeoInformatics Institute.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/auto/Road-alerts-at–your-finger-tips-_19154288

DR RENEE Rattray, director of education programmes at the JN Foundation, says narrow perceptions of success have been stifling the country’s economic growth.

Charging graduates at the Brimmer Vale High School to embrace their “non-traditional” label and vocational skills set, Rattray stated that the country needs more skilled professionals to stimulate production, pointing to the country’s low levels of manufacturing and exports. The goods-producing sector in 2014 represented about 0.0076 per cent of total real value added, according to data from the Economic and Social Survey published by the Planning Institute of Jamaica.

“Your skills are not something to be frowned upon. You are great; you are smart; you are the future,” she told graduates at the St Mary-based institution recently.

“In years to come, the future of our country will not be reliant on more lawyers and doctors. Of course, we will need them; however, it’s a more diverse range of creative and innovative skills that are now needed to grow our economy,” she added.

“Many traditional professions are focused on serving an established system. You, on the other hand, are poised to become the engineers, craftsmen, manufacturers, entrepreneurs and agriculturists, film and music producers and techies who will create solutions and opportunities for yourself and others.”

She urged the graduates to strive for greatness and not to allow themselves to be boxed into other people’s perceptions of success.

“For far too long, our perceptions of success have been too narrow, too colonial. You can take your passions, whatever they are, and take them to another level. There is no need to join a long line of persons waiting to get traditional jobs,” she charged.

SUPPORTING SUCCESS
Rattray encouraged parents and teachers to hold students to high expectations and to nurture their development in order to support their success.

Principal Evorine Henry-Tracey, acknowledging the work of Rattray in the JN Foundation’s iLead programme and other organisations and individuals, disclosed that the school has improved in discipline and performance over the past three years.

She outlined that this year a higher percentage of students sat external examinations at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC); City and Guilds and NCTVET levels, with 141 students of 166 doing the exams.

Performance in the 2014 CSEC exams also improved, Henry-Tracey disclosed, with passes in home economics, food and nutrition and physical education, ranging from 81 per cent to 97 per cent; and passes in agricultural science, office administration, information technology, principles of accounts, principles of business and technical drawing, ranging from 55 per cent to 75 per cent.

“Eleven students passed both mathematics and English in their subject combinations. We had two students passing 10 subjects,” she said.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20150708/embrace-your-non-traditional-label-rattray

There were shouts of excitement in the Dennis Scott Theatre at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts on Friday, July 3, as the top seven school-based drama clubs in the inaugural JN Shakespeare Schools’ Championship were announced.

Waterford High, Campion College, Ardenne High, the American International School of Kingston (AISK), the Wolmers’ Trust, Glenmuir High, and a combined Kingston College and St Hugh’s cast secured places in the semi-final round, to be held in September.

The drama groups presented a Jamaican adaptation of a Shakespearean work, maintaining elements of the original language. They were judged on their interpretation, characterisation, design and technical management of the production.

Eugene Williams of the Edna Manley College, one of the judges for the competition, said the elimination round was the culmination of an arduous and exciting process for the students and teachers involved.

“This competition required them to translate from their emotional language of creole to the language of Shakespeare and then to dramatise in an engaging manner. It was clearly a transformative experience,” he observed.

Dr Renee Rattray, director, Education Programmes, JN Foundation, who has broad

experience in the education

sector, including devising interventions to improve behaviour and performance, concurred with Williams. She noted that exposing students to theatre can be metamorphic, explaining that various studies show that students who have “art-integrated educational programmes” score higher marks in some areas than those who do not.

“Students in the arts record higher grades in reading comprehension and in verbal and non-verbal communication. They also show more self-confidence and even have better attendance records,” she remarked.

The casts delivered 30-minute extracts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamlet and Julius Caesar.

Jamaican Adaptations

Their Jamaican adaptations included presenting Puck, a fairy from the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as folk hero Anancy; the three witches from Macbeth as saucy dancehall queens; and Shylock as a honey-tongued Rastafarian.

Many of the presentations were infused with reggae and dancehall music, Jamaicanised pronunciations of the script, and elements of indigenous religious practices.

John Gooden, a student of Wolmer’s Boys School, played Petruchio, the wealthy bachelor bent on refining his wife, Kate, in the comedy The Taming of the Shrew. He said participating in the competition was a turning point for him.

“It was a tough learning process. I had to work hard to become Petruchio as he is very different from my own personality, but I enjoyed it. In the end, I surprised myself as I didn’t know I had the capacity to remember so many lines,” he said, laughing.

Director of the Campion College cast Damion Radcliffe, said he found preparations for the championship developed not only his students’ acting skills, but also their leadership potential as they were very involved in many elements of the production.

“I am now grooming two of the female leads to take on the role of director for the next competition,” Radcliffe said.

Three of the seven schools will advance to the finals. The winning cast will jet off to London in 2016 to participate in activities commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20150711/seven-through-shakespeare-semis

Starting tomorrow, more than 90 students from four rural non-traditional high schools will be immersed in an intensive Rhodes Scholar-supported ‘boot camp’, geared to improve their competence in maths and English.

The five-week camp is part of the TEACH Caribbean programme, a not-for-profit organisation, established by a group of Jamaican Rhodes Scholars.

The programme is being supported by the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS), and endorsed by the Ministry of Education. The main participants will be students from the May Day and Mile Gully high schools in Manchester and Brimmer Vale and Islington high schools, in St Mary.

“Maths and English are foundation competencies which students need to move forward; however, many children continue to face serious challenges with the subjects. And our students, particularly in our rural institutions, do not always get the same attention as those in urban schools with similar challenges,” stressed Mariame McIntosh Robinson, conceptualiser of the TEACH Caribbean programme, who is also a Rhodes Scholar.

Fewer than 40 per cent of students who sit English Language at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level pass the subject, while almost half fail maths, data from the Economic and Social Survey by the Planning Institute of Jamaica shows. And, the performance in the subject areas among non-traditional schools is much lower.

TEACH Caribbean, which ran a three-year pilot with seed funding from the Rhodes Trust, has already observed marked improvements in the performance of students at May Day and Mile Gully High Schools in Manchester, where the initiative started.

The current Manchester cohort, which started with TEACH Caribbean in summer 2013, improved their average scores from 54 per cent to 79 per cent in maths, and from 44 per cent to 69 per cent in English in 2013.

In 2014, maths scores increased from 30 per cent to 51 per cent; and from 50 per cent to 65 per cent in English.

“The ultimate metric will be the percentage of our students who achieve a pass ranging from grades one to three in maths and English when they sit the CSEC exams in 2017. Our goal is that the majority of our students must pass CSEC maths and English,” said McIntosh Robinson.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20150712/rhodes-scholars-focus-rural-schools