Achieving Quality Education for All Expansion of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Approximately 33,100 children between the ages of three and five years, are being provided for as follows: 99 government and government-assisted centres provide 10,000 spaces 99 public/private partnership arrangements provide approximately 9,400 spaces 99 parents have opted to pay privately for 13,700 spaces. In addition to the 59 newly constructed, recently completed, ECCE centres, the Ministry of Education, with the assistance of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is currently constructing a further 52 new ECCE centres across Trinidad and Tobago, catering for an additional 6,000 children. Currently 100% of teachers in the government and government-assisted centres hold Certificates or Bachelor of Education degrees, in addition to receiving ongoing training. Moreover, a further 1,800 persons are in training across seven accredited local tertiary institutions, to join our ECCE system.

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he Ministry of Education, has recognised the need to promote the holistic development of our nation’s children and identified 16 priority areas of focus to strengthen the education system, including the introduction of initiatives geared at improving the primary school curriculum, as well as infrastructural development and teacher training, in keeping with international best practices. Further, consistent with Goal 1 of the United Nation’s Education For All, of expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education (ECCE), especially of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, the Ministry’s focus includes expansion of early childhood care and education towards achieving Universal ECCE.

Reviewed in 2013, the current ECCE curriculum is based on recognised standards of practice and is designed according to five strands: Wellness, Effective Communication, Citizenship/Belonging, Intellectual Empowerment and Aesthetic Expression. The ECCE curriculum is so designed to achieve learning outcomes that are demarcated into knowledge, skills, attitudes and dispositions such as resilience, independence, empathy, national pride, respect and perseverance. This curriculum is constantly being strengthened according to best practices and receives the support of annual research being conducted by UWI’s Family Development Centre on behalf of the Ministry of Education. Recent visits to ECCE centres by IDB officials have validated the curriculum as evidenced by the social and intellectual characteristics displayed by the children.

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Making strides in Primary Education

The Curriculum and Continuous Assessment

The primary school curriculum, incorporates a number of initiatives aimed at supporting student learning at the Primary level. These initiatives are embedded in the national curriculum and include:  revision of the primary curriculum  expansion of the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) to include a Continuous Assessment Component (CAC)  targeted literacy and numeracy skills development  a literacy and numeracy coaching programme in targeted schools that supports teacher implementation of the curriculum, with particular emphasis on Infants 1, 2 and Standard 1  significant resourcing of all primary schools to support the revised curriculum (books, manipulatives, charts, teacher professional texts), including libraries at 380 Primary schools in Trinidad and Tobago (with 52 located in Primary schools in the Caroni Education District). Further support for schools in rural areas is provided by NALIS mobile libraries  over 74% of primary schools have functioning computer labs with 87% having internet access; 97% of secondary schools have functioning computer labs with internet access.

Continuous assessment is best practice in all jurisdictions of repute around the world. The focus is on assessment of learning and assessment for learning. This form of assessment is built into our curriculum from Infant 1 all the way through to Standard 5. It takes account of performances over a period of time and not just a single test. Continuous Assessment actually empowers the learner.

The primary curriculum targets the development of twentyfirst century skills as well as nurtures attitudes and dispositions necessary in citizens of good character.  Subjects including Values, Character and Citizenship Education, Social Studies and Literature support the development of good character and nurturing of dispositions such as empathy, kindness and understanding of self and others  All other subjects also specify disposition outcomes  Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) outcomes are articulated in all subjects in the curriculum

Continuous Assessment is a powerful diagnostic tool with benefits that:  enables students to identify the areas that pose difficulty and to concentrate their efforts in those areas  allows teachers to determine if students have understood or mastered a concept or skill before moving on with the curriculum  allows teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching strategies and modify those strategies according to the needs of pupils  helps students realise where they are in relation to where they should be in terms of skills and abilities  allows assessments of curriculum-based tasks previously taught in class  provides guidance-oriented feedback while capturing the full range of a learner’s performance.

Improving Infrastructure The Ministry has also established quality standards for infrastructure and over the last 5 years, the Ministry of Education has constructed 29 new primary schools, 59 ECCE centres and 8 secondary schools for a total of 96 new schools constructed. Additionally, 92 more schools are under construction, 31 primary schools, 52 ECCE centres (26 under IADB Phase II) and 9 secondary schools, with 11 secondary schools administrative and science blocks under construction. Further, almost 4,700 repair and maintenance projects were completed in government and government-assisted schools, using over 1,100 small, medium and large contractors, over the past 5 years.

Continuous Assessment Component of the SEA Data on student achievement from the Continuous Assessment Component (CAC) of SEA, indicate growth and that students have indeed benefitted from the CAC with a mean score of 88.2% in 2014. Further, 78.7 % scored above 50% in SEA, the highest for the period 2010 to 2014. The assessments for the CAC are a combination of projects, performance tasks and portfolio work.

The Ministry of Education’s performance has positioned Trinidad and Tobago as a leader in the field of education. Our achievements in Universal ECCE and Inclusive Education were highlighted by former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, at the second edition of the Inter-American Development Bank and ALAS Foundation Awards, celebrated in Washington in May 2014. She praised this administration for taking an important role in leading this effort while investing in childhood development.

Delivering Quality Education