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Andria Givans, Principal at Naggo Head Primary School, Richard Williams, Principal of Gregory Park Primary, and Mico University Principal Dr. Asburn Pinnock
By Kimone Witter
The principals of two primary schools in St. Catherine have offered divergent views on the suggestion for the separation of boys and girls when preparing for examinations, to address the different learning styles.
The recommendation from Stewart Jacobs, President of the National Parent Teachers' Association of Jamaica, came in light of the recent Primary Exit Profile (PEP) results, which showed female students outperforming their male counterparts in Mathematics and Language Arts.
Boys performed similarly to girls in Social Studies and Science.
Andria Givans, chief administrator at Naggo Head Primary School, said an attempt to separate the genders at her institution failed due to several factors.
"While our teacher - who was a male teacher - wanted to experiment with it, there were other factors that were setting in that really caused it not to be as functional as we wanted it to be; and it stemmed from behavioural issues, persons experiencing death within their communities, name it. And so, it was very short lived," she explained.
Ms. Givans, however, said her school would experiment with the initiative again if there is another teacher willing to volunteer.
But principal of Gregory Park Primary, Richard Williams, said in general, children learn differently and many factors affect that process.
"Effective teachers teach for lesson mastery. So whether you have boys only, girls only, or boys and girls, you must be teaching so that children are mastering the concepts that are being brought across. So you have to bring in now teacher efficacy and teacher accountability," he suggested.
Mico University Principal Dr. Asburn Pinnock believes overall, teaching methods need to be reviewed.
Dr. Pinnock said separation of boys and girls may work for intervention, but not for continuous learning.
"It's a clinical approach that we must use and it will improve both male and female. The truth is, though, that boys from a psychological perspective and developmental perspective, boys tend to be a little more adventurous and they tend to be a little bit more outdoors and application based.... And therefore, the kind of discipline that we instill in schools suit girls more because they conform much better than boys. So we have to know that and find ways to get our boys up to the level that we want them to be," he asserted.
The educators were all guests on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines on Monday.
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