Some principals worried about implementation of Sixth Form Pathways Programme

 

With two weeks to go before the official start of the new school year, some principals have expressed the view that there will be major challenges with the implementation of the mandatory Sixth Form Pathways Programme.

 

The Sixth Form Pathways is part of the Ministry of Education's implementation of a seven-year high school programme.

 

It allows for students who complete grade 11 to enroll in the programme and pursue a two-year course with alternative opportunities alongside the traditional sixth-form curriculum.

 

But Linton Weir, Principal of Old Harbour High School, has said it will be extremely difficult to find space to accommodate students who will transition into the programme.

 

He also noted the need for additional teachers, pointing to his school's situation when it began the programme last year and received only one extra teacher despite having 500 additional students who transitioned to sixth form. 

 

"If you look at the ratio for teacher and student, the Ministry of Education would have put forward that the ratio is 1:25 if you don't have a sixth form programme, but if you have a sixth form programme, it's 1:20. Now that you have put in 500 additional students in the space, tell me how the maths work for you to give us one teacher to impart education to 500 students," he complained Wednesday while speaking on the Morning Agenda on Power 106.

 

"We will not be able to absorb them because we don't have the space to absorb them and, two, we don't have the teacher personnel to absorb them," he insisted. 

 

 

Raymon Treasure, Principal of York Castle High School, said his institution can only accommodate 150 of the 225 grade 11 students who will return.

 

He argued that community colleges are now experiencing a reduction in their enrolment because of the compulsory sixth form programme, while on the other hand, "most high schools in Jamaica don't have the capacity to offer [the programme] in a meaningful way" because of a lack of teachers and facilities. 

 

Mr. Treasure said instead of the ministry asking students to remain in high school for two additional years to do subjects "that will not necessarily take them anywhere", it should encourage them to go to a community college which has more advanced programmes. 

 

 

However, Principal of Mona High, Kevin Jones, is in full support of the Sixth Form Pathways Programme, which he believes will create well-rounded students. 

 

Mr. Jones said schools should implement the programme, monitor and document how it functions and provide feedback to the ministry so the necessary adjustments can be made over time. 

 

"It is what we will have to do at this point in time. What would be the alternative to students not going to high school or continuing high school after grade 11 when we have upwards of 60 per cent of them leaving without any sort of marketable skill or five or more CSEC subjects?" he questioned. "What's their alternative?"

 

Under the Sixth Form Pathways Programme, students will have the ability to leave the secondary school system with one or more of the following: an Occupational Associate Degree, which offers workplace competencies while they are learning the discipline; Certificate or Diploma (within an occupational discipline); an accredited Associate Degree through the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ) or University Council of Jamaica (UCJ).

 

They will also have the option of getting additional Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and City & Guilds subjects, including Mathematics and English; as well as National Vocation Qualification-Jamaica (NVQJ) and/or Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) levels two or three.