Education Sector Plan: Education for All: Embracing Change, Securing Finale | Page 29

2. Education sector diagnosis
Early childhood development
ECD in the Federation has been touted by development
partners (e.g. OECS and UNICEF) as a model for
the region owing to its focus on establishing and
maintaining high-quality standards in the sector. An
ECD Minimum Standard Checklist was developed with
assistance from UNICEF, and is used for licensing
centres, while a standard Programme Quality
Assessment Tool is used to monitor strengths and
weaknesses in programme delivery at each centre.
As of 2015, 21 centres in St. Kitts and seven in Nevis
were licensed using the Minimum Standard Checklist.
Work continues to: (i) license the remaining centres,
and (ii) implement standard licensing procedures for
home-based providers. Teaching and learning at this
level is informed by the High Scope Curriculum and
a common curriculum framework is developed at the
OECS level.
Orientation workshop for new preschool teachers.
Nonetheless, quality at this level is compromised by several factors. Few providers are teacher-trained (8% of teachers
and 25% of supervisors), 22 and unlike the mandate for new and untrained teachers at the primary and secondary level,
who are expected to attend the CFBC Teacher Education programme after two years of service, teacher training or
certification is not compulsory for ECD providers. While the Associate Degree programme in ECD at the CFBC offers
an avenue for improving teacher qualifications at this level, it is not mandatory. Furthermore, the relevance of the
degree programme needs improvement, as the content is not well-aligned with the High Scope approach followed in the
centres. Other challenges to quality at this level include an inadequate number of staff to monitor and supervise ECD
providers and a need for more material resources to effectively implement the High Scope Curriculum (UNESCO, 2016).
Primary and secondary education
With respect to teacher qualifications, according to EMIS data for the academic years 2011/2 to 2013/14, 71% of
public primary teachers (78% in St. Kitts and 59% in Nevis) and 51% of public secondary teachers (54% in St. Kitts and
47% in Nevis) are teacher-trained. 23 The Federation also benefits from low teacher-pupil ratios: at the primary level
the teacher-pupil ratio is 1:14 (1:15 in SK, 1:10 N and 1:15 SKN Private), with an average class size of 16, and at the
secondary level the ratio is 1:8 (1:9 in SK, 1:8 N and 1:5 SKN Private) with an average class size of 21. The teaching
force predominantly consists of female teachers (100% at ECD, 90% at primary, and 69% at secondary level). 24
Notwithstanding many trained teachers and small class sizes, student performance on national and regional
assessments is indicative of deep-seated quality constraints.
At the primary level, mediocre and below average performance on the National Test of Standards (ToS), which is
mandatory in Grades 3–6 in all public and assisted private schools, highlights quality issues in curriculum and
assessment, as well as the teaching-learning environment.
For 2011–2014, average performance across subjects for Grades 3–6 was 58%, 54%, 50%, and 55%, respectively, with
Nevis consistently yet marginally returning better results than St. Kitts. Average scores on Grade 6 Language Arts
(47% in St. Kitts and 54% in Nevis) and Mathematics ToS (54% in St. Kitts and 63% in Nevis), indicate that the literacy
and numeracy skills needed for secondary school are underdeveloped in many students (see Table 4).
At the secondary level, the current standard of success in secondary school is performance on the Caribbean
Examination Council (CXC) Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), typically taken in Form 5. Since
2010, the national pass rate on CSEC exams has averaged 79%, which is markedly higher than the regional average
of 61% (2014). This certainly heralds a high level of attainment for those who take CSEC examinations; however,
approximately 71% of secondary school students take the CSEC examination (69% in St. Kitts and 78% in Nevis),
which means that approximately 29% of students are leaving secondary school without a standard benchmark of
achievement. Approximately 50% of secondary students sat and passed English A (48% in St. Kitts and 51% in Nevis),
22. These figures are based on available data on teacher training; however the response rate from ECD providers was unsatisfactory.
23. The EMIS department is working to build historical data on teacher qualifications, but these are not yet available. Principals and
education officers have informally noted that, over time, the qualifications of teachers have generally improved.
24.
As of 2014-2015, one male joined the ECD teaching force in St. Kitts.
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