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Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw Makes Shocking Revelation

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There has always been consensus by the BU family that at the root of our problems is an irrelevant and dysfunctional education system.  It was therefore important to listen  to Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw as she and her team appeared before the 2019 House Appropriation Debate – Standing Finance Committee OWN the problems with a promise to reform the education system.

It was interesting to note Bradshaw’s assessment of the current education system if compared to her predecessor Ronald Jones. He offered no similar critiques during his lengthy tenure as minister of education. What a difference a general election makes!

A poignant moment came in the presentation when Minister Bradshaw stated that problems identified by the criterion test at 9 years old were not remediated before the child had to do the 11+. It there translated to young children condemned as failures by society. Some may suggest another poignant moment occurred when the Prime Minister asked Chief Education Officer what recommendation would she make to improve the leadership in the schools. Her response will floor you!

Watch Santia Bradshaw, Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training share the challenges and opportunities  faced by her ministry.

A must listen for all Barbadians!

 

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266 responses to “Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw Makes Shocking Revelation”

  1. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    MS BRADHAW IS TALKING AS MUCH SHITE AS HER FATHER DID WHEN IN 1994 HE SAID AT THE TIME OF AN IMPORTANT VOTE IN PARLIAMENT THAT HE WENT TO ANTIGUA TO HAVE HIS PILES TREATED

  2. ks Avatar
    ks

    Instead of ‘pulling down’ Harrison College & other so-called “good schools”…. investigate & find out why you deem them the ‘good” schools and apply your findings to those you consider the ‘bad’ schools.

    Do not lower your standards…. raise them!!! Or as Hal says…..you will be a “failed state”!!!

  3. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Hal
    That society that you speak of o longer exists. The whole approach was relevant to those times.
    Outside of the limited number that went on to the prestigious grammar schools, many others went straight into the trades. The ones who were bright but got none of the scarce scholarships found careers in the public service and were the builders of what we now call the middle class.
    Teachers today are not seen as the fountains of all knowledge;they have no monopoly on information .There is google!
    Countries cannot be built on nostalgia.
    As outstanding as that era was, we must realize that it has gone forever.
    To restructure an economy such as ours ,there must be a radical reform of the educational system.
    Our problems are a direct result of an economic system that keeps real wealth in the hands of a few and an educational system that condemns citizens at the ripe old age of eleven.
    If we are a failed state that is how we failed.

  4. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    Our failure is not one of households, as BU believes, but of our collective national leadership (HAL AUSTIN THE SAGE ..SORRY I SHOULD HAVE SAID THE SHIT!)

    IF HIS BRAIN WAS THE SIZE OF A PEA IT WOULD BE ABLE TO COMPUTE THAT NATIONAL FAILURE IS A FUNCTION OF COLLECTIVE HOUSEHOLDS……SINCE NATIONS ARE COMPOSED OF HOUSEHOLDS!

  5. Lexicon Avatar
    Lexicon

    Jeff

    I have never understood why after paying teachers loads of money to educate our children …then we turn around and expect parents who are trying to make a living to take of the same children to educate then at home as well?

  6. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    As much as the Minister was complaining about the “deficits” and lack of resources the Gov’t decided to allow the children of CARICOM nationals free entry into all of our educational institutions,now I don’t know how the numbers impact any thing but yesterday I caught the end of a response to a call in query by Wickham and he said something to the effect that any Barbadian student could enter any school in the CARICOM area and receive a free education which made me go Hmmmmmmnnnn.

  7. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    ks March 6, 2019 9:08 AM

    Instead of ‘pulling down’ Harrison College & other so-called “good schools”…. investigate & find out why you deem them the ‘good” schools and apply your findings to those you consider the ‘bad’ schools.

    Do not lower your standards…. raise them!!! Or as Hal says…..you will be a “failed state”!!!

    YOU ARE VERY CORRECT SIR
    BUT IT IS THE NATIONAL PLOY IN GOVERNMENT TO DESTROY THE BEST IT PRODUCES

    TWO EXAMPLES FROM MY EXPERIENCE
    1- I WORKED AT A POLYCLINIC WHERE THE RECEPTIONISTS GOT OT THE NOTES FOR THE NEXT DAYS PATIENTS BEFORE CLOSING TIME EACH DAY. THE CLINIC WORKED LIKE CLOCKWORK THE NEXT DAY.
    YOU WOULD THINK THAT THIS EXCELLENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN TAUGHT AND IMPLEMENTED THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM………IT WAS NOT. IT CRUMBLED FOR SILLY REASONS I WONT DISCLOSE
    2 I WORKED WITH AN EXCELLENT DR WHO PATIENTLY SORTED OUT ALL THE INTRICATE DETAILS OF OUR ELDERLY PATIENTS AT ONE END………WHILE I CLEARED THE CLINIC OF THE TRIVIAL CASES
    THEY SEPARATED US! AND TURNED THE OPPERATIONS OF THAT CLINIC INTO CHAOS

    I WENT TO BFS AND THEN HC AFTER THE FIRST COMMON ENTRANCE EXAM
    I AM A DUMMY SO I MISSED THE ELITISM!
    I WENT, PITCHED MARBLES, PLAYED TIP AND RUN FIRMS, MARBLE CRICKET AND BECAME AN EXCELLENT PHOTOGRAPHER, SUCH THAT I WAS PHOTOGRAPHIONG WEDDINGS AT AGE 17—–SHOULD HAVE STUCK TO THAT!

    LET US DESTROY HC AND QC IN ORDER TO FIX OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM! HILARIOUS!
    WAS NOT EDUCTECH UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MIA MAO MUGABE MUTTLEY, NOW PRIMEWICKER AND DICTATOR, TO FIX OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM TOO?

  8. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    The next question which should have been asked of Wickham( the poochlicker) how does he proposed the govt pay for this extended Caricom family
    As of now Mia made plenty promises of tax cuts to the poor which she has not kept
    Furthermore has taken a position of depleting govt revenue in her giving tax waivers to rich

  9. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    RE Lexicon March 6, 2019 9:19 AM

    Jeff I have never understood why after paying teachers loads of money to educate our children …then we turn around and expect parents who are trying to make a living to take of the same children to educate then at home as well?

    THAT IS EASILY ANSWERED! IT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE AN ASS!
    THE CHILDREN WHO DO WELL IN SCHOOL AND GET SCHOLARSHIPS AND DO BEST IN SCHOOL WELL IN BARBADOS TODAY ARE THE CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS WHILE trying to make a living ALSO TAKE THE TIME TO PARTICIPATE IN THEIR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION.

    NOW LEXICON PLEASE SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!

  10. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    RE The first thing Ms Bradshaw should do is publish in full the CXC exam results for each school.
    THIS IS ANOTHER “BRAIN WAVE” FROM HAL AUSTIN THE BULL SHITTER
    WHEN WE publish in full the CXC exam results for each school THIS WILL CAUSE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS OF ALL SCHOOLS TO IMPROVE.IN LEAPS AND BOUNDS

    WE HAVE NOW HAD LEXIMORON AND HALMORON! NEXT TO COME TO SCHOOL WILL BE THE PEDANTIC BULLSHITTING BRIMBLER, none of whom attended HC OR QC!

    WE ALSO NEED THE OLD GARDENER SAGE TO COME TELL US HOW SHE WOULD IMPLEMENT AGRICULTURE IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

  11. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    William Skinner is generally right. About the 11+ foolishness. We find it hard to understand why an independent country would want to continue seeing this instrument for social stratification as so pivotal. In jest of course! We well know the answer/s.

    And we can’t pretend to want to change or RADICALLY transform the miseducation system unless we also intend to overturn all the adjoining structures. It can’t be empty talk. It has to go to the root – economy!

    What Skinner lacks badly it a frontal, alternative, paradigmatic or radical discourse as to what is to replace it. We suggest that the answer is well located in the ancestral DNA of those same children now being imbued with submission to the thinking of other people’s foremothers.

    This writer is always pleased to hear the name of a Great ancestor John Cumberbatch. For there has been no other person, born in Barbados, and known in our lifetime, with a real serious determination on such matters.

    That it has taken this motley bunch fifty years to rekindle his thinking is deeply regrettable and demonstrates our underdevelopment.

  12. Sunshine Sunny Shine Avatar
    Sunshine Sunny Shine

    She said then: “There has to be an institution that allows those children who literally are too difficult to be managed in the secondary school setting to be taken into another setting and to be able to be given the dedicated time, attention and discipline to stop them from literally falling off the edge and entering into a world of crime from which they may never return.” (QUOTE

    We always have to reach crisis level to start talking sensible alternatives nuh. I want hard to believe you, Rogue-Works, I really do, so I am going to say here right now for the record that you saying the right thing but doing something remains to be seen. The same way how you laid haste at the feet of the constitution to effect changes beneficial to you, move with the same haste in designating one or two of the secondary schools or build a school Reprogramming Centre equipped with the right type of learning aids towards these problem children. While you are at it, provide legislation that mandates that the parents of these problem children be assessed and where falling short, attend guidance and parental counselling classes for a period of time. Makes no sense picking up the apples and leaving the tree grounded in its bad roots. This change needs a suitable environment, nicely designed building (or retrofit and renovate an old one), appropriate props, technology and good teachers. No talk shops but more practical learning with plenty of assimilations and visual aids. Then when progress is shown and a system that assesses them with data that can easily identify their strengths and weaknesses, have a section of the school construction for them to graduate to the next level for more stringent academic learning. Both parent and child must past all tests set because it does not make sense dealing with the child and leaving out the parent to return to an environment that will open wounds again. The curriculum will be designed according to their needs and strengths but with a focus on teaching deportment, discipline, self control and de-escalating conflict. And, for what it is worth, we really need to do away with the 11+. This thing about Harrison College, Queens College and Combermere versus all the other schools is a big part of the reason why you have this shitety good schools-bad schools concept.

  13. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    WOOL BEING PULLED OVER ONE’S EYES

    BLOGMASTER has once again fallen prey to the one thing BARBADOS POLITICIANS ARE EXPERT AT, GUMFLAPPING.

    The problem has always been with these grandious proclamations is the lack of follow through, ie WALK THE TALK. Same old same old to quote the BLOGMASTER.

    Wily maybe in agreement with the context however is cynical about any positive results.

  14. Dullard Avatar
    Dullard

    @Dullard
    The blogmaster will drive in the positive lane.

    Good or you! But you should first ensure that this lane leads somewhere and is not just a roundabout.

    There is no doubt the miseducation system in Bim is painfully out of date and a needs a serious overhaul.

    But this narrow -almost childish- focus on the 11+ is laughable.

    Let’s say we remove the 11+ tomorrow. What next? Will we then have a 1st class education system?

    These narrow talking points without due regard to the broader issues at play and how they all fit together suggests that no real appetite to tackle the underlying issues.

    Bare talk.

    Parliament is just another rum shop.

  15. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    RE Mariposa March 6, 2019 8:52 AM
    A lot of hot hair nothing would change
    In any case Barbados is so far behind and does nit have the financial resources to keep it education system in pace with the global economy

    WHEREAS IT IS TRUE THAT MUCH HEAT AND HOT AIR EMANATES FROM PARLIAMENT ACCOMPANIED BY VERY LITTLE LIGHT IT IS NOT TRUE TO SAY In any case Barbados is so far behind and does nit have the financial resources to keep it education system in pace with the global economy

    WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT THE DYSLEXIC AND ONCE SLOW LEARNER LEXICON LEARNED TO READ SO THAT ON GOING ABROAD HE CAN CONTRIBUTE HERE IN SOME MEASURE?

    HE HAD HIS FOUNDATION IN THE FAILED BARBADOS EDUCATION SYSTEM!
    I TEACH AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS INCLUDING SOME WITH DEGREES ALREADY………..AND THEY ARE NOT EVEN UP TO LEXICON’S STANDARD! AND THE USA IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLDEVER!
    SO YOU SHOULD SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN TOO!

  16. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    RE Jefferson Cumberbatch March 6, 2019 7:47 AM

    What makes a bad school or a good school? Mr Kirk Humphrey asked an insightful question which was not directly addressed by Ms Bradshaw. He asked what accounts for two groups of students having almost identical CE marks but after going to different secondary schools, having very different academic outcomes?

    Is this a problem? Different outcomes must also factor in the home environment. Do/can the parents read? Do they encourage conversation/reading or is it just social media and television every day after school. GIGO!

    JEFF IS OF COURSE CORRECT HERE
    HIS RESPONSE WAS WITH RESPECT TO THE SOME Humphrey askING ed an insightful question which was not directly addressed by Ms Bradshaw.

    what accounts for two groups of students having almost identical CE marks but after going to different secondary schools, having very different academic outcomes

    BUT NOTE THAT STUDENTS HAVING having almost identical CE marks but after going to THE SAME secondary schools, ALSO HAVE very different academic outcomes

    I EXPECT THAT HIS ANSWER MUST/WOULD BE THE SAME AS FOR students having almost identical CE marks but after going to DIRRENT different secondary schools, BECAUSE THE SAME FACTORS HE CITES ARE IN VOGUE IN BOTH CASES!

    SO FIXING THE FACTORS SEEM TO BE THE PRIMARY TASK!

  17. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    RE Ping Pong March 6, 2019 7:53 AM

    I very strongly believe that the relative ranking of children re: allocation to secondary schools will be the same under continuous assessment as now obtains under the present CE exam.

    I very strongly believe that YOU ARE 1OO% CORRECT! THE CREAM ALWAYS RISES TO THE TOP!

  18. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    She said then: “There has to be an institution that allows those children who literally are too difficult to be managed in the secondary school setting to be taken into another setting and to be able to be given the dedicated time, attention and discipline to stop them from literally falling off the edge and entering into a world of crime from which they may never return.” (QUOTE

    What would we the ground rules for identifying these children
    How would a teacher who is not trained in physchological problems tell the difference between a child who is mentality challenged and one who has ADS
    -”’—”””’-”””’-”””””
    Again alot of hot air but no reference given as to what plans would be put in place to adress a problem that is complex and complicated

  19. millerthe an Avatar
    millerthe an

    @ Sargeant March 6, 2019 8:29 AM
    “With all that in a few weeks we will see the celebration of 11 plus students and later the celebration of scholarship winners.
    I give up ”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

    Sarge, you stole my thunder.
    Just another round of expulsion of heated gases from the empty brains of politicians.

    How else would the nouveau riche johnny-come-lately black middle class living in the heights and terraces differentiate themselves from those living in the former villages now known as the Bajan ghettoes?

    What we would like to know is the gender ratio (females to males) in the current educational system in Barbados even at the managerial and ministerial levels.

    Then we would be better placed to appreciate the thesis constantly prosecuted on BU by the “Lady SimpleSimonPresidentFuhLife” that the social and economic problems in Barbados are entirely due to naughty boys and violently vicious men with the only solution being proposed is castration of those falling into the age category of 2 to 82.

    Poor males, your days of wild raging testosterone are numbered. Soon you will be relegated to the social status of being bulls on dairy farms.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    @GP

    You are probably correct, the challenge is to have a more equitable education system i.e addressing those who the system is presently failing.

  21. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    Wuh Loss!!
    Same old! Same Old!
    Thirty years from now we will be having this same debate. The problem is that we do not know what education is;and what role it plays in delivering the good life . And that is a good thing. Too many Brimblers in town .

  22. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ GP at 10 :20 AM

    You wrote : “The cream always rises to the top”. That is true whether you store it in a tot or a Royal Doulton milk jug.

  23. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    The system is not failing a soul. We are failing the system. We all have talent. We need to encourage their development.

  24. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    Why are children from Tweedside Road, CARRINGTON Village going to Alleyne School? They prefer to ignore Parkinson’s for example in their zone? The system has to change.

    The technocrats pointed out that the education system we use to say is the same handed to us as a colony. The irony is that the mother country has made changes to the original system.

  25. GEORGIE PORGIE Avatar
    GEORGIE PORGIE

    WE CAN START BY OBSERVING OUR BEST AND COPYING THEM BECAUSE IN ALL SPHERES OF ENDEAVOR, OUR BEST TEND TO ADAPT AND IMPROVE IN VIVO!

    THE ADVISORS IN THE MOE ARE LIKELY AS MUCH FAILURES AND STAGNANT AS OUR POOREST TEACHERS

    DONT ALL PRIMARY TEACHERS GO TO ERDISTON?

    MY SON SAID THAT ONE OF HIS TEACHERS TOLD THE STUDENTS THAT HE GOT TO ACTUALLY TEACH AT HC, ALTHOUGH HE DID NOT NEED TO DO SO MUCH TEACHING SINCE THE STUDENTS WERE GENERALLY EAGER AND WERE INVOLVED IN SELF LEARNING

    HE SAID THAT AT OTHER SCHOOLS AT WHICH HE WAS EMPLOYED HE DID NOT GET TO TEACH MUCH BECAUSE MOST OF THE TIME HE WAS CAUGHT UP WITH DISCIPLINE!

  26. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Q Why are children from Tweedside Road, CARRINGTON Village going to Alleyne School? They prefer to ignore Parkinson’s for example in their zone?

    A. SIMPLE BECAUSE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO! THE TAIL IS WAGGING THE DOG AT THE MOE!

    IF YOU WANT TO ZONE…….ZONE! BUT PICK OUT THE OUTSTANDING STUDENTS AND SEND THEM TO THE SCHOOLS WHERE THEY WOULD NOT BE SLOWED DOWN AND CAN GO AT A QUICKER PACE!

    SEND THE BRIGTEST AND THE SLOWEST OR SPECIAL NEED STUDENTS IN WHAT EVER WAY TO APPROPRIATE SPECIAL SCHOOLS!

    The system has to change.YES THE MOE MUST CHANGE!

  27. David Avatar
    David

    There are some behaviors which follow students from different socioeconomic segments. Our system does not continually assess teachers. Our system does not make it easy to move poor teachers and principals from the system.

    Our system of education must change.

  28. SirFuzzy (Former Sheep) Avatar
    SirFuzzy (Former Sheep)

    I asked this question before. After the change in Estimates Format or PR Daytime Soap Opera compliments GoB/HoA. when these senior Govt. officials return to their respective offices and/or cubicles. What effectively changes? Will the specific ministry/ministries be run better; will they be more efficient or effective? Wil what is spoke on camera in the HOA actually come to fruition or frustration? Talk is cheap and plentiful. Activity is not always productivity. therefore is ask. “where is the souse”?

    The PR and change of format is fine. But where is the “new pudding” in the “new pudding and souse”.

    Just asking?

  29. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    THINK OF THE DAYS OF THE AUSTIN CAMBRIDGE, THE MORRIS OXFORD, WOSLEY………….ALL BASICALLY THE SAME ON THE SAME CHASSIS…………BUT COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF SEVERAL MODIFICATIONS.

    ONE COULD MAKE MORE CARS THAT WAY PER UNIT TIME AND UNIT COST.
    THE NECESSARY MODIFICATIONS PROVIDED THE REQUIRED DIFFERENCES.

    DOES BU GET A STIPEND FOR EDUCATION SERVICES PROVIDED TO THE MORONS IN GOVERNMENT(S)?

    IN 2008 I POSTED DETAILS OF THE POLYCLINIC PLAN I SUBMITTED IN 1985 PLUS THE UPGRADES THAT WERE NOT IMPLEMENTED.

    IN 2011 I ATTENDED A POLYCLINIC IN ST LUCIA AND SAW ALL MY IDEAS THERE MANIFESTED

  30. David Avatar
    David

    We will know what changed next year when promises made in 2019 can me reviewed.

  31. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Hal
    That society that you speak of o longer exists. The whole approach was relevant to those times.
    Outside of the limited number that went on to the prestigious grammar schools, many others went straight into the trades. The ones who were bright but got none of the scarce scholarships found careers in the public service and were the builders of what we now call the middle class.
    Teachers today are not seen as the fountains of all knowledge;they have no monopoly on information .There is google!
    Countries cannot be built on nostalgia.
    As outstanding as that era was, we must realize that it has gone forever.
    To restructure an economy such as ours ,there must be a radical reform of the educational system.
    Our problems are a direct result of an economic system that keeps real wealth in the hands of a few and an educational system that condemns citizens at the ripe old age of eleven.
    If we are a failed state that is how we failed.(Quote)

    @William,

    We desperately need an educational system that teaches young people HOW to think, and not WHAT to think. A good, compassionate, knowledge-based society is not long gone. This is not wallowing in nostalgia. I thought better of you. This is about why a once good system, a system envied by other Caribbean islands, has been allowed to deteriorate.
    Young people looked up to the generation ahead of them as examples; I can go through the generation just ahead of me and the impact they had on the boys on the block, as conventional criminologists will now say. Our currency, however, was not drugs, but books. I am still addicted to them.
    And teachers were not regarded as fountains of all knowledge, but as sympathetic, understanding, encouraging. They taught us HOW to think, not WHAT to think.
    Only recently I met a former teacher of mine, who taught me at the age of nine, and our conversation continued as if it was just yesterday. They same mutual respect. I know he reads BU and knows who he is.
    There are more teachers in my family (and in-laws) than any other occupancy group or professionals, and they talk about their professions. So, @William, this is not just the view of an old man harking back to the old days. Why not call n overseas Barbadians (I know of one professor at Columbia, talk to him).
    We need to improve the status of teachers by re-training all those aged 45 and under, make teaching a desired profession. One problem is that we allow some of our best and most ambitious teachers to jump ship to be cheap lawyers. That is not nostalgia, but realty. Part of the problem, a big part, is that we reject what was good about the old system, but have not been able to replace it with anything.
    Do a quick check of the number of lawyers who were once teachers. We need to know how individual schools perform in public exams so parents and teachers could sort out any problems.
    Our problems are not just economic, although that plays a key part, it is a deep cultural malaise, the decay of a system. Education is but one symptom of this decay; have a look at all our major institutions, including the church. That is why I say Barbados is a failed state.

  32. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Hal
    I never said to throw out the baby with the bath water. I am merely saying that the entire sociological structure was different at that time.
    As a proud product of Bay Primary, I can boast of an excellent primary school education that was fitting for that time.
    The Neighbour hoods are not even the same.

  33. SirFuzzy (Former Sheep) Avatar
    SirFuzzy (Former Sheep)

    The GoB and its ministries etc and the taxpayer must adopt the “W Edwards Deming” approach to the Estimates Soap Opera.

    “Simply put.” We cannot Manage what you cannot Measure”

    We must at a personal/ ministry level/ and a government level / national level set this in progress. Set attainable positive objective

    We need milestone/yardstick(not yard fowls)/points of reference in each ministry/department/division/school/ classroom etc where we put down a marker. At the point of review whenever that is we need to be clinically; determine if we have advanced regressed or stood-still.

    Are we prepared as a society to deal with the results of such a policy towards under preforming ministries ; schools, institutions, ministers, departments etc?

    Just asking.

  34. SirFuzzy (Former Sheep) Avatar
    SirFuzzy (Former Sheep)

    “it is wrong to suppose that if u cannot measure it u cannot manage it; a costty myth”

    “Change is no mandatory ; neither is survival”

    “There is no substitute for knowledge”

    “It is not enough to do you best; you must know what to do; and then do your best” – W Edwards Deming.

    The CCE(11+) may or may not be a bad thing. Many here on this blog will look back on your personal experiences after that faithful day many months/years ago and conclude that the CCE(11+) was ……….

    However, one thing i think u will all agree with me with is that there is life after the CCE. What do we with these young minds after the CCE? Each one is different, coming from different socio and economic and family and environmental backgrounds.

    We all know this because we all know where we have come from? We all know that some among us are late developers. Some among us experienced trauma(s), but some among us also know of those that overcame these setbacks; and we know of those that the setbacks overcame etc.

    To be BLUNT we also know that some will not survive and some will fall into the spaces/crack in any system that is created/implemented. Our 1st job is to make the MoE represent US. and not the fancies of a political leader(minister) that may not have anyone’s best interested at heart. We must see the MoE and what it does as OUR expressions of our own desires for the education of the children etc.

    Then products of the MoE like the CCE and their syllabuses; and classroom and teaching standards for conduct actual teaching parent interaction will be brought into balance. Zoning of primary and secondary schools; will be a part of us. Our epression of will in a ministry.

    In other words we need to reclaim the MoE away from the political hacks and make it the peoples MoE. That is the change that we must first try to accomplish before decisions to abandon the CCE can be truly made.

  35. Redguard Avatar
    Redguard

    “Our system does not continually assess teachers. Our system does not make it easy to move poor teachers and principals from the system.

    Our system of education must change.”

    Those are HR and management issues. They have nothing to do with the actual system

    The current approach to education is prescriptive. One goal is academic excellence, the other goal is a quality education. Academic excellence is well defined and easy to measure.

    What constitutes a quality education. Ask this question to the stakeholders (a Principal, a parent, a student, a teacher and a citizen) and we will get a wide range of answers and no consensus. Therein lies the problem. Worse yet is relying on institutions like the World Bank and Unicef for direction. All we get is Edutech and a bunch of overpaid consultants.

    The goal of academic excellence must remain (as sensitive as he is we still need scholars like GP), the prescriptive approach works well for this.

    The idea of a quality education however is poppycock. Instead the goal should be to identify, appreciate and hone all types on intelligence (this would actually encompass academic excellence)

  36. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David
    The MoE put the Alleyne School in the students’ zone. Neither the children or their parents did. Please review the video and tell me which technocrat took responsibility for zoning of schools.

    Even in colonial times the Education system was home grown . The Colonial Secretary was not responsible for the system. The Anglican , Moravian and Methodist Churches were pioneers in setting up the Education system.

    Hal is on the right track when he states Education is about developing thinking skills. It is not a body of knowledge to be acquired. The shelf life of the latter is very short. If the system is delivering the tools of equipping the citizen to cope with living in the 21st century, the mission is accomplished. All else is puffery.

    The trouble with most of us is we want control over people and things. This is the seed of a failing society. So David you and others can continue to dismantle perceived institutions of excellence. I have educated my children for the world. They do not have to live or work here.

  37. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Allow me to introduce a somewhat discordant note to the discussion. The Minister has just returned after being treated for Breast Cancer ( and we wish her a speedy recovery and the best of health as she navigates through life). Breast Cancer is a scourge to women (and men) throughout the world and scores of women in Barbados have been treated for this illness so we should have some knowledgeable Docotors around who can treat this disease so why does the Minister have to decamp to the US for treatment? Is this a commentary on the medical personnel that we have in Barbados? Does she not have confidence in the treatment available locally?

    A more important question is why do politicians have to go overseas for treatment of illnesses when the therapy is not cutting edge? The answers are a reflection of our much vaunted education system that politicians have been exhalting over the years.

  38. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    Many issues are being thrown up for review. No system can remain the same when all around you is changing.

  39. SirFuzzy (Former Sheep) Avatar
    SirFuzzy (Former Sheep)

    @ Sargeant March 6, 2019 12:43 PM

    It a simple matter of being able to pay for the service u desire. There are wants and needs. Most of us if falling ill had the capacity to get “superior” medical care “overseas” will in a blinking of the eye take it.

    Why we cannot in a blinking of the same eye access it may be a dollars and sense question. Poor folks although having rich man dreams are often floored by the reality that dreams dont pay overseas medical bills.

    Just saying.

  40. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ William,

    Of course you appreciate quality. About Bay Street, sorry about that. Somebody had to go there. Joking.

  41. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    Sargeant at 12:43. PM

    As you surmised,you are discordant. Barbados is a democracy. We still have freedom of choice as to where we want to seek medical attention.

  42. SirFuzzy (Former Sheep) Avatar
    SirFuzzy (Former Sheep)

    @ Redguard March 6, 2019 12:38 PM

    “The idea of a quality education however is poppycock. Instead the goal should be to identify, appreciate and hone all types on intelligence (this would actually encompass academic excellence).”

    There is quality. A better term maybe “an eduction of quality ( eg tuition, theory etc ….” as opposed to “a quality education”

    However, someone going to a military academy may actually get “a quality eduction”; as the stuff taught is fit for the purpose at hand; that is warfare etc.

    We in Barbados need a practical education that is fit for the purpose; whatever that purpose may be. But its components must be of high quality.

    Just saying

  43. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David BU

    The education system in Barbados has never been stationary . It has evolved overtime to be fit for purpose and in response to the needs of the society. I have no fears that our tradition of pragmatism and common sense have died. The peripheral noises are distracting There is too much long talk and very little meaningful action.

  44. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    What you have stated does not accord with what the technocrats shared yesterday.

  45. Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right Avatar
    Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right

    @ The Honourable Blogmaster

    I am speaking to David of BU now

    Not the other two of the BU BORG

    When you said and I quote

    “…You claim to have state of the art security policies VPN proxy servers and the like yet unable to click a public link?

    Steuspe indeed!…”

    You two as usual miss the point that I am making.

    This IS NOT ADVICE FOR ME! though I am still watchful of Zero Day flaws and other constant hacking processes that attend the most hardened of OSes, I want unsuspecting people to guard their machines

    Many sites DENY ME ENTRY David of BU because my IPs are blacklisted

    So in order to be able to access a site, IF I WANT ITS RESOURCE, I have go us a common browser.

    I am surprised at your response Honourable Blogmaster

    Because you specifically know that I wrote to Barbados Underground several moons ago and suggested that BU actually promoted a 3rd party service FOR THE BENEFIT OF ITS USERS!

    Isughested it as a money generating project to (1) offset the expenses of Barbados Underground and (2) GO PROTECT THE UNSUSPECTING SHEEPLE AND PEOPLE WHO USE BARBADOS UNDERGROUND.

    My rationale was simple.

    People who use their computer at home or at work need to be safe from the ISP monitoring their use of Barbados Underground s website or my use of Mandingo Daying Services as a consort for unfulfilled white women or Down-Lowe and WeJonesing looking at crotchless panties on Victoria Secrets for themselves.

    This is NOT A EFFING GAME DAVID this is people’s lives

    Yet, IN ONE BREATH YOU SCREAM OUT and encourage the establishment of new Websites to promote the consciousness of Bajans AND IN THE OTHER YOU MAKE SNIDE REMARKS WHEN I WARN PEOPLE ABOUT MIA’S Charles Jong.

    It is like if you are paying lip service to this matter of citizenry keeping vigilant AT ALL TIMES.

    OR, MORE FEARFULLY, that you are promoting the use of links to Charles Jong’s tracking media and files to the public viewers on BU under the guise of concerned Citizen of State

    Nk man can have two masters for either he love the one and hate the other, or hate the one and love the other

    As a serious question though I would appreciate if you could publicly state to the BU WRITING OR VIEWING FAMILY

    WHAT IS YOUR POSITION ON USING aVPNs and them clicking on government sites?

    Are you definitively stating that you assure the public that the links you periodically provide on BU and vovernment sites ARE SAFE?

  46. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David BU

    What did the technocrats share yesterday? Nothing that an interested citizen did not know. David what most of us saw was a pappy show. Full of sound and fury signifying nothing.It was not even entertaining.

  47. SirFuzzy (Former Sheep) Avatar
    SirFuzzy (Former Sheep)

    “every system is perfectly designed to getthe results it gets” W Deming.

    Can this be said of the CEE?

  48. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    As a matter of fact 90% looked as if they preferred to be elsewhere. They looked uncomfortable.

  49. Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right Avatar
    Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right

    @ the Honourable Blogmaster your assistance please with an item here

    And “not accord with” is not a verb construct

    By this alone I know that this IS NOT daddy

  50. Redguard Avatar
    Redguard

    @SirFuzzy

    Define quality? That’s the problem. Quality is defined by your stakeholder requirements. Try and define it in the context of Barbados. It doesn’t matter if you call it education of quality or quality education, all semantics.

    The military is ideal for a prescriptive approach to quality because there are tight controls and no outside influence. And the different stakeholder needs are very closely aligned.

    Fit for purpose. Fit for who the student, the teacher, the society. Fit for purpose is more poppycock.

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

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