The socio-political realities of education in Jamaica: Post-secondary perspective

Published on February 20, 2005 By Paul Bourne In Politics

INTRODUCTION

Jamaica is the third largest landmass in the Greater Antilles of the West Indies. The island is located 90 miles south of Cuba and 100 miles west of Haiti. Its mountainous terrain spans an area of 235 kilometers (km) long, 80 km wide and covers a land area of 10, 991 squared kilometers. The country got independence from Britain on August 6, 1962, when the human population was 1,624,400 (STATIN 2001: xxvi). The nation’s population rose from 1,624,400 (in 1962) to 2,607,632 (in 2001) – (STATIN 2001: x). Of the latter aggregate, there were 1,283,547 males and 1,324,085 females, with 674,795 (this represents 25.6 per cent of the total population) being between the 15 and 29 age cohort years. Those ages represent the single largest age group of the total population (STATIN 2001, xxix). This group constitutes a significant percent of the pupils who attend the various secondary educational institutions. Those schools are located across the fourteen parishes. In the Population Census 2001, Jamaica, Volume 1, Report, STATIN cited that the literacy rate was 74 percent, with this social reality, what explains the dismally low academic performance of Sixth Form Accounting candidates? – (see Table II).

The country’s educational system was fashioned from the British system; as such, Grammar schools (i.e. Traditional high schools) were designed to supply pupils for further studies in addition to supplying ‘high quality’ employees for the public and private sectors. Traditional secondary-educational institutions continue to furnish tertiary educational institutions with candidates as they are the ones who have been tested and retested by way of external examinations for example by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) and the University of Cambridge (Advanced and-or Ordinary Level examinations). Those educational institutions are across the entire geographical landscape of the island. Some of them are co-educational and single educational (i.e. either boys only or girls only) with a few being private. The educational system of Jamaica is predominately public where the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture on the behalf of the government is responsible for the administration of those schools. Even though the private educational institutions are not governed and-or administrated by the Ministry of Education, they must adhere to the regulations of the Ministry. This study will garner data from a sample of all the educational institutions that teach the Advanced Level Accounting syllabus within the island with the purpose of establishing external validity as well as providing information for further study.

Today’s world mainly calls for examinations in the assessment of peoples’ aptitude and abilities. That social reality means that there is skewness towards and a positive relationship between examination results and academic performance. That is, the yardstick for evaluating an individual’s knowledge reservoir, skills level and competence in performing a particular task is an examination. In order for an individual to be considered an authority within any field s/he is expected to have successfully sat examination(s). Consequently the formal education is the metre used in assessing future social development and even success. Hence the criterion according to many stakeholders in judging competence is crucial evidence that determines the learned skills, knowledge, expertise and standards that the teachers apply to a classroom of students. As such, this answers questions like is the child doing well in his/her school work, or is s/he not doing well a particular discipline.

Based on what obtains in Western culture that academic performance is measured on examination grades, this is the reason behind the researcher’s intention to critically analyze social, and physical factors and instructional resources in order to comprehend their impact on the population’s success or failure rate on the A’ Level Accounting examination.

The researcher is not advocating for the present system that exists, instead he is forwarding a position that although a student might be an excellent academic performer during normal class times (outside of examinations), his or her output in terms of examination results may be affected by physical factors such as: diet, illness; psychological factors, instructional resources or event social settings. It is believed that these are critical factors in assessing the performance of Advanced Level Accounting students. From this vantage point, the British system of using examinations in determining success/failure is highly flawed. Nevertheless, the reason for this investigation is primarily due to the below average performance of candidates who have sat the same examination over the years, as their grades reflect a REASON for alarm (see table 1).

Table 1
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATION SYNDICATE
ADVANCED LEVEL ACCOUNTING (JUNE) – Entries and Percentage Passes of Jamaican candidates

YEAR

ENTRIES
NO. SAT EXAM.
% PASS
1982 133 133 4.5
1983 313 313 36.8
1984 459 459 28.3
1985 628 628 43.5
1986 679 679 48.5
1987 819 819 37.7
1988 934 607 43.1
1989 1034 763 6.9
1990 1340 4.9
1991 1339 1144 4.0
1992 1187 38.7
1993 1227 1062 27.8
1994 1587 23.6
1995 1271 31.4
1996 1603 1336 38.7
1997 1689 1387 34.1
1998 1725 * 29.6
1999 * * *
2000 473 230 48.6
2001 573 190 33.

*
2002 * * *

SOURCE: i. STATISTICAL YEARBOOK OF JAMAICA, 1990 – 1999
ii. STATISTICAL ABSTRACT (PUBLICATIONS 1982 – 1992)
* Missing figures
** Public school only and for the private schools it was (336 candidates; pass rate 14.9%)

The data in Tables I and II revealed that there are wide gaps between the success rate of those candidates who sat the Principles of Accounts examination in Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) and that of those who wrote the Advanced Level examination in the same discipline. Because the concentration of this study is primarily on performance, it is obvious from the figures in Table I that the rate of failure in the Advanced Level Accounting examination is vast in comparison to the CXC results (see table II). Therefore, the statistics highlight a need for us to unearth information in order to find solutions to the already low and deteriorating academic performance of candidates who written the Advanced Level accounting examination.

In 1982, table I begins with 4.5 percent or six (6) candidates of those who sat the Advanced Level Accounting examination having been successful (i.e. attaining a grade of A-E). This means that 95.5 percent of 133 candidates who sat the examination were unsuccessful. In 1983, 313 candidates sat the same discipline and of that total only 115 were successful (i.e. 36.8 percent). This indicates a failure rate of 73.2 percent of total number of candidates who sat the examination in the period. Although this represents a drastic reduction of 22.3 percent of the number of unsuccessful candidates to have sat the examination over the previous year, what is critical is that more than 50 percent of candidates were unsuccessful on the examination. That failure rate is absolutely unacceptable and highlight a need for the review of teachers’ performance, and whether or not the students who are been prepared are receiving the necessary skills, knowledge and competencies to successfully write the examination.

Table 2
C.X.C PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTS (JUNE – GENERAL PROFICIENCY) Results – Entries and Percentage Passes of Jamaican candidates

YEAR
ENTRIES % PASS
1982 35 65.71
1983 39 58.97
1984 92 57.61
1985 116 75.86
1986 1544 68.8
1987 1372 70.8
1988 1768 50.1
1989 1873 56.0
1990 8213 28.4
1991 7161 29.4
1992 6909 41.6
1993 7060 43.1
1994 7336 53.3
1995 7289 42.7
1996 7623 57.5
1997 12808 71.0
1998 8450 47.0
1999 6892 78.3
2000 6588 76.2
2001 6305 85.5
2002 6416 87.2
2003 6262 84.0

SOURCE: i. STATISTICAL YEARBOOK OF JAMAICA, 1990 – 1999
ii. STATISTICAL ABSTRACT (PUBLICATIONS 1982 – 1998: 52, 54, 60, 63)

iii. Jamaica Education Statistics, 1999 – 2000; 2000/2001

In 1985, the numbers of candidates who sat and passed the examination (Advanced Level Accounting) were 43.5 percent or 273 person from an aggregate of 628 applicants. This represents approximately a one hundred percent increase over the previous year. This success continued over into the following year with a minute improvement of 5 percent. There is a saying that goes “success is only for a season” and so it was when in 1987 the success rate fell to 37.7 percent (i.e. -10.8 percent). In 1988, a miraculous increase occurred when the success rate rose by 5.4 percent over the previous year. Then a flood of disappointing performances followed 1988, when the success rate fell exponentially by over 300 percent and the spiral continued to 1991. Although dramatic recoveries did occur following post 1991, the success rate is superfluous in comparison to that of Trinidad and Tobago in table 3 on page 9.

From table I, the success rate revealed that over the 20-year period, it is on only one occasion that the students’ academic performance was approximately 50 percent and that year was in 1986. Therefore, this highlights the need for the re-evaluation of the Advanced Level Accounting examination as it relates to the candidates, the environment, the materials, the teachers and social factors; so that we may be able to address this issue before a major problem occurs in the future. Continuing on this path of a high failure rate at the Advanced level have implications for the accounting profession, the society and cadre of our accounting stock supply and so this matter is of concern to resident Jamaicans, non-resident Jamaicans and non-Jamaicans alike.

We have analyzed the Advanced Level and the Ordinary Level Accounting Examination results, and apart from the disparity in successes of the candidates who sat both the two (2) levels, it should be noted that the former subject is a requirement for further studies at the University level and so their results indicate a distressing socio-economic problem for future accountants. In addition, the researcher is bewildered by the continuous low academic performance of pupils who continue to write the Advanced Level examination. This is because disparity between the Ordinary level and the Advanced Level Accounting results are exponentially ranged. In identifying this shortcoming, the researcher consulted the examiners’ reports to provide an assessment of students’ performance. The reason is that those Reports will provide a detailed evaluation of the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses as seen through the eyes of the examiners. Those Reports furnish external validity and reliability of the examination and as such are crucial in providing an understanding of the reason for the poor academic performance of the Advanced level accounting which is the base on which the researcher will analyze those documents. This study will be “An investigation into the effects of social and physical factors, and instructional resources on the academic performance of Advanced Level accounting candidates in Jamaica”.

EXAMINERS’ REPORT

The 1999 Report posited generally that the papers provided a good and balanced coverage of the Syllabus and gave the candidates the opportunity of demonstrating their ability in understanding the accounting information system, in preparing and evaluating accounting systems and reports, and in handling quantitative problems critically and analytically. The Examiners’ Report delineated that the paper was designed to enable candidates to successfully complete the examination (see Appendix III).

If the papers according to the Examiners’ Report were set with a balanced coverage of the syllabus, then serious questions need to be asked about the performance of the Jamaican candidates and their teachers alike. In other words, dismally low academic performance of candidates on the examination year after year speaks to the growing trend of problems in the education system in Jamaica. The fact this matter is of fundamental importance to all facets of the country’s economic development, the issue must be studied, understood and instantaneously remedied before the issue becomes chronic.

The Advanced Level Accounting Reports from the University of Cambridge highlight the fact that candidates who wrote the papers were either not being prepared properly or that they lack the higher degree of knowledge, skill and competence, and obviously have not attained the level required for the Advanced Level examination. The Report posited that, this level of accounting demands more than a mechanical reproduction of knowledge that is what was taught to candidates who wrote the Ordinary Level/Caribbean Examination Council examination (see A’ Level Examiners’ Report, 1997).

The researcher having been a teacher for more than fourteen (14) years, teaching accounting at both levels throughout a number of traditional, comprehensive, private, technical and upgraded high schools has observed over the years countless number of candidates who have paid for the Principles of Accounts examination (CXC/Ordinary level) would normal intensely prepare for the paper the night before. However, an over night reading of the text along with any vigorous practice of the content of the subject

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