The first of six Teacher Orientation Workshops (TOW) for teachers of the CSEC business cognate consisting of Principles of Accounts, Principles of Business, and Economics was held in Guyana on April 26 and 27, 2017. The workshop was held at NCERD Conference Room, Ministry of Education, Guyana and facilitated by Dr Annette Piper – Assistant Registrar, Syllabus and Curriculum Development Division.

Mr Haimchan Ramdeo, Education Manager, Association of Certified Chartered Accountants(ACCA) Caribbean addressed the 149 private and public school teachers on the similarities between the content, skills, activities and assessment strategies included in the CXC suite of business subjects and in the range of professional programmes offered by ACCA. He also outlined the natural progression possible for professional study and certification of students who start their careers in business by pursuing the courses comprising the CSEC business subjects.

Among the commended features of the revised syllabuses is the opportunity for students not only to complete and submit their SBA in groups, but to conduct a single research project and submit one report to satisfy the SBA requirements for any two or all three of the business subjects.

During the month of May workshops will be held in Barbados on 3-4; Jamaica 18-19 May; Trinidad and Tobago 23-24; Antigua 31 May to 1 June. The final workshop takes place in Belize on 6 and 7 June. This will be the first time Belize will host a TOW.

The new CSEC business subjects’ syllabuses are effective for teaching from September 2017 and the first examinations based on the new syllabuses will be offered in May/June 2019.