Ministry of Education in St Lucia to Implement CPEA™
The Ministry of Education (MOE) in St Lucia has taken the decision to implement the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA™) in September 2020, with the expectation that the first examination will be administered in 2022. Consequently, the CXC® team initiated the implementation protocols which provide the support required for a smooth transition from the Common Entrance to the CPEA™. This included conducting a series of online orientation sessions with key personnel from the MOE and more recently the stakeholder engagement and orientation (face to face) during the period spanning 3–6 March 2020. This initiative was led by the Pro-Registrar and Deputy CEO, Dr Carol Granston and supported by Miss Jodine Williams, Senior Manager, and Mrs Norlette Leslie Yearde, Manager, both from the Syllabus and Curriculum Department.
During the week, the team met with Ministry Officials, representatives of the St Lucia Teachers’ Union, parents, principals, teachers and students. The purpose of the sessions was to sensitize each stakeholder group about the CPEA™, their role in the process, the available CPEA™ Handbooks and to clarify concerns raised. Issues specific to the CPEA™ were addressed by the CXC® team members while other issues relative to the transition and student placement were responded to by the representatives of the MOE.
The next level of engagement will be the Teacher Training Workshop (which will be conducted at the Ministry’s Summer Institute) scheduled for the 6–17 July 2020.
Source: The Caribbean Examiner – Partners in Education Volume 19 Issue No. 1, 2020
The Caribbean Examinations Council® (CXC®) has completed the final phase in the plan to implement the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA™) in St Lucia. After several months of consultations with various stakeholder groups, teacher training sessions were held from 6 – 20 July 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these sessions, which were previously scheduled to be conducted at the Ministry of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations’ Summer Institute in St Lucia, were hosted online using the Zoom platform as well as Google Classroom.
The training was delivered to approximately 525 primary-level teachers using synchronous and asynchronous approaches. The teachers were split into two cohorts, with the first cohort consisting of teachers from Northern St Lucia, undertaking training from 6 – 10 July. The second cohort, consisted of teachers from the Southern section of the island who were also trained in the CPEA™ methodology during the period 14 – 20 July.
The teachers were engaged in a plenary session on each day of the workshops which was conducted by officials from the Syllabus and Curriculum Development Division of CXC®. These sessions served to expose the teachers to the major components of the CPEA™. Under the guidance of both CXC® and Ministry of Education officials, teachers were then able to break out into groups to complete activities, which allowed for the application of the concepts delivered in the plenary.
Both teachers and Ministry of Education officials agreed that the sessions were effective and allowed for a clearer understanding of the requirements of the programme with one participant noting that “despite the distance, the facilitators used the tenets of twenty-first century learning to optimize the experience for participants”. The Council will continue to provide support to the teachers and students as needed, as they embark on the delivery of the CPEA™ programme in schools for the 2020/2021 school year.