Revised CXC syllabus does nothing to help

THE EDITOR: CXC has issued a “revised” CSEC English syllabus for implementation in its examinations from May-June 2018 to 2027. That “revised” syllabus is CXC’s response to the howl of regional protests against the travesty of the initial (656 pages) wordy, inchoate syllabus which proposed SBA (school-based assessment) for English.

This revised syllabus does precious little to clarify the confusion and compounds the insult to education by instituting a multiple-choice paper for English literature.

CXC’s policies since 2007 have, inadvertently, been singularly responsible for shrinking the popularity and quality of the study of English literature at CSEC level. In our examination-driven system, the introduction of the multiple-choice format for examining literature will poison the teaching and learning approaches to the study of literature at secondary level for the next ten years.

CXC has violated its own established processes of taking decisions through the subject panel to introduce these “changes.” And CXC’s resource person at its recent webinair to “clarify the SBA” has laid bare CXC’s incompetence.

As we celebrate World Teachers Month, we need to take a firm stand against this onslaught. How will TTUTA respond?

UWI is currently conducting its 36th Annual West Indian Literature Conference on the theme, Affect and Ethical Engagement.

What stance will our scholars in the discipline take on this?

How can parents whose children will surely face this storm resist it?

As a teacher educator who has served CXC from its inception, I beg Ministers of Education and education officers throughout the region to put a stop to this, now.

MARTIN JONES, Chaguanas

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