Changes_in_the_Education_System_of_Trinidad_and_Tobago

The education system has been undergoing continuous political, pedagogical, structural, and demographic change. Discuss ways teachers can strengthen their participation in education change in order to satisfy student learning needs. “An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life.” (Thinkexist.com) Our education system in Trinidad and Tobago has been undergoing continuous changes over the past decades. Some of the changes that have taken place are political, pedagogical, structural, and demographic change. Until the twentieth century, education in Trinidad and Tobago was designed primarily to prepare the elite for study abroad and the eventual assumption of political and economic leadership roles in the society. With the exception of a few missionary schools, slaves were discouraged from attaining even minimal literacy skills. Educational opportunities did not expand greatly following emancipation; the first teacher-training program was not begun until 1852, and the first public secondary institution did not open its doors until 1925. The public school program in Trinidad and Tobago, which was modelled after the British system, took form in the twentieth century and eventually opened up avenues for upward mobility to all elements of society. The East Indian population, because of its lower socioeconomic status, was the last segment of society to benefit from education, but it eventually became known as one of the most academically motivated groups on the islands. In addition to government-sponsored schools, private denominational institutions were created to pass on cultural and religious instruction, as well as traditional academic knowledge and skills. Public financial assistance to Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Muslim, and Hindu institutions eventually evolved into the modern education system of the 1980s, which incorporated schools that were both publicly and privately administered. Under the authority of the Ministry of Education, the school system in the late 1980s consisted primarily of government and publicly assisted denominational schools. The former were administered and financed under public supervision, whereas the latter were privately controlled by religious groups, yet financed with public funds. Both maintained a similar curriculum and were free to all students who could pass the admission tests. Approximately 27 percent of all primary students attended government schools; the rest were enrolled in denominational programs, most of which were Roman Catholic. Increased training of teachers, greater skills instruction for those students considered unlikely to complete the junior secondary programs, and realignment of expectations of both students and workers were thought to be critical improvements. Without these changes the education systemwould be unable to affect employment patterns and assist with national development. . Recently, the government of Trinidad and Tobago introduce the G.A.T.E. system, whereby making access to further education free. This has resulted in an increase in the number of citizens with university qualifications. Pedagogical changes have also take place in our education system. Pedagogy refers to the science of the specially organized, goal-oriented, and systematic moulding of a human being; the science of the content, forms, and methods of upbringing, education, and instruction. In other words pedagogy is the art and science of teaching. The basic categories of pedagogy are personality formation, upbringing, education, and instruction. Personality formation, formerly called upbringing in its broad sense, is the process of shaping an individual by means of goal-oriented influence (upbringing in the true sense of the word) and of the varied and often contradictory influences of the environment. In contemporary foreign pedagogy the first group of influences is often called intentional upbringing, and the second functional upbringing. Education is the process and result of assimilating a system of knowledge and of developing skills and habits eventually ensuring a certain level of development of a person’s cognitive needs and capacities and his ability to perform some kind of practical activity. A distinction is made between general and specialized education. General education provides each person with the knowledge, skills, and habits he needs for overall development. These are the basis for a subsequent specialized education, whose goal is preparation for professional work. In level and scope, both general and specialized education may be primary, secondary, or higher. Polytechnic education is an integral part of general education. A most important means for effecting education and upbringing is instruction, the process of transmitting and assimilating knowledge, skills, and habits and the modes of cognition necessary for the realization of a continuous educational process. The process of instruction comprises the two interconnected parts of a single whole: teaching, the pedagogue’s transmittal of knowledge and his supervision of students’ independent work; and learning, the students’ mastery of a system of knowledge, skills, and habits. Pedagogy is one of the sciences studying man, human society, and the conditions of human life; thus, it takes its place alongside such disciplines as philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, psychology, political economy, ethics, sociology, history, anatomy, physiology, and medicine. It uses their hypotheses and research methods, including mathematical statistics and cybernetics, as well as the results of their empiric research. The demands of the Information Age coupled with the potential of technology requirethat educational goals be expanded (Williams & Williams, 1997). In response to the complexities of society, educational goals must also include the ability of children to “recognizeand solve problems, comprehend new phenomena, construct mental models of those phenomena,and given a new situation, set goals and regulate their own learning” (Jonassen, Peck, & Wilson,1999). This calls for pedagogical shifts from teaching as “transmitting a body of knowledge thatis largely memorized to one that is largely process oriented” (Conway, 1997). Students ask questions; identify issues or problems; hypothesize; gather; organize; explore; interpret; analyse;evaluate; draw conclusions or generalizations; make decisions; perform tasks; resolve conflicts;collaborate; evaluate; and communicate. Instructional strategies must also be re-defined to enablechildren to attain academic standards as well as engage in more complex learning processes(constructivist) such as those described above. Various educational organizations have respondedto these expanded educational goals by reorganizing standards and curriculum that stress learning processes, inquiry, exploration, deep conceptual understandings, active construction of knowledge, collaboration, metacognition, self-evaluation, knowledge integration, and context (National Council of Teachers of English & International Reading Association, 1996; United States National Research Council, 1995). Similarly, teaching standards have changed (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2004; Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2001). These reforms require a very different set of teaching skills—skills that are progressive in their orientation. Teachers set the stage for learning; challenge; re-direct; facilitate; probe; question; create doubt or disequilibrium; model; provide resources; evaluate explanations; and assessunderstandings and processes. The Ministry of Education subscribes to UNESCO’s definition of inclusion which is seen as a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities and reducing exclusion within and from education (Booth 1996). It involves changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures and strategies, with a common vision which covers all children of the appropriate age range and a conviction that is the responsibility of the regular system to educate all children (UNESCO 1994). It further subscribes to the view that inclusive education is concerned with providing appropriate responses to the broad spectrum of learning needs in formal and non- formal educational settings. Rather than being a marginal theme on how some learners can be integrated in the mainstream education, inclusive education is an approach that looks into how to transfer education systems in order to respond to the diversity of learners. The Ministry of Education’s approach to inclusive education is first and foremost about school reform so that all learners can participate in the process of education in a seamless manner from Early Childhood Care and Education to tertiary education. As such, the initiatives of inclusion are situated within the Ministry of Education’s reform and its Seamless Education approach. It is designed to facilitate all learners who may be marginalized or excluded example- drop-outs, underachievers, students with learning or other disabilities, students who are gifted and talented, students affected or infected with HIV, students with emotional or behavioural difficulties. It is about improving the quality of education with a philosophy built on the belief that all people are equal and should be respected and valued as an issue of basic human rights. Based on brain research, technology provides opportunities to use such important science of learning principles as pre-existing knowledge, active learning, mental models, transfer, and learning for understanding. A list of disconnected facts doesn't lead to deep understanding or to easy transfer of knowledge from one situation to another, according to the book. However, knowledge that is organized and connected around important concepts and mastery, which includes being able to visualize a concept, does lead to transfer and deeper, longer understanding. many new technologies are interactive, it is now easier to create environments in which students can learn by doing, receive feedback, and continually refine their understanding and build new knowledge," according to How People Learn. The new technologies can also help people visualize difficult-to-understand concepts. Part of the brain research tells us that children have different learning styles, and that if we want them to do the very best they can in life -- in school -- then we as educators need to tend to what their learning styles are. When new technology was being introduced in the computer classes it was also being discovered as a useful tool in the regular classroom where dynamic educators were looking for ways to improve their presentation of material, engage students, and provide current and relevant information. One could afford to purchase and house a computer in a classroom, and not just one, but many. The process of teaching has since been undergoing its own revolution, or evolution, from fact-focused and dependent upon lectures and demonstrations to a cognitive process focusing on critical thinking and problem solving. The concept of 'what you know' is being changed from what you have stored in your own memory to what information you have access to and what you can do with that information. The routine use of technology in general classrooms by teachers and students was extensively studied by Apple from 1985 through 1998, one of the longest continuing studies of its kind in the educational system. One of the results of this study was the identification of five stages of instructional evolution when using technology in a classroom. As educators use technology, and more importantly have strong professional development in the integration of technology in education, they steadily show improvement in the effectiveness of technology in the classroom. When educators progress beyond the Adaptation stage, technology becomes more than just a tool for presenting the curriculum and transitions into an extension of the instructor and the student. The National Educational Technology Standards Projects (NETS). "Curriculum integration with the use of technology involves the infusion of technology as a tool to enhance the learning in a content area or multidisciplinary setting. Technology enables students to learn in ways not previously possible. Effective integration of technology is achieved when students are able to select technology tools to help them obtain information in a timely manner, analyse and synthesize the information, and present it professionally. The technology should become an integral part of how the classroom functions — as accessible as all other classroom tools, integrated with psychologist beliefs." In order to satisfy the students need for learning, teachers must be learning continuously how to satisfy students hunger. According to Piaget humans learn through the construction of one logical structure after another. He also concluded that the logic of children and their modes of thinking are initially entirely different from those of adults. The implications of this theory and how he applied them have shaped the foundation for constructivist education and have truly influenced the way our education system operates. To achieve these goals, teachers must be key players in the entire decision-making change process, from the beginning to the end. We must ask ourselves some pertinent questions in order to realize how important change is and if we are capable of real change. These questions are; Are educators/teachers, school counsellors, administrators, and teacher educators prepared and willing to assume the role of key players to help rethink the education paradigm, or are educators still being prepared forthe industrial era that is long past' Is there support and political will to redesign and restructure the public education system' Are we willing to dismantle the top-down administrative structures and silos that currently define our education system' Dewey in his writings called for education to be grounded in real life experiences. He wrote, "If you have doubts about how learning happens, engage in sustained inquiry: study, ponder, consider alternative possibilities and arrive at your belief grounded in evidence." Inquiry is a key part of constructivist learning. Vygotsky in his writings referred to the social aspect of learning into the constructivism theory. He defined the "zone of proximal learning," according to which students solve problems beyond their actual developmental level (but within their level of potential development) under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. Bruner initiated curriculum change based on the notion that learning is an active, social processes in which students construct new ideas or concepts based on their current knowledge. The transformation of our education system requires leaders and practitioners who are unafraid to launch their organizations intounfamiliarterritories. In many corners it is suggested that tackling problems that have unknown solutions and unpredictable outcomes is the true role of a great leader. Problems with known solutions simply require effective management; problems for which there are no known solution, and no clear outcome, better known as “adaptive challenges,” the challenges that cannot be addressed without real leadership. As the issue of educational change consider, a quote from of an anonymous writer comes to mind. It is about alocked door, it says: “Some see a door locked and walk away. Others see the door locked and lookfor a key. Still others see the door locked and make a key to open the door.” As we beginthis school year or the next, we may find the door to transforming our education systemstill “locked.” We may not find a key right away. But, we must not walk away! We mustwork together to make a key to open the door to transform our education system and,thus, reach within and welcome the challenge of providing this generation of children andfuture generations the best education possible. So, let’s make the key together and openthe door to a quality education for all of our nation’s children. REFERENCES: Cremin, Lawrence A. (1977).Traditions of American Education. New York: Basic Books, Inc. Publishers. Cremin, Lawrence A. (1982). American Education: The National Experience 1783-1876. New York:Harper & Row, Publishers.Brey,P.(1997). “Social Constructivism for Philosophers of Technology:A Shopper’s guide.” Phil. &Tech. Piaget,J. (1972). Psychology and Epistemology:Towards a Theory of Knowledge. Harmondsworth :Penguin. Vygotsky,L.(1976).Though and Language.Transl. and ed. A. Kozulin.Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press. Piaget,J. (1972). Psychology and Epistemology:Towards a Theory of Knowledge. Harmondsworth :Penguin. Vygotsky,L.(1976).Though and Language.Transl. and ed. A. Kozulin.Cambridge, MA:HarvardUniversity Press. Friedman, Thomas L. (2005). The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. Futrell, Mary H. (2003). “Teaching Tomorrow’s Citizens Today: The Need for More Highly Qualified Teachers”, pp. 355-368. Teacher Education and Practice, Vol. 16, No. 4. Futrell, Mary H. (2006). For What Purpose Do We Prepare Teachers' Enduring Issues in Changing Contexts. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Institute for Higher Education Policy (April 2006). CONVERGENCE: Trends Threatening to Narrow College Opportunities in America. Washington, DC. Press AtherlonJs(2011) Education: From Modernism to Postmoderism, retrieved 1/12/2011 www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/constructivistleanrning.htm Retrieved 1/12/2011 www.ericdigest.org/1999-3/theory.htm Retrieved 1/12/2011 www.enhancedlearning.ca Retrieved 1/12/2011 www.macinstruct.com/node/7 Retrieved 1/12/2011