early childhood education_in_jamaica

2012

National Education Trust Limited

2 - 4 National Heroes Circle

Kingston 4

Jamaica

SYNOPSIS OF EARLY

CHILDHOOD EDUCATION IN JAMAICA

Ministry of Education Page 1 of 11 National Education Trust

Table of Contents

Background ................................................................................................................... 2

Early Childhood Development (ECD) Provision in Jamaica .................................... 3

Situation Analysis..……………………………………………………………………………..5

Execution ……………………………………………………………………………………...10


BACKGROUND

The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms has established the right of

every citizen to tuition free public education at the pre-primary level (ages 3 –

5). The passage of the Charter, in keeping with the national consensus on the

importance of early childhood education, has therefore hastened the

expansion of Government investment in the sector.

The Government of Jamaica (GoJ) has taken several major policy steps in

support of early childhood education development. A regulatory framework has

been established through the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) and the Early

Childhood Act and a development framework is being structured.

The ECC has adopted a framework for securing the quality of early childhood

care and development in Jamaica. It uses an integrated approach to bring all

policies, standards and regulations relating to early childhood care and

development under one umbrella.

The new policy direction for early childhood education utilizes a combination of

strategies to expand direct state provision and improve access to quality public

early childhood education through a number of initiatives including the

construction of new infant schools across the country.

These new public spaces are largely targeted to children in communities of

greatest need, where such investments have been shown to yield the greatest

returns, as measured by improvement in children‟s development.

However, the GoJ‟s efforts to expand the number of infant schools, by new

construction, have been limited by financial and budgetary constraints.


Consequently, the Ministry of Education (MoE), through the National Education

Trust (NET), has sought to establish partnerships (joint ventures), with organizations

such as the Seymour Edwards Trust, in an effort to meet the strategic objective

of providing access to a world class education for all Jamaican students.

Joint ventures have been proven to be efficient and results in improvements in

the delivery of goods and services across the world. The MoE recognizes the

significance of philanthropic ventures and, in an effort to meet certain

educational development goals, has engaged the private sector and the

diaspora.

History has shown that schools which were established by joint ventures have

outperformed schools which were built solely by the GoJ. In fact, this has been

largely attributed to the schools institutional strength and an attachment to a

larger body, such as the church or trust, which is focused on preserving the

name and good will of the school and operations.

In addition, the MoE is cognizant that the cost to build a standalone infant

school is significant and, as such, it is of the opinion that establishing partnerships

is paramount to achieving its goals of providing access to early childhood

education for deserving children, in particular those from the lowest socio-

economic groups.

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT (ECD) PROVISION IN JAMAICA

Historically, Jamaica has evolved a cooperative community based culture of

child care provision through churches and civic societies such as the Jamaica

Welfare Society which built the first crèche in Jamaica in 1948. Today,


approximately 90% of Early Childhood Institutions (ECIs) are classified as basic

schools, which are characterized by:

Community-based ownership

The ECIs are owned by churches, non-governmental organizations

(NGOs), or community based organization (CBOs). Some schools are

owned by private individuals utilizing community/government owned

infrastructure, and in other cases, though the school and infrastructure are

privately owned, the community plays an integral role in the governance

and administration.

Government Support

ECIs that have satisfied certain criteria set by the ECC, including

application for registration, are afforded government subsidy in the form of

grants for teacher salaries, monthly in-service training, nutrition grants, and

teaching resource material. While there is no explicit agreement between

basic schools and the government on moderating fee levels in exchange

for subsidies, it is safe to assume that without subsidies, fees would be

significantly higher than current levels.

The Education Act defines schools that are partially funded or wholly

maintained by the Government as Public Education Institutions (PEIs),

regardless of ownership. Once schools are classified as PEI they are

bounded by the Education Act and the policies of the Government. In

addition to the Education Act, basic schools are regulated under the Early

Childhood Act with the ECC being the regulator.


SITUATION ANALYSIS

Overall the Jamaican education system, at the early childhood level, features

the following:

1. A total enrolled population of early childhood age students is 150,784. Of

that number, 13,639 students are enrolled in GoJ owned and operated

ECI, which represents 9% of the total enrolled population.

2. The table below highlights the total number of Public ECIs and Private ECIs

along with the enrolment in each school type:

* Prior to the passage of the EC Act, ECIs were identified as “recognised” based on minimum

criteria set by the MOE. GOJ subsidy was awarded based on recognition status. Recognition

has been replaced with registration under the EC Act. The ECC, which recently took over the

payment of subsidy from the MOE, is currently in the process of linking the payment of subsidy

with application for registration.

3. There are one hundred and thirty two (132) GoJ owned and operated

ECIs, which are divided as follows:

PUBLIC EARLY CHILDHOOD INSTITUTIONS (ECIs) PRIVATE ECIs

TOTALS Government

Owned ECIs Community Owned ECIs Independent

Infant

Schools

Infant

Dept. Recognised* Unrecognised* Kindergartens

Number of

Schools 32 100 2,247 347 120 2,847

Enrolment 8,113 5,526 118,133 14,346 4,666 150,784

%

Population 5% 4% 78% 10% 3% 100%

Average

School Size 246 55 53 41 39 53


One hundred (100) infant departments (which are a part of primary

schools and all age schools); and

Thirty-two (32) stand-alone infant schools.

4. GoJ ECIs represents an estimated 4.7% of the existing 2,847 ECI‟s in

Jamaica.

5. The table below highlights the distribution of Public ECIs in each parish:

DISTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL EARLY CHILDHOOD INSTITUTIONS

BY TYPE AND PARISH

2010/2011

PARISH INFANT

SCHOOL

INFANT DEPT.

(PRIMARY)

INFANT

DEPARTMENT

(ALL AGE)

INFANT DEPT.

(PRIMARY &

JUNIOR HIGH)

Kingston 7 4 1 1

St. Andrew - 7 4 2

St. Thomas - 4 - 1

Portland 2 4 - -

St. Mary 2 6 - -

St. Ann 3 6 - -

Trelawny 1 6 - -

St. James 3 5 4 -

Hanover 2 1 1 -

Westmoreland 2 7 1 -

St. Elizabeth - 1 2 -

Manchester 3 5 1 1

Clarendon 3 13 3 1

St. Catherine 4 7 1 -

TOTAL 32 76 18 6

6. GoJ owned and operated ECIs, generally referred to as infant schools or

infant departments have the following characteristics:

Enrolled students are not required to pay tuition fees.


The infrastructure is purpose built and generally in a better condition

than basic schools.

Teachers are trained to at least the minimum standards required for

employment in a primary school.

Salaries and overheads are absorbed in the national Budget.

More effective institutional and instructional leadership relative to

basic schools.

7. Fully privately owned and commercially operated ECIs are comparatively

few and cater to higher income households. The quality and standard of

service provided by private ECIs is regulated under the Early Childhood

Act. These commercially operated ECIs are usually referred to as pre-

schools or kindergartens.

8. The model of non-commercial, community-based and government

supported/subsidized early childhood institutions has facilitated:

Island-wide service coverage with a large number of ECIs.

Affordable access to the mass of Jamaican households.

Cost-sharing at the early childhood level between community,

parent, and government.

9. Jamaica has an enviable record of access to early childhood

development places, with approximately 95% of children attending an

ECI at the age of 3 years. Children typically spend three (3) years in these

institutions, before transitioning to primary level schooling at the age of 6

years.


10. Although the country can boast a high access rate for this age cohort,

there is great variation in the quality of service provided particularly in:

teacher training;

teaching and stimulation practice;

teaching materials and resources;

early diagnosis for special interventions;

institutional management;

infrastructure;

government subsidies; and

fees charged.

11. The disparity in the service delivery at the early childhood level is further

compounded by equity issues, as children from the lowest socio-

economic groups are those most likely to attend schools with poor

physical infrastructure, inadequate teaching and learning resources and

being taught by teachers with limited training. The issue of „equity‟ has

two (2) dimensions:

Access to quality education; and

Access to education- linked to one‟s ability to pay.

On the first issue, Government infant schools have certain requirements

which have to be fulfilled to ensure the delivery of quality education,

these are as follows:

The School Board will be structured against the regulations of the

National Council of Education.


The staff of the institution will have to be individuals with the requisite

qualifications to be employed as trained teachers.

On the second issue, at the Government infant schools, parents are not

required to pay school fees for the children to attend school.

12. Children from the lowest socio-economic groups are also often restricted

from regular daily attendance due to inability to pay transportation cost

and school fees.

13. Depending on location, some children (the fortunate 9% that secured a

place in a government owned and operated ECIs), get a fully subsidized

early childhood provision, while the remaining 91% of the population

outside of the proximity of government ECIs are under an obligation to

pay tuition.

14. Children who attend private pre-school/kindergarten have been shown

to significantly outperform their peers who attend infant schools and

community basic school.

15. The majority of children aged 3- 5 attend community operated institutions

which are funded mainly by parents contributions. In cases where they

meet the minimum standards set by the MoE and are ECC recognized,

subsidies are provided for teachers‟ salaries and teaching and learning

material. For the most part, basic schools are below the standards of public

and private schools. School readiness evaluations at Grade 1 have shown

that children attending government owned ECI where physical

infrastructure and teacher training are of higher quality outperform their

peers at basic schools.


16. The disparity in the quality of services available to our young children is of

concern as it is at the early childhood level that the foundations of life

chances are established.

EXECUTION

The NET, the GoJ‟s executing agency which is responsible for implementing the

strategic objectives of enabling and maintaining investments in education, will

execute this project on behalf of the Seymour Edwards Trust and the MoE.

The MoE and the NET are looking forward to meeting with your team to further

discuss the way forward and we are encouraged at the prospect of working

with the Seymour Edwards Trust to build this infant school.