More reviews for education
(CNS): With no school inspections for almost six years and plans by the minister to overhaul the governance model for education, the Education Ministry has committed to spending around $300,000 on both a base line inspection of all government schools and a review of the system by KPMG. Minister Tara Rivers announced that the information from the independent inspection and review would reveal the quality of teaching and learning, evaluate the system and identify what works and what doesn’t. The consultant review will also examine alternative models for managing the education system and may see some schools put under private management, copying charter or academy type schools in the UK.
Rivers joins a long line of education ministers all of whom have come into office promising a new era for education and the subsequent changes to legislation or policy in a battle to improve standards. Now, when Caymanian high school graduates are performing in terms of exam results, better than at any time since records were kept, Rivers is promising more radical changes.
During a ministry press briefing on Wednesday morning she revealed that Mary Bowerman, a former member of the now defunct schools inspectorate, which suffered as a result of staff losses and the failure to replace them, will lead a team of six independent inspectors, most of whom are understood to have come from the UK. They will visit every government primary and secondary school throughout this academicyear to undertake a focused inspection, looking at standards in maths and English, student achievement and the quality of teaching and the school’s management.
The aim is to assess exactly what the situation is “on the ground” and to assess the gaps and problems as well as focus on what is working already. It is expected to cost government in excess of $230,000. Reports will be produced on each school, which the minister promised would be made public on the ministry website, while a full report on the entire government school situation will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly by the end of this academic year.
Meanwhile, Roland Meredith, an education consultant contracted via KPMG at a cost of over $45,000, will conduct the review of governance and policy, which will be completed by January. The consultant will be looking at the possibility of taking schools from the direct management of the education department and introducing school boards and autonomy. He spoke about the need for innovation and preparing schools to prepare their students for the world as it will be when they leave school and the need for change and innovation.
He said he was looking to recommend models to fit the Cayman context and what the demands were of employers in this economy.
The minister and Winston Connolly, the education councillor, both denied that the education system would be privatized and committed to ensuring that there would no divisiveness or selection if that was the route that the government felt would work. They both promised free and equal access to education for all local children, regardless of their academic or other abilities, as they acknowledged the numbers of local kids with special educational needs. Connolly said the education ministry was not “concentrating only on the academically inclined or the rich” as government was committed to the best possible education for all local children.
But Connolly emphasised that education is not just the responsibility of government and that parents and employers need to be involved too. He spoke about the students in government schools as commodities, saying local businesses were “buying our product”, when he talked about government school graduates.
Once the results are in from both the baseline inspections and the review, Rivers said the ministry would act quickly to implement recommendations, with some changes possibly being implemented by the 2015 school year.
The minister is by no means the first to want to overhaul education and make major changes as it has been a constant theme over the last two decades. Numerous reviews, reports and consultations have taken place with policy and legislative changes having a mixed impact on the system.
However, there has been a steady increasing trend in recent years that has seen growing numbers of students leaving school with five GCSE or equivalent passes, with Cayman now measuring up well when compared to statistics in the region and in the UK. And while local students may becoming more academically inclined, the job market has become far more competitive and has seen local students struggle to find work in a labour market which is now saturated by work permit holders and overseas workers willing to work for lower and lower salaries.
See more details of the parameters of the inspections and the review in the release below.
Category: Local News
Well… I read the whole attached press release farticle and I dont have any comment…
Let me just clarify the current situation with regard to the base line assessment of schools currently being undertaken by Ms Rivers with no input from either her colleagues in the Ministry or those in the Department of Education.
The inspectors are from the Independent Schools Inspectorate, it uses a different inspection framework to the state schools in England. The inspectors main teaching experience is independent schools. This represents about the top 5% of UK schools. They also inspect international schools belonging to the association and these generally have high ability international students (offspring of expats + rich locals) and are very highly motivated. Given that the report will focus on numeracy and literacy it is important to find out what expertise, experience and qualifications the inspectors have in teaching mathematics and English. You really do have to question the ability of this team to provide an objective account of the school system when they have very little experience of state schools and do not actually use the framework utilised in England for such inspections. They will report in June 2015.
The KPMG consultant, a strong advocate of academies, studio schools and University Technology Schools completes his report in January 2015. So it looks like his report will not be based on the warts and all report from the from the “independent” inspectors and instead will be based on his “independent” examination of the school system.
So we are left with a situation that these inspectors having completed their supposed base line assessment, having to come back year on year perhaps to see what progress is being made. How on earth can a base line be established by people with absolutely ZERO experience of state schools and apparently NO expertise in the two main areas of literacy and numeracy. Indeed I would further add how can the inspection team be head by a local inspector who presided over a school system that was truly broken?
I am living in the UK but take a keen interest in worldwide education matters since that is my field and I can categorically state that Cayman (I used to live here many moons ago) is going down a very sorry route. Yes the education system was a mess but I have been hearing lots of good reports from teachers in Cayman who are enthusiastic about the changes that have been taking place over the last few years.
Why upend your current system for something that we are beginning to regret here in the UK and USA? Why not continue on your current path of allowing the experts you have brought in to continue their work on the ground in maths and english?
I agree with what you say about the relevence of the team of inspectors but I wonder if you are not part of that group of experts who sold Alden and Angela the Clifton Hunter shambles
Definitely not or I would be rich and not having to work. Rest assured though that KPMG are selling another shambolic vision to Ms Rivers right now and she is lapping it up.
There is nothing factually wrong in what this poster has put here.
Folks if you were ever any doubt as to who is backing minister rivers, then look at todays biased reporting in the Cayman Compass of the inspection process currently being undertaken and reported. There is no doubting that C4C have taken over this newspaper as they seem singularly unable to actually be impartial. By the way take heed that these inspectors have NEVER inspected state schools in England. We all know there are short comings in the education system but what the Cayman Compass, C4C and TARA Rivers are proposing is utter madness.
1. We all know why Tara is where she is. No doubt she would rather be somewhere else but as an untried, newly arrived, foreign educated political novice, who happened to jump into the ring at just the right moment, where else could she be put. At least 'Education' is run, on a day-to-day basis, by a department separate from the ministry and so she can't do too much damage at short notice. (It had to be either Education or Health). If only Tony had agreed to take Health and then Ossie could have had Education!
2. Education is too important to be left to teachers. Unfortunately the ministry and Ed. Dept. are mostly staffed by teachers 'promoted' out of local schools. What do you do with a civil servant who can't be fired for general incompetance? Promote him (or her) sideways into administration. 'Nuff said.
3. Yes standards are improving, thanks to some teachers who refuse to dumb down lessons to suit the least able pupils. When the schools introduce proper streaming by ability then we shall begin to get somewhere.
Clearly you know nothing about education if you think streaming is the answer nor have you read the research. But continue on in your ignorant bliss, it is a state you are obviously used to. I might add that education is too important to leave to lawyers and accountants.
"Nor have you read the research". On streaming? Or setting by ability? Or mixed ability? The results of research on these methods of grouping children rely (in the UK at least) on the political bias of the researchers.The left wingers go for mixed ability/comprehensive education -such a roaring success in Britain, nuh true??
So you think it can be left in the hands of people who know nothing about education or the complexity of running schools? No doubt Rivers solution will include bringimg in an outside company to run our schools at enormous cost to the tax payers and not touching some of the real issues facing schools, namely
the children arrive unready for learning
Unsupportive parents
Some heads and senior management just not up to the job
a ministry and department of education with no vision and not utilising local experts
teachers blaming children for their lack of learning
a school system where up to 40 percemt of children are creamed off into private schools
a past inspectorate who failed to do anything about the low attainment of our children
A cpd system that has no teeth since it cannot address the issue of local or naturalised citizens under performance
low expectation by teachers of pupils
a school system that spends far too much time and energy on peripheral activities rather than on teaching and learning.
A school system where far too many days are lost due to teacher absences, ensurimg that time for planning for those teachers in school is taken up with covering classes for teachers.
a failing discipline systen in John Grey
And on and on. Start addressing these issues and you just may see things improve more quickly, though there are no quick fixes to be had.
This is a very fair post but am i right i. Assuming that when you mention CPD that you meant to type Performance Management?
These politicians had all the answers to Cayman's problems until they were elected and now everything requires a consultant. They will spend every spare penny that the government manages to save. The irony of it is that those doing the consultations are being paid a premium to collate the information that the civil service has already. Lord help us! And we have Jackass politicians who want to separate us from the UK so they can have unfettered power to show their ignorance.
Tara must have been schooled old westbaya stylie by capt Who-gene!
Job for life ……..on the backs of taxpayers ……….. while I disconnect and go fishin!
Expected a whole lot more – just sayin!
WUTLESS!
I gave this woman my vote. Disappointed does not even begin to describe my feelings and the fact i wasted my vote.
13:58. How much is Mac paying you to say this .I hope he is worth it.
Your presume wrong. I happen to think both political parties have let this country down. Just because I abhore what Tara Rivers and McLaughlin are doing does not make me a Mac supporter. What I do know is that we have replaced corruption with incompetence.
Whogene would probably do less damage – I have never seen him do anything so I see no harm! He is probably best value for money for us taxpayers as he just does nothing …… like a tree or a rock. I want a rock to run next elction or a few trees – vote them in and have nothing happen, it;s gotta be better than the PPM/UDP collective spiral to third world – through their efforts!
18:14 UDP spin machine hard at work;fishing and commenting.
Alden needs to spend several tens of millions on building new schools!
………….it worked last time………. didn't it?
Ican do the report for half the price – In conclusion Implement Charter Schools.
oops, did I give away the ending of the book. Darn, now I won't get paid. But at least the Minister will get what she said she wanted.
Ah yes, Charter schools that are going to suddenly going to make things right. Back off Tara! If you want to do something really worthwhile give up the education portfolio of which you know nothing but before you go solve the problem of 35 percent of you and your fellow citizens sending our brightest to private schools. There is no end to your educational imcompetence.
Genius!
13:59.Jackass?
I say a reshuffle in Cabinet is needed as follows:
Education to anyone other than who holds it now;
Labour to Marco
Gender Affairs leave with Tara
omg we have another 3 years of this…we are screwed
19:16 ".UDP,UDP all the way".I hear you.
Noooooooooooo, no more party politics. It's their turn, it is our turn, we all lose. Party politics have killed the Caribbean and only fill the pockets of the politicians. I want to return to justice and ethics! Let's just appoint "a Custos" and make everyone else accountable managers. Fire the whole lotof them! Start with Tara
We have been reshuffling the same , tired deck of cards for too long… I saw we need a whole new deck of cards, a new set of dice, etc…..but I do agree with keeping Marco….he is more than capable in any capacity.
It's more like 3 card monty – where we all guess where Mac (the joker) will turn up again!
Not funny! Not funny at all!
Tara should be put in charge of indoor plants, oil refineries and unicorn farming.
I feel sorry for the plants.
12:08.If itlooks like a cluck,sounds like a cluck ,and acts like acluck;it must be a cluck.Dumb cluck.
I think Tara should be in charge of teaching how to 'pronounce words effectively' to make people think she can still speak well so she must know something, that is, give the same illusion prior to election that she's educated so she'll work for the people. Guess people in West Bay can only vote in extremes and sadly still get played.
Problem is, for almost one year and a half, the only thing she knows is how to repeat her job title (ps if you have some time to waster or want a distraction from her voice, play this game, make a tally of how many times she says, I'm/As Minister of..);
XXXX
I was going to work today but decided to wait for a review I commissioned on the viability of going to work. This latest report is due on Friday at 4:30. So I'll just wait.
But you will not find out the conclusion of the report. It will gather dust….oops…i will vote for you if you commission a report on anything after all you can never have enough reports.
She has shown such incompetence in her knowledge of education and inability to listen to her own experts, I can only assume her law firm are glad to have got rid of her. Sadly, its the childen and people of the Cayman Islands she is failing. Heres a solution; lets buy a t-shirt as that will have just about the same effect as the KPMG report.
Can I suggest "pig-headed"?
The KPMG report no doubt will give uncosted alternatives to our education system. One will happen to be the solution Ms Rivers and C4C wanted from the start. Now lets look at the hilarity as they try to implement one of those solutions once powerful parents realise that their school is effected. I will take a punt here that the KPMG report will not include sticking eith our current system but making recommendations as how best to improve outcomes. WHY , because they are not educational experts. All they know about is academies and then only in relation to accountancy. Teachers shoukd boycot next years conference. Another prediction is thst minister Rivers will stand before us, telling us hiw great we are and then do on to announce the KPMG findings as she see it. Those findings will back up her primitive beliefs in what good education looks like and we will have all colluded in the farce and walk away with heavy hears and a feeling of failure and disgust in equal measure. My lord we need a teachers union for teachers to come together united. Sunday morning rant over.
I worked for KPMG and it is news to me that they are experts in the education field. They know nothing about education but do know about accounting in academies. The best laugh is that Tara and Winstonclearly have fallen hookline and sinker for sales talk. I challenge you to turn the blue sky thinking into realisable goals. When you buy someone elses vision it is bound to fail. Try having one of your own, put together a local think tank of experts (you have them but don't recognise it), include teachers and draw up a 20 year plan that is based on sound research of what actually works. Harness the hearts and minds of teachers and you may get results.
Is it just me or is there something very odd with all the accounting firms constantly being "commissioned" for government reports on anything, now education?
KPMG,PWC, E&Y, Deloitte. Are these the new lobby groups?
I'm sick and tired of the rich accounting firms getting richer off incompetent government backs.
A consultant's wet dream: Find incompetent management who don't want to make any decisions and have them pay your fees with other people's money. This can go on forever. The only good news I can see for Cayman is that at least some of that money is flowing directly to the very big houses being built by the Partners of those firms.
This ppm is a joke
Tara not happy unless she sanctions more expensive reports and is forming more committees
I have no idea what makes her happy but know that thr law fiem she left to take ip her current post must be estatic!
No, we are not! We want her back.
Well maybe she knows something about law, but she sure knows nothing about education, change management , employee relations, pedagogy, schools, teaching and learning or indeed how to best utalise the expertise at her finger tips. She sure knows something about commissioning reports, falling for sales speak and lack of trust.
Tara Rivers must resign now!
Best be quick. A lot of us are bailing out and securing our pensions.
Will the report be edited to protect cronyism just like reports in the past?
Well what are the chances of heads rolling! We can get rid of expat teachers or head teachers that fail to perform or perform but are outspoken about the shortcoming in our system. What we cannot get rid of is anyone who is Caymanian or holds status. Do you think Tara Rivers is brave enough to name and shame? Me thinks NOT.
Speechless! How stupid are my fellow counteymen and yet these are the educated ones. God help us.
very! ………… very stupid my friend! Most unfortunate.
17:54.Not surprising,I am pretty sure that your opinion of all Caymanians is the same;but just because you think it is so ,does not make it so.
I never mentioned Caymanians. This has nothing to do with nationality but two successive givernments showimg dire incompetemce in the field of educatiom.
Will this review assist in the removal of Tara and her entire management team who continue to FAIL this country?
That will have to wait for the next election. However, we do not have anyone with any credability to vote for so we are stuffed. Seriously, I worry about it.
I hope they will also put the office of the Ministry and officers under scrutiny.
"Rivers joins a long line of education ministers all of whom have come into office promising a new era for education and the subsequent changes to legislation or policy in a battle to improve standards. "
More reviews; more studies; more money wasted. Still no facilities for troubled youth (who are not yet criminals); zero facilities for children with special learning needs and differences in learning styles. More GCE passes yet more "falling through the cracks" and unemployment rising! Oh well, it's just another day in paradise for some; but one more day of living hell for the un-diagnosed; mis-diagnosed and untreated SEN students of the Cayman Islands.
In the meantime though, KPMG seems to be doing really well with a generous helping of government contracts.
Of course, everyone seems to forget the Inspection of CIFEC in January 2013, led by Helena McVeigh, another former CI Govt employee, which cost a significant amount of money and never saw the light of day. Maybe an FOI request might get that out in the open. I hear it went very well, but was supressed because there was an expat Principal in charge at the time and they didn't want it to relfect badly on the Caymanian Principals.
Oh yes John Grey gets a daming report but that is suppressed, CIFEC gets a good one and the head teacher is not renewed. Its all coming back to me now.
Our problem is that we have too much God stuff in schools.
Good old-fashioned Atheism is the answer.
These old time Caymanians have been holding their kids back by forcing religion on them.
There is no proof that Jesus even existed, yet we are treated to one feast day after another.
When will we just embrace common sense?
Too much God stuff and not enough Christianity.
I assume you are being ironic. There is not nearly enough "God stuff" in schools AND homes. That is the problem.
You know what you did. Keep squeezing the balloon, truth will always escape. Truth can never be shackled.
Hahahahahahaahaha
Yep it seems that we needed more reports to tell us what we know already. If it was not so sad it would be funny. Just think how many new teachers could have been hired with the money waster on this latest set of reports. I was here during the last KPMG review and listening to this guy makes me secure in the knowledge that it will go the way if the last one. Mark my words.
More reviews. Yippee, just what the Cayman Islands needed….NOT
Nice bit of baseless ranting in the last paragraph.
Teachers are not the problem, management is causing all the problems in education, but I guess these studies will be contacting management with minimal opinions gathered from faculty, or worse, they have management collect opinions from thier faculty so management can cherry pick who they are going to harrass next.
I am unsure if you are right but if you are, that is so sad.
"sad" doesn't cut it, try a pathetic lack of competence and inability to make adjustments benefitting both faculty and students.
An utter waste of time and money. What happened to the (presumed) benefits of all the inspections from prior to six years ago? Anyone curious? What was all that money spent for, exactly? Here we go again! PS For goodness sake don't bring – at fantastical expense – more characters from the U.K. who have no idea about Caymanian/Caribbean culture. We don't have anyone from within the region? That is implausible.
and why have they hire an inspection team with ZERO experience of inspecting state schools?
So that the state schools look bad and The need to change to academies, charters or free schools becomes the only option. Their cunning plan from day one. Of course they will call them something else other than free school, academies or charter schools since there is growing eviden that all three have shown no material difference.
Why is it that all the intellectual work that is needed to be completed by our government is done by outside contractors, are we not electing capable leaders ? You would think that someone with the title of Ministerof Education would be able to carry out this type of review utilizing some of the highly paid CIG employee that we are already paying for.
Review…consultants..reports ….wow .. it never ends..calgon take me away !! 🙂
Hon Rivers, you may want to examine recruitment and note if or confirm that persons were hired specifically as Inspectors, therefore what have they been doing?
Can CNS do an FOI? somebody must have shares in this company. What a waste of money.
Roy McTaggart was once a partner at KPMG, that should answer your question.
It is not enought to say that we have graduate with 5 passes … what level are these passes? We must push for our children to do better, get more passes and get more passes with better grades. THAT is how we prepare them, not by simply accepting they are doing better. Tara and Winston – keep looking for how we can do better that is the only choice.
Oh boy, another study/review/inspection!! The only winners are EY, Deloitte, KPMG and the like.
Perhaps the AG should do a separate report on the amount of public funds wasted on Government studies/reviews/evalations over the past 10 years. It would probably reveal another waste of million$!
Suggestion to Government, save money by interviewing any JG or CH high-school leaver. That will reveal that our education system has long been broken. The fix is to get politics out of the schools and stop up-ending education policies with each new administration, treat existing teachers better, offer decent wages so as to continue to attract good teachers, and focus on improving social conditions/factors which affect school-age children. One point on the latter is to implement viable programs to assist many of the parents in finding employment. Regardless of their morals and best intentions, unemployed parents cannot always provide a nurturing environment for children.
Our "leaders" can't see the connection between good education and a healthy social fabric.
In terms of parenting. It might be a good idea to stop leaving childen with helpers who do everything BUT nurture the children, the exception being the Phillipino nannies. It would also help to have a comprehensive compulsory parenting programme for all parents provided by an organisation that actually has time to do the job.
PPM are the masters of producing more reports to confirm what we all know.
The school system is failinganother generation of caymanian kids. The facilities at John Gray are deplorable! Teachers have stated what the problems are but nobody whats to admit and focus on solutions. It is cheaper to spend more money on reports and pretend to be doing something about it.
Over $30m spent annually on education to produce substandard students who lack basic skills and nobody gets fired. One word decribes things in education from the Minister, CEO, teachers to the janitors DISGRACEFUL
Ok, one question if anyone can answer it: why do we do handsomely compensate our elected MLA's/ministers if they have to spend our taxpayer money to seek outside assistance on every review?
Sounds like we have a lot of highly paid, incompetent "professionals" spearheading our ministries.
KPMG gets a lot of business for doing nothing I wonder if some elected official used to work at KPMG? Isn,t there another firm that can do a study that we know the outcome to allready?
Let me say this of the 36 localy that I have employeed over the last 5 years almost none could read properly or do math.
The customers I have, some of them work for the school system as teachers, they themselves suck they cant speak properly and dont know how to act when trying to do business.
It explains a lot to me when I meet these teachers
You may wish to review your post before attacking the grammatical skills of others.
To access exactly what is happening on the ground Ms Rivers said. What a load of crap she speaks. She has brought in inspectors who ONLY inspect private schools in the UK, know nothing about our culture, and have no knowledge of the journey we have been on for the past four years. She has Mary Bowman heading up the team when her abilities are questionable. She ignores expertise on the island and yet again we will have another two reports. When oh when are we going to stop looking for quick fixes, commissioning reports, hiring experts but not listening to them. We all know what the base line was, you would only have to look at the results to tell you that and these can be born out by the extensive data held on Sims. However, we are on a journey of improvement that will take time. We have already travelled a long way in a short period of time and we have a way to go yet. For the first time in my teaching career I have faith, not in the Ministry but with some of the people they have there. What comes to mind is the great strides that have been made in literacy and the sea change in how we now teach mathamatics. I as a teacher feel for the first time in my professional career I am being supported and helped to improve. Thelast thing I need right now is yet another report or two turning upside down those great strides we have made. From what I have seen so far, the inspectors sent into my school have been very disrespectful in their approach, have come in for three days and not given any feedback. Apparently I must wait for the report to be published.
Ms Rivers perhaps in law you should bring in teachers, or plumbers to inspect your law firm and see how much weight your colleagues would give to anything they would say.
The first important thing about change management is to ensure you bring people along with you since they are the ones expected to implement change. You have three separate events going on right now, all costing money. Have you even thought how inappropriate that is? Have you even thought that perhaps they just might be saying different things.
We teachers know your agenda. You stand in front of us with your soothing words but we all know whose agenda you are pushing and what they stand for.
The name you are making for yourself in the teaching world is one not to be proud of.
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Well said. Tara Rivers is proving she is no different. One term only and never again. She is brilliant though at croniasm for one so new to politics.
What is "croniasm"?