Stakeholders have their say on new harmonised curriculum for Primary Schools

A new curriculum is expected to be piloted in 15 schools across St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) as part of plans to implement the Digital OECS Harmonized Primary Curriculum (D-OHPC).

The micro-pilot is one of the stages of the curriculum’s regional rollout, and will be followed by a larger pilot in September, 2025, when all schools will be brought on board. After the document is finalized, the curriculum will be implemented in the 2026 school year.

On Wednesday, October 2, 2024, teachers and parents from the 15 selected schools gathered at the UWI Open Campus in Kingstown for stakeholder consultation and sensitization sessions, followed by feedback on how the curriculum can be improved ahead of its implementation.

A total of 76 persons from across the region underwent academic training with The University of the West Indies (The UWI), and brought in to draft the new curriculum which was ongoing for almost a year.

Senior Education Officer in the Curriculum Development Unit, Aldia Gumbs-Dyer, said the current curriculum under use was introduced in 2007, and changing times require that teaching be revamped in line with society’s advancement.

“Times have changed, and because of that we recognize that the education system cannot stay the way it is. It must be looked at to see what adjustments are needed to meet the needs of children nowadays.”

Gumbs-Dyer spoke to issues affecting primary school children, saying that the Ministry has recognized that some children are falling behind.

“Often times all of our children are not doing as well as we expect them to. There are some children who are excelling, we have some we are doing okay, and we have some who are really not doing so well.”

The new curriculum is noted to have a more student-centred approach and embraces new technologies, as opposed to the old curriculum which is content heavy, teacher-centred and technology is not explicitly embedded.

Special Education officer, Afria Ryan-Charles explained that one of the benefits of the new curriculum is the move away from the strong focus on exams, and instead, more attention will be given to diagnostic and formative assessments.

“That would not be the case any more. We would be testing their knowledge as we go along. With this new digital OHPC … it will be knowing what the students’ strengths and needs are, valuing it and responding to all of the students’ strengths, needs and learning preferences.”

In the feedback session, parents and teachers were required to consider a number of questions in their evaluation of the document, including ease of understanding the curriculum; relevance of content; learning expectations; and suggestions on what should be.

Those who assessed Mathematics suggested that the document should include strategies for Mental Mathematics as this has proven to be a weak area in Grade Two.

Additionally, recommendations were made for students to be introduced to Mathematics concepts such as division at an earlier grade, as this too has shown to be a challenging area for teachers to get across to students.