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Despite steady investment to improve early childhood progammes in recent years, many Jamaican early childhood institutions are ill‐prepared or unable to adequately meet the developmental needs of children for a number of reasons. Such schools are often labelled as failing or low quality. While teachers and schools are often blamed for this, an overlooked consideration in all this however is the preparedness of the existing systems, structures and policies to support the Early Childhood sector to carry out its function. [Corrections made on 30 April 2024, after first online publication: In the preceding sentence, 'systems and policies' has been corrected to 'systems, structures and policies' and 'their function' has been corrected to 'its function' in this version.] This article examines system quality in Early Childhood Care and Education and the implications for policy. System quality is an important yet often overlooked aspect of education. Four aspects of system quality were examined in this paper; the forms and dimensions of ECCE, the financing of ECCE and Laws and Regulations governing the system and current priorities relevant to ECCE. The gaps and strengths in the system are examined as well as implications of these on Early Childhood Care and Education policies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the changes in the higher education funding policies and resource allocation models of the Jamaican government in the period 1962-2003. Throughout these four decades, four different systems were in force. This paper focuses particularly on the arguments for the funding policies and models and the impact of the models on the operation of the higher education institutions, access to higher education and equity and efficiency within the higher education system. The analysis reveals that each funding model has its advantages and downsides. Some of these can be traced back to the logical underpinnings of the models. At the same time, however, part of the developments and (unintended) consequences are due to path-dependent elements of the evolving small-state system of higher education, notably the fact that the main Jamaican university is an intergovernmental multi-campus university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions (HEIs) may be funded privately, by the state or by a mixture of the two. Nevertheless, any state financing of HE necessitates a mechanism to determine the level of support and the channels through which it is to be directed; that is, a resource allocation model. Public funding, through resource allocation models, influences HEIs' behaviour according to how funding reaches them. Nonetheless, under any allocation system, funders and HEIs must be accountable for their actions and their spending, meaning that resource allocation and accountability are intertwined. Without accountability, institutions may engage in too much research and scholarship, fail to respond to student needs and become inefficient. However, as HEIs must be able to manage their own affairs, accountability must not become a straightjacket. Furthermore, both accountability and resource allocation models need to support HEI governance and management. The nature of the financing relationship with HEIs causes problems for decision making and policy as society wrestles with issues of funding and control. This paper examines two perspectives on resource allocation models and assesses funding alternatives. It develops a resource allocation 'pendulum' and investigates the link between accountability and resource allocation, which are employed to assess the case of Jamaican higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the rationale for the development of an Online Performance-Based Management and Evaluation System (OLPBMES) at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica, the roles of each of the partners in the process, some particular technical solutions, and security solutions of the system. We consider this web application as a base for a full management system for educational institutions that includes strategic, academic, and financial planning and management components. This approach will allow the institution to respond promptly to real-world challenges and opportunities that might affect its short- and long-term strategy. This system provides an accurate diagnosis of the educational reality and an objective assessment of the impact of intervention policies to society. The information produced by OLPBMES can then be used as a social control tool to press those responsible for managing the educational system to produce necessary improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, two applied linguistics researchers who conducted qualitative studies in educational contexts in Italy and Jamaica reflexively interrogate identity tensions among their ascribed, felt and evolving insider/outsider identities and positions. The juxtaposition of selected discursively analyzed research vignettes reflects similarities and differences in our experiences in two very different contexts, but a convergence in the complexity of our (linguistic/cultural) identities, positions, and intersubjectivities as insider/outsider researchers. In both cases, as we sought to reconcile tensions in positions within interviews about language attitudes and language education policy, we performed "discursive dances" aimed at creating positional spaces as we collaboratively produced and co-constructed our experiences, identities, and positioning with our participants. We argue that the approaches, presentation, and re-presentation of our research are filtered through identity tensions. Therefore, in making these tensions explicit, we became sensitive to the role of power and positionality in our research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A population-based prevalence study in one region of Jamaica in 1987–1989 indicated that about 8% of the childhood population had cognitive (intellectual) disability. Some harmful beliefs and practices persist about child rearing, violence towards women, and child abuse of all types. A lack of knowledge is apparent about the efficacy of home-based learning, rather than special schools or centers for children with disabilities. A national policy on the health, education, and protection of children is not fully implemented. There is also a national policy on disability, although there are few provisions for children aged 0–8 years. A ministerial policy on education for children with special needs is a work in progress. There are approximately 2,000 children aged 4–18 years in special education programs: It is not known how many are in inclusive educational settings. Although little information is available, it is likely that most adults with intellectual disabilities do not have any formal services after they leave school. Key issues for Jamaica are a need for more emphasis on early intervention, adult services, community-based rehabilitation, professional training, and research on mild intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 20 years educational policies across the globe have become more closely aligned with industry interests. Jamaica is no exception. But what does this mean when the country’s leading ‘industry’ is tourism? It is no coincidence that in this decade the Ministry for Education became the Ministry for Education and Culture. When one of the main threats to the industry is seen to be the country’s reputation for violence as substantiated by rising murder rates and increasingly vicious crime scenarios, what is the Ministry’s response? One has been the introduction of the PALS (Peace and Love in Schools) curriculum, underwritten by the Tourist Board. The article examines the texts within this curriculum and how they position the identity of children and adults, and distinguish between Jamaicans and foreigners. The author then examines material collected during ethnographic fieldwork in the summer of 2000 with Jamaican youth in which issues of violence, tourism and the marketing of cultural products come to the fore. The youth convey an understanding of the facade/reality dichotomy that tourism necessitates across a wide spectrum of activities that make up daily life, and a pragmatism in which innocence is an unaffordable luxury, as are some forms of resistance to the inequalities that tourism brings so prominently into focus in the shape of all‐inclusive hotels and cruise ships. The children’s experiences resonate tellingly with some of the Caribbean’s leading critical thinkers’ misgivings about the tourism project and the schism in identities that it perpetuates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines some developments in relation to agricultural education and Work Experiment Programs in Secondary Schools in Jamaica. It questions whether such "radical thinking" is needed in existing Jamaican educational policies and priorities. The article challenges whether the view that the whole future of developing countries like Jamaica is heavily dependent on effective agricultural programs in schools can any longer be supported. The author suggests certain actions that Third World governments could take to facilitate more significant educational reform in the short term.