Education: impact of

colonialism; the
information age;
language; curriculum
reforms. Syllabus
obj:
Influences of
extra-regional 8(b)(iii)
societies on
the Caribbean:
 WHAT IS EDUCATION?
Education is referred to as socialising with respect to
the members of society into the norms, values, knowledge
and the skills that a society deems important. It can be
either formal or informal.

Informal education mainly constitutes the information

taught to others from their families or relatives,
regarding survival or living. Its referred to as “primary
socialisation”.

Formal education is the sharing and transmission of

skills and knowledge in social organizations, such as
schools. This is also known as “secondary socialisation”.
Table of
contents!
#O1 Impact of colonialism #03 Language
How was Caribbean In what manner did
education impacted by Language affect
colonialism? Caribbean education?

#02 The information age #04 Curriculum reforms

What were the effects What role did Curriculum
of The information age reforms have on the
on Caribbean evolution of Caribbean
education? education?
 01
IMPACT OF
COLONIALISM
 Pre-colonial education:
Before colonialism,Amerindian education was considered
the transmission of life and survival skills from older
to younger generations and was categorized by gender.
Women taught girls domestic skills (cooking, cleaning)
whilst men taught their sons to hunt, fish,build
structures and understand flora and fauna.

This informal education was the only form of knowledge

in many Amerindian communities and is still an
important traditional practice for tribal societies.
Most Amerindians were enslaved by invading forces and
no formal aspects of education or learning systems were
offered to them.
 KEY POINTS:

• Informal education within

Amerindian societies.

• Passing on survival skills

from one generation to
another, based on gender:
women taught girls domestic
skills, while men taught boys
hunting, fishing, building
shelter, fauna and flor
 Pre-emancipation education:
• Formal education provided only for the children of
white colonisers; the enslaved population were denied
any formal education.

• Plantation owners resisted attempts by missionaries

to provide any kind of teaching for their slaves as
they believed that any ideas and individual thinking
this may encourage would be detrimental to the status
quo.

• Informal education occurred, however, within the

enslaved household. Women orally passed on songs, poems
and religious beliefs as well as different survival
skills.
● Spanish colonisers were the only ones interested in
building schools for their slaves; however, they
only taught religious education.
 Post-emancipation education:
• In 1834 the Emancipation Act (through the Negro
Education Grant, which came into force in 1845 and
which provided finance for buildings and a basic
infrastrucutre) stated that elementary schools should
be built throughout the West Indies.

• However, only a few subjects were taught: reading,

writing, arithmetic and a little geography, with the
Bible as the main text to focus on.

• The taught curriculum followed English Christian

values with an emphasis on religious instruction.
• European missionaries and church groups played an
important role in the provision of education.

• There were a few fee-paying secondary schools. They

followed colonial curricula (French, English, Spanish).
Some of their pupils (mostly male) went on to renowed
European universities. Some returned home as writers,
scholars, lawyers and doctors, and became involved in
the process of decolonalisation
Post-Independence education (Caribbean
Education today):
• After independence European models continued to be
followed in terms of structure (primary, secondary and
tertiary), curriculum and an emphasis on certification.

• Traces of colonial education are still prevalent in

today's Caribbean schools. Until recently, curricula
still had a strong colonial influence; however, reforms
are being made in order to ensure a more locally
inclusive curriculum (one such reform is the recent
introduction of Creole as a taught language with
grammar, vocabulary and syntax).
• Another new feature of today's education system is
more gender equality. However, in higher education
women are underrepresented in the fields of science and
technology, but over represented in the arts and fields
related to care of people and children.

• Today the University of the West Indies, established

in 1948, is one of the world's renowned educational
institutions
 KEY POINTS:
Throughout the colonial era, education prioritized the
elite of the plantation and the metropole communities over
the needs of the vast majority of the population.

Access was limited, and the children of emancipated slaves

were only gradually granted access after emancipation.

Universal secondary education was only facilitated after

independence.

Since independence was gained, efforts were made to align

the curriculum and education system with the needs of the
general population, but, like other societal institutions,
there are still traces of the colonial past, primarily of
which is how people view what constitutes a "good"
education.
 02
THE INFORMATION
AGE
 The information age:
Increased use and penetration of information
technology, particularly the Internet, has both
contributed to and been a result of the general and
ongoing process of globalisation.

For the Caribbean, this has meant more open exposure

to external cultural influences, but also, for a
scattered island region, it has facilitated
communications, the sharing of information and distance
learning, especially at tertiary level.
A challenge for educational organisations is increased
competition from extra-regional bodies in the provision
and delivery of self-study and distance-learning
programmes
 03
LANGUAGE
 Language:
Standard English, as used in formal situations and
official documents, is the form of English used and
taught in schools and other educational institutions.

There is a belief and an expectation that this should

be the form of English in which education is delivered.

However, this does not reflect the complex and diverse

situation in language that exists across the region,
with the ‘European’ form rarely spoken in informal
situations.
Many educationalists believe this should be reflected
and represented within education, which has sparked a
huge debate on the relative values of the various forms
of language.
 04
CURRICULUM
REFORMS
 Curriculum reforms:
Until quite recently, the curricula still had a strong
colonial influence, mirroring that of traditional
British private schools, with stress on academic
subjects such as history, geography and literature.

As most of the materials were written by British

educationalists, there was a predominant
British-centric flavour, which augmented the hidden
curriculum of upholding the overriding superiority of
British culture, its attitudes and beliefs.
The introduction of more practical studies was met with
some resistance as these were viewed as being of less
value, especially in terms of social mobility
prospects.

There was a huge emphasis on academic attainment,

especially to gain access to prestigious secondary
schools, many of which were administered by Church
bodies, which served to further reinforce the Western
values and attitudes they imparted.

The British system of examinations, administered by

British awarding bodies, also continued beyond
independence.
Although, post-independence, governments worked to make
education more Caribbean-focused, it was only with the
establishment of the Caribbean Examinations Council in
1972 that there were exam syllabi specifically geared
to the experiences of the candidates and a curriculum
designed around their own needs and perspectives
 CXC Achievements:
• Offers secondary-level certification, advanced
proficiency diplomas and associate degrees.

• Ensures that the education of Caribbean people is

geared towards the needs of the region, thus fostering
economic development: examination by the region, of the
region and for the region.

• Syllabus reflects learning from a Caribbean

perspective.

• Creates employment opportunities: administrators,

curriculum officers, measurement experts, content
specialist markers, supervisors, examiners.
• Finance is kept in the region rather than going to
the UK as foreign exchange.

• Creates interaction among peoples of the region:

regional integration, awareness of commonality, a sense
of brotherhood
 CXC Challenges:
• Many candidates from across the region still yearn
for a more diverse evaluation, especially where
languages are concerned. It is believed that continued
focus by the CXC® on using standard English as the offi
cial language for responses to exam questions is
discriminatory.

• CXC® textbooks and revision guides, especially for

the social sciences, tend to use more examples of and
references to the larger Caribbean states. The cultural
and geographical references to the smaller states are
minimal.
• CXC® is currently transitioning to become fully
online with its communications and evaluation tools.
Many schools in the region, however, have not yet found
the resources to procure the equipment that would
enable them to coordinate with the CXC® .

• While most tertiary institutions in extra-regional

societies accept CXC® results, there are some that
still require results from qualifying exams in their
own regions before a student can be admitted. Many
still refuse to fully recognise CXC® passes as
adequate.
THANK
YOU!!