Weekly Current, 16 May 2022

 16 May 2022 (Discovery Day)

Weekly Current (archived version)

Key takeaways from 2021 CSEC results. How Cayman’s scores compared regionally. SEND students lag on exams. UCCI seeks 50 Caymanians for free training programme. Grace Christian Academy ribbon-cutting.

And more!

Welcome to this week’s newsletter on education in the Cayman Islands.

(Click here to sign up for our email list.)

Week In Review

How well did Cayman Islands students perform on Year 11 exams, compared to their regional peers and historically?

The Education Data Report 2021 contains detailed information on students’ scores on Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams (CSECs), run by the Caribbean Examinations Council.

Typically, CSEC scores are released in the fall after the spring exams are taken. However, 2021 scores were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Data Report provides the first opportunity to examine Cayman’s scores in the context of Caribbean peers and compare them to prior years.

Here are our key observations about the 2021 CSEC results:

• Cayman Islands Year 11 students outperformed the Caribbean average in Mathematics but underperformed in English.
  • English pass rate, Cayman: 67%
  • English pass rate, Caribbean: 74%
  • Maths pass rate, Cayman: 43%
  • Maths pass rate, Caribbean: 41%
• Cayman’s Year 11 scores in English and Maths dropped sharply compared to the prior year.
  • Year 11 scores fell in line with the country’s established range of scores in English and Maths.
• It was the third time that Cayman’s Year 11 students beat the Caribbean average in Maths.
  • Cayman students typically perform better in English than in Maths, which conforms with the regional trend.

In total, we built 6 graphics and 2 tables exploring the 2021 exam results.

(Check out our story and graphics on the 2021 CSECs here.)

Following a well-deserved Mother’s Day break for co-host April Cummings, EdBeat returned with a solid lineup of topics and guests.

In addition to discussing highlights from the Data Report 2021, April of Cayman Life TV and Cayman Current editor Patrick Brendel feature interviews with CaribbeanChemists.com founder Orlando Broomfield and UCCI RESEMBID project officer Cleveland Julien.

Broomfield is a Cayman educator who established CaribbeanChemists.com to provide an online learning resource for chemistry aimed primarily at secondary school students.

(Watch EdBeat: Episode 36 here.)

Cayman students with potential or verified Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) performed significantly worse on Year 11 exams in 2021 than their peers.

Public school students who had progressed to the final Phase 3 of the SEND process (having a verified education disability and receiving support from outside the school) had a higher pass rate in English, Maths and Science than students who were in Phase 2 (receiving school-based support), according to statistics in the Data Report 2021.

Additionally, Phase 3 students had a slightly higher pass rate in Maths than students in Phase 1 (who are being monitored for potential SEND).

In fact, of the students who had entered the SEND process, the only students to earn the highest grades of A or A* on exams were in Phase 3.

About 76% of the 454 Year 11 students have no SEND, 6% are in Phase 1, 3% in Phase 2 and 13% in Phase 3.

Pass rates for students by SEND status:

• No SEND
  • English — 77%
  • Maths — 50%
  • Science — 72%
• Phase 1
  • English — 54%
  • Maths — 21%
  • Science — 57%
• Phase 2
  • English — 27%
  • Maths — 0%
  • Science — 7%
• Phase 3
  • English — 54%
  • Maths — 24%
  • Science — 40%

(Read our story about SEND status and exam results here.)

The University College of the Cayman Islands is seeking 50 Caymanians to participate in a free year-long training programme in tourism, construction, solar energy or information communications technology (ICT), culminating in an internship with a local employer.

The programme is being funded via a 432,000 euro grant from the European Union’s RESEMBID Programme.

Cleveland Julien, who is UCCI’s project officer for the local training programme, said RESEMBID recognised the need, particularly in overseas territories, to build up capacities in critical sustainable industries.

Applicants must be Caymanian, between 18-45 years old, unemployed or underemployed, and registered with WORC’s JobsCayman portal.

Julien strongly encouraged people in the upper age range to participate along with younger people, including those who may have some experience in the field already or simply have an interest in the area.

In addition to the training, the programme includes job placements in the form of internships that will last 3 months or more.

The training begins in June and the internships in early 2023.

“The real challenge that we see is really ensuring that our participants won’t go and just register but are able to actually stay in the programme throughout the entire duration,” he said.

Julien said initial support for the programme from the private sector has been “overwhelming”.

“We have to build relationships with businesses and with government to ensure that we are listening to what their needs are and therefore crafting this training so they can fit the actual jobs that we now have available or in times to come, so we can match up our students with those opportunities,” Julien said.

(Read our story about the UCCI RESEMBID programme and watch a clip of our video interview with Julien here.)

More from the Current

• Grace Christian Academy opens new building (FB)
• Cayman International School increases scholarships for Caymanians (FB)
• Ministry of Education Recognises Feed our Future & Kiwanis Club of Grand Cayman

Around The Web

The Current is a central resource for education journalism by others, including regional and international news relevant to Cayman education. (Find our running collection of links here.)

• The Guardian (UK): Council-maintained schools outperform academies in England, study shows
• The Guardian (UK): England’s crumbling schools are a ‘risk to life’, officials warn No 10
• The Guardian (UK): Headteachers fight for funds to shore up England’s dilapidated classrooms

The Week Ahead

• Education Data Report 2021
• Analyses, school inspectors’ reports
• EdBeat: Episode 37

Like the Current?

Make a donation.

Submit a comment, viewpoint or letter.

Follow us on Facebook.

Follow us on Instagram.