22 May 2022
Weekly Current (archived version)
Interview with new Inclusion Cayman CEO Shan Harriman. Summary of highlights from Education Data Report. Doctors Hospital sponsors Weekly Current newsletter.
And more!
Welcome to this week’s newsletter on education in the Cayman Islands.
***
The Cayman Current thanks its sponsors. Become one.
Doctors Hospital stands in support of Cayman’s education system.
***
Shan Harriman brings a breadth and depth of professional and personal experience to her new role as Chief Executive Officer of Inclusion Cayman.
A certified public accountant, Harriman has worked in the private financial services sector as well as for the Cayman Islands government. She is a generational Caymanian and is the mother of a teenage daughter with disabilities.
Formerly known as the Special Needs Foundation Cayman, Inclusion Cayman’s mission is “to support the community in the commitment to cultivating and upholding values and practices that ensure the equal rights of ALL individuals and families, regardless of ability”.
“We have lived an inclusive life. It’s one of the things I wanted for her since the time she was young,” Harriman said.
“I’ve been praying for a pathway where I could help other parents and could make their journey a little bit easier,” she said.
When the CEO job opportunity arose, she thought she could bring “empathy and insight” to the role.
“I’ve had the experience professionally. Having a child with disabilities gives you a little bit more insight into what the parents of children with disabilities face on a daily basis,” she said.
(Read our story about Inclusion Cayman CEO Harriman here.)
Among other topics, this week’s episode of EdBeat features a video interview with Charles Bush, the Senior Education Coordinator for Health City Cayman Islands.
Bush talks about Health City’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) programme. Applications are open now.
Additionally, Patrick Brendel of the Cayman Current and April Cummings of Cayman Life TV discuss the interview with Harriman, our analyses of the Education Data Report and Doctors Hospital‘s sponsorship of the Weekly Current.
(Watch EdBeat: Episode 37 here.)
Over the past month, we’ve been exploring the Education Data Report 2021, which is the government’s key public document on the performance of the public education system in the 2020/21 school year.
In our 9th and final post in the series, we summarised our headline observations from the report:
+ Year 11 exam scores regressed to the mean after a spike in 2020.
+ Year 11 girls again outperformed boys in English and Maths, although the ‘gender gap’ narrowed.
+ Poor Maths scores keep students from attaining the national standard.
+ Clifton Hunter significantly outperformed John Gray on Year 11 exams.
+ Year 6 scores on ‘reasoning’ tests dropped following the Spring 2020 COVID-19 school closure.
+ Student performance varies widely at different public primary schools.
+ Students with diagnosed Special Education Needs (SEND) or being monitored for SEND performed worse than their peers on Year 11 external exams.
+ On the 2021 CSEC exams, Cayman’s Year 11 students beat the Caribbean average in Maths but not in English.
(Read our roundup of the Data Report series here.)
Uniting the Cayman Islands around educationOur content is free because we believe high-quality journalism is a public service. We need your support so that we can continue to pursue our mission. Please become an Individual Supporter by giving a donation in any amount. |
| Yes, I want to support the Cayman Current |
Please welcome Doctors Hospital (DH) as the first sponsor of the Weekly Current newsletter. Thank you!
We consider the Weekly Current to be the ‘flagship product’ of the Cayman Current. The sponsorship from DH will help us to continue providing this content free of charge to subscribers’ email inboxes every week.
Please join us in thanking DH for its generosity and support of our mission to improve education in the Cayman Islands through our public service journalism.
“Doctors Hospital (DH) is thrilled to sponsor the Cayman Current’s weekly newsletter and the amazing efforts of this digital-first nonprofit, nonpartisan media organisation. Our support reinforces our commitment to our Cayman community – in particular as it pertains to the education of our children and youth,” said Kay Ludeke, Senior Human Resources Manager, Doctors Hospital.
“Ongoing community engagement on key issues including centralised access to scholarships and other educational resources and opportunities is critical to empowering young boys and girls and their families island-wide,” Ludeke said.
DH’s donation will also help support the Current’s ongoing marketing efforts to increase our subscriber base and make sure as many people as possible have access to our free content.
You can do your part by forwarding the Weekly Current to friends and colleagues who may be interested in local education news, or by sharing the link to our Sign Up page on social media.
If you’re interested in supporting the Current, please email pbrendel@caymancurrent.org or visit our Donations page. We have included PayPal as an option to make it easier for our supporters to donate — in any amount they can.
(Read our story on Doctors Hospital’s sponsorship here.)
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.)
- Cayman Compass ($): Stipend transformed to ‘performance bonus’ in new trade training plan
- Cayman News Service: Health City moving towards training institution
- The Royal Gazette (Bermuda): New maths programme adds up to success for public schools
- Jamaica Gleaner: Editorial | Start with early childhood education
- Jamaica Gleaner: Editorial | Overhaul education bureaucracy
- Jamaica Gleaner: Mandatory mask wearing reinstated in schools
- Jamaica Observer: Plans in place for COVID-positive students sitting external exams, Education Minister says
The Week Ahead
- Analyses, school inspectors’ reports
- EdBeat: Episode 38