Ministers and officials within the OECS education sector are working to improve the CXC examination syllabus.

Glenroy Cumberbatch, Acting Registrar of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) said the council already considers the various learning styles of students. As such, the School Based Assessments (SBAs) provide different ways for students to express their understanding of the syllabus.

“With school based assessments, students have opportunities to prepare themselves and to respond to tasks in any manner that they choose to. Some of it can be oral or written, but much of it is what we call authentic assessment. So already, in our assessment, we bear in mind that students have different learning styles and strengths, so we do not rely on the linguistic mode and pen and paper tests in order to measure what they know, what they can do and what they understand.”

Mr. Cumberbatch said that in-keeping with this year’s theme, “Transforming OECS Education: Embracing ICT’s for the Success of Every Learner” CXC is finding ways to integrate ICT throughout the curriculum.

“One of the ways is that from 2015, students can now submit their SBAs online. The other way is via paperless exams. We had our first non-paper examination last year. The Digital Media exam was done without a scrap of paper. More and more we are moving towards where we can have assessments at any time via e-testing.”

Mr. Cumberbatch added that students can use the new CXC web portal, Notesmaster, which facilitates student interaction through discussions, and allows students to view the syllabus, inclusive of objectives and recommended teaching styles for their respective subjects.