Education officials tout school successes

The Cayman Islands school system made as much progress in its exam results in two years as the U.K. made in over a decade, according to a presentation this week from Chief Education Officer Shirley Wahler. 

Ms. Wahler said that despite “negative comments” about the education system, great strides have been made and she urged teachers to “look at the statistics” and believe in the success of Cayman’s schools. 

She said exam success jumped from 45 percent of students achieving five “high level” passes in 2011 to 69.5 percent in 2013. The U.K. made the same jump, she said, between 1996 and 2009. 

Ms. Wahler also quoted some of the data from 2014 results – expected to be officially released next week – which she said showed the improvement in Cayman schools is continuing. 

She said improvements were seen in English and particularly in math – with 45 percent of secondary school graduates achieving at least a C grade or equivalent in that subject – a 9 percent rise on previous years. Grades are also up for primary school leavers, she said, urging teachers to “believe in the success” of the system. 

“There are those that would have you believe that somehow in recent years our system has suddenly become a failure,” said Ms. Wahler. 

“The evidence, however, is clear. Whether you look regionally or historically, our success to date is impressive.” 

Ms. Wahler, in her presentation to the entire Cayman Islands public school teaching body at Mary Miller Hall on Wednesday, made reference to a graph showing year-on-year improvement in Year 12 exam results since 2007. 

The chart showed how the number of students achieving the “benchmark figure” of five good passes – that is, five GCSE or CXC exam passes of at least Grade C or equivalent – had improved from 25 percent to 69.5 percent over the past six years. 

She said, “What it shows is a system whose productivity, whose level of success, more than doubled over six years. 

“It is far more powerful in context. Our journey is one that others have taken. We often look to the U.K. as the benchmark for our educational system. The distance we have traveled in just two years from 2011 to 2013 – from 45 percent of our students achieving the benchmark figure to approximately 70 percent achieving the same standard – that same journey took England 13 years to achieve.” 

The U.K. results come from exams taken at the end of year 11. Pupils in Cayman sit equivalent exams at the same time, though the final headline figure for Cayman also takes into account re-sits and additional exams taken in Year 12 – an additional year of mandatory education in the territory. 

Speaking at the same event on Wednesday, Mary Rodrigues, the chief education officer, said the reform of the school system and the introduction of the Cayman Islands Further Education Center, where many students do additional studies in year 12, had been an important factor in driving exam success. 

What’s even more exciting is this success has come from the hard work in our schools and it has come from Caymanian solutions not imported solutions. 

She said improvement in teaching and learning strategies for numeracy and literacy had also been key to the upswing in test scores. 

“What is even more exciting is this success has come from the hard work in our schools and it has come from Caymanian solutions not imported solutions,” she said. 

Ms. Rodrigues said the education system has come a long way in a short space of time, reading from a 1994 government report that celebrated record-breaking exam results of 25 percent reaching the benchmark, which at that time, was four “high level” passes. The previous best at that time was 16 percent, she said. 

Ms. Wahler said the figure had remained at about 25 percent for years before shooting up in 2007.  

She told teachers, “It is important to understand where we have come from. 

“Be proud of your work and how far we have come. The results are testimony to your work and testimony to the potential and capacity of our children. 

“It is very easy when we hear negative comments to forget that the proven reality on the ground tells a different story.”