A new government policy details the processes that schools in the Cayman Islands must follow when considering if a child should be educated out of their normal year group.
Generally it indicates that the practice of social promotion – with children moving through the school years with their peers regardless of attainment – be maintained.
However, it creates some exceptions for gifted children or those with extreme academic challenges, to be held back or move ahead a year group in rare circumstances.
The Ministry of Education document, published online on 27 Sept., includes aims, a policy statement, research, legal requirements, concerns, roles and responsibilities, and guidance.
It explains that in the Cayman Islands, children are expected to be educated in the year group that is assigned to them according to their date of birth.
As a “general rule” pupils should stay in that year group, and to remove them “is harmful to their well-being and future educational success”, the policy says.
But there are exceptional cases where moving them may be in their best interests, it adds.
This will most often involve the retention of a child in the same year for a second time – “rationalised as a remediation”.
However, this is not a solution in itself without comprehensive justification, interventions and a planned programme of support, the policy says.
Equally, moving a gifted or talented child forward a year must also be shown to serve the child’s best interest and not negatively impact them or disadvantage other children, it adds.
Annual review
The Children Educated Out of Year Group Policy details the roles and expectations of the ministry of education, the responsible authority, and education facility leaders, teachers and parents or guardians.
Any decision to consider or apply to move a child into a new year group can be explored and discussed formally in the annual review procedure.
The application should then be submitted to the responsible authority for consideration.
Only in highly exceptional circumstances can an application be made for a pupil who does not have special educational needs and disabilities.
The policy stresses that considering out-of-year-group education should not be made solely on the basis that the child is born in June, July or August.
The policy was approved in August this year and the next review will be in August 2026.
Social promotion
The concept of ‘social promotion’ – or moving a child up year groups with their peers regardless of academic achievement – has long been debated in the Cayman Islands.
In 2006, consultant criminologist Yolande Forde wrote a report on criminality which she presented to Attorney General Samuel Bulgin with commentary on social promotion.
She spoke to inmates with learning deficiencies who said their needs were not addressed by the school system.
“Unlike the system in the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean, students in the Cayman Islands’ public-school system do not, as a rule, repeat a year or grade in order to be adjudged competent at that given level,” Forde wrote.
“Therefore, generally speaking, children are promoted based on grade, whether or not they have mastered work at the previous level.”
She called this “totally problematic” because it is an approach that will breed “incompetence and mediocrity”.
Forde added that this will lead to pupils not gaining important life skills such as goal-setting and perseverance, and they will later have ‘false expectations’ for promotion and reward in the workplace.
However, in 2011, then Education Minister Rolston Anglin told the Compass that social promotion would continue to be the policy for the islands.
“If a child has inherent learning disabilities, we need to support that child and get that child to achieve to their fullest potential.
“Holding back won’t cut it for them. For a child who has social issues that impacts their behaviour, again, holding them back will simply cause more damage to the system than it does to [help] that child.
“For each child we need to do a better job at attacking and addressing their issues head on so they can achieve.”
In another about-turn, in its 2022-2024 Strategic Policy Statement, the government said one of its goals was to “improve school graduation criteria to end social promotion”.
Further updates have not been made public. The Compass has reached out to the education ministry for more details and is awaiting a response.
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