New CXC qualfication will include character building of secondary students

Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 November 2021, 13:30 by Denis Chabrol

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) on Tuesday announced that preparations have started to offer a new qualification that would focus on, among other things, building the character of secondary school students.

Addressing the opening of a CXC Ministerial Summit, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of that regional examining body Dr Wayne Wesley says the aim is reduce the number of secondary school students leaving without certification.

Dr. Wesley says its Research, Insights and Production Innovation Department has started discussing a new design of the framework for the award of certification.

Among the plans, he says, is the introduction of a new certificate named the Caribbean Technical Education Certificate (C-TECH).

“C-TECH will be a broad-based qualification geared towards character development, technical and applied competencies for employment, entrepreneurship and good citizenry; in other words a sense of regional pride.” he said.

The CXC Registrar says C-TECH the aim is to give opportunities to as many secondary school students s possible through  regional certification while they decide on sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education or Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations in the future. “The C-TECH would represent the minimum competencies for an individual to perform in society while providing opportunities for students to continue to pursue the CSEC and CAPE at an appropriate time of readiness,” he said.

The CXC Registrar hoped that that approach would provide equity with all qualifications issued by CXC, ensuring that parity is placed on qualifications.

He reflected that the World Economic Forum’s 2016 report on ‘New Vision For Education, Fostering Social and Emotional Learning Through Technology’, he said there are 16 critical skills for the 21st century that students should achieve. They, he said, fall into the categories of functional literacy, competencies and character qualities.