Jamaica has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, mostly committed by young men. Their socialisation begins at home but continues in a society that holds strong stereotypes about male behaviour; homosexuality, for example, is still illegal in Jamaica. The dominant culture in many of the country’s comprehensive schools reflects the attitudes and expectations of wider society rather than presenting an alternative to it. As a result boys also learn to adopt a ‘macho’ and disruptive attitude within school.

Boys’ underachievement is evident at all levels of schooling. According to a recent World Bank assessment (Carlson & Quello, 2002), by Grade 6, 30% of boys were reading below their grade level and this proportion continued throughout their schooling. In 1996/7, 24% of males achieved Grades 1 and 2 in their English CXC (Caribbean Exam Certificate) compared to 34% of females and the gap has widened year on year. This trend in schools may not be helped by teachers permitting boys to play and be ill-disciplined, thus excluding them from the learning that the girls, who are expected to be more 'domesticated' and ‘docile’ are getting on with.

Parents have an important responsibility to nurture children, but in reality, many lack the necessary skills as a result of their own inadequate socialisation or poverty. At the core of traditional parenting strategies is the concept described in Guyana as ‘Tie the heifer, loose the bull’, implying the protection and monitoring of daughters while sons are allowed, even encouraged, to have more freedom and independence.

In this context, the Jamaican education system has a key role to play in addressing the problem of youth violence and fostering socially and emotionally well-adjusted children.

The ‘Change from Within’ programme (initiated in 1992 by the late Sir Phillip Sherlock and funded by the University of the West Indies) attempted to move beyond an exclusive focus on academic performance e.g. test scores and 'chalk and talk' teaching. It promoted a child-centred approach to teaching where schools would address children’s emotional needs and social development through partnerships with communities, parents and the larger society.

As part of 'Change from Within', an initiative, co-ordinated by researchers from the UK's University of Leeds and the University of the West Indies, aims at further promoting and intensifying boys' achievement in Jamaican schools. In a unique experiment, a group of primary and secondary school principals were encouraged to work together to collectively improve their school environments. They faced a set of common problems all underpinned by the failure of Jamaican boys to succeed in the country's education system.

Whilst all participants recognised the importance of changing the dominant culture within schools, there no one method for promoting 'Change from Within'. Schools identified activities that related to the specific needs of their school and its environment and looked at achieving change through the four levels of individual, parents and home, school and the wider community.

Some of the key strategies that emerged include:

• building on existing strengths: one primary school used its land to engage with boys by encouraging them to plant crops and improve their literacy through environmental learning
• enlisting parental support of the project’s aspirations and their involvement in school activities by meeting the needs of parents. One school, for example, was able to offer parents some employment
• engaging with the community: schools drew on the talents of their communities, inviting into the school story-tellers and dancers
• using the Arts as a means of self-improvement for students in terms of confidence, school pride, communication and motivation
• running school guidance and counselling programmes to identify and solve personal problems
• viewing bad behaviour as a cry for help.

Policy recommendations emerging from the project include:

• training teachers to engage with boys by choosing texts with ‘male’ heroes, valuing some of the oral skills of boys, using drama and if possible video and Information Technology
• educating parents, community and teachers in the social and emotional development of boys
• disseminating good practice across the whole region.

Source(s):
‘The Story of Four Schools: Findings of the Change From Within Project Initiated at the University of the West Indies’ The University of the West Indies, Mona: University Printers, 1999
'Gender and Achievement in Secondary Education in Jamaica', by H. Evans, Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions, 2001
'Youth at Risk in Jamaica', by L. Blank, 2001, based on Jamaican research and statistics, OECD, Programme for the Improvement of Student Assessment (PISA)

id21 Research Highlight: 12 September, 2003

Further Information:
Tony Sewell
99 Arundel Avenue
South Croydon
Surrey CR2 8BL
UK

Tel: +44 (0)7956 598503
Contact the contributor: sewelltony@hotmail.com

Other related links:
'Class struggles: the challenges of achieving schooling for all', Insights Education #2

See the id21 links page on inclusive education

'Marginalised or privileged? Why boys underachieve in Caribbean schools'