"Bilateral" Schools

Developments both in the traditional secondary schools and in new forms of post-primary education are indicative of the beginnings of the application of the concept of "bilateral" or "comprehensive" schools. A "bilateral" school was defined in the last West Indies Colonial Development and Welfare Report by that Organization's Education Adviser as "a school which provides separate courses either for pupils whose abilities cover a wide range or for pupils of varying aptitudes." 14 The Report noted that a bilateral school may, for example, offer an academic program leading to the examinations for the School Certificate or the General Certificate of Education, along with another program of shorter duration in commercial subjects leading to the examinations of the London Royal Society of Arts or the London Chamber of Commerce. Or it might offer both academic and technical types of programs. One of the arguments of the Welfare Organization's Education Adviser in favor of "bilateralism" was that of economy, i.e., it offers a method of increasing the opportunities for secondary education of different types and programs without the expense of building separate schools for each. His other argument in favor of the recognition of the bilateral principle as applying to existing secondary grammar schools was his assertion that many such schools in the British West Indies are, in fact, already bilateral, since under the definition given, less than 50 percent of the pupils in these schools were in his opinion of academic caliber.

The desirability of establishing and expanding different programs in traditional secondary schools was recognized by the 1955 Conference on Secondary Education, which noted that a problem facing many secondary schools was the development of alternative courses with modified curricula to meet the needs of pupils of different abilities.15 The educational development plans of the different territories give weight to the concept of bilateralism. Thus, the proposed development of secondary education as set forth in Trinidad's 5-year Development Program appears to be predicated largely on this concept, both as it applies to diversification of curriculums and programs in secondary grammar schools, through the addition of modern, technical, and practical subjects, and to the proposed establishment of a number of regular bilateral and secondary modern schools.

The plea was made at the 1955 Secondary Education Conference that the expansion of secondary education should not be allowed

14 Luke, op. cit., p. 53. 15 D'Aeth, op. cit., p. 28.

"to jeopardize the [existing] high standards in academic and technical schools." 16 This was reiterated by Professor D'Aeth in a paper presented at the 1957 Teacher Training Conference, in which he stated that despite the democratic and social unity appeal of comprehensive schools, "to make existing secondary schools * * * comprehensive under present conditions would lead to a tragic reduction in academic standards." 17 He also stated, apparently contrary to the view expressed by the former Colonial Development and Welfare Education Adviser, that such schools are more expensive to build and run than individual schools carrying on different educational programs. To the force of this argument against turning academic secondary schools into comprehensive schools may be added the fact of the social prestige attached to an academic education and popular resistance to substantial alteration of the curriculum in these schools. Thus, some of the problems faced in broadening secondary, or postprimary, education opportunities by applying the bilateral or comprehensive principle are apparent.

Certificate Examinations

The programs of the traditional secondary schools have generally been directed to preparing students for one or more of the "external" certificate examinations. In addition, students in other institutions and programs sometimes take these examinations as, for example, a few students in Trinidad's aforementioned intermediate schools who are prepared for the Cambridge School Certificate Examination in a limited range of non-science subjects.18 There may also be the beginning of a trend for secondary modern type schools to prepare students for these examinations in certain subjects.

The word "external" in referring to these examinations and certificates signifies that the examination is prepared by a recognized examining board or syndicate outside, or external to, the individual school. The examinations they prepare are designed to indicate subject mastery at the secondary level and have usually been taken at or near the completion of a program of study in an academic secondary school. There is no regular system for the earning of credits or a graduation diploma by the completion of a given number of subjects, courses, or years of study.

Different external examinations are usually taken in the various British Caribbean territories. In Jamaica and Trinidad the examinations are normally those for the University of Cambridge Oversea School Certificate and Higher School Certificate, and in Barbados they are the examinations for the General Certificate of Education

16 Ibid., p. 50.

17 Teacher Training Conference Report, p. 52.

18 Government of Trinidad and Tobago, Administration Report of the Education Department for the Year 1956 (Trinidad: Government Printing Office, 1958), p. 18.

(GCE) of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In British Guiana the University of London GCE examinations at both "Ordinary" and "Advanced" levels are those usually taken. These external examinations are identical with examinations given by the same examining groups or syndicates in England and Wales and in other overseas territories, except for questions designed especially for the Caribbean area, such as West Indian history or geography. The same grading system and ratings apply to the examinations taken in the West Indies as to the same examinations taken elsewhere in the Commonwealth, and the Certificates granted by the examining syndicate on the basis of the examinations are identical. There has been general acceptance in the British Caribbean of a recognized common examination system as the best means of judging comparative achievement of students from different schools and different territories.

There is considerable difference of opinion on the relative merits of the School and Higher School Certificates on the one hand and the General Certificate of Education on the other, and neither is lacking in its vehement advocates and defenders. Although the use of the GCE examinations is a recent development patterned after its introduction in England in the early 1950's, there are many who feel that the modernized "Oversea" type of Cambridge School Certificate examination is better adapted to local needs in individual British affiliated overseas territories. Others believe that the General Certificate of Education examinations are equally adapted to local needs and have advantages in other respects. And then there are those among West Indian educationists themselves who would prefer a separate West Indian examination system.

The whole subject of external examinations was discussed at the 1955 Conference on Secondary Education. It was noted that the external examination has been described as "putting the secondary school in a strait-jacket, which does not fit well and restricts its growth," and that "the examinations dominate the curriculum to such an extent that most of the teaching is closely directed to the external syllabuses." 19 It was also observed that the existing examinations, and especially those for the General Certificate of Education, did not make sufficient allowance for the wide range of ability among children in British West Indian Schools, and that they failed to show an understanding of what is appropriate for the curriculums of these schools. At the same time it was recognized that the syllabuses for the external examinations have been gradually modified and include much of local relevance, particularly in history, geography, and science.

19 D'Aeth, op. cit., p. 30.

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In this situation it was observed that there were two alternatives to the existing system. The schools might grant their own certificates, at least to those who fail in the external examinations, if not to all students achieving a certain minimum standard; or a separate certificate might be instituted for the British Caribbean. With respect to alternative number 1, the discussion showed clearly that "an external certificate is everywhere recognized *** as the hallmark of success in a secondary school, and that a noncompetitive internal certificate awarded by a school would not be generally accepted as a substitute." 20

With respect to the second alternative, the Conference urged that a start be made on planning the establishment of a Regional Examining Board, perhaps in conjunction with the University College of the West Indies, to establish a General Certificate of Education especially for the British Caribbean. The view was expressed that the West Indian outlook and orientation could be spread through the secondary schools only if the external examinations which shape their curriculums and programs are prepared within the region. It was felt that it would help to secure respect and prestige for the new board if it were linked with an established board in England for a number of years. It should be mentioned that examinations to test secondary level subject mastery have been developed by Education Departments in most of the British Caribbean territories, in large measure in connection with the certification process for the vast majority of teachers, who have not attended an academic secondary school. These locally prepared examinations are coming to have other purposes as well. Some of those examinations are regarded by the local Education Departments as being at the level of the examinations for the School and GCE (ordinary level) Certificates. They will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter on teacher training.

With the approach of West Indian Federation, the matter of an appropriate type of external examination was merged with the overall question of the effectiveness of secondary schools and their programs generally and the possible role of the proposed Federal educational advisory service in this connection. It was in relation to problems of secondary education that the aforementioned specific proposal of the 1957 Teacher Training Conference recommending the establishment and structure of a Federal advisory service took shape. One of the main functions of such a service, in the opinion of the Conference subcommittee recommending it, was the need for broad scale assessment of secondary education and advice to secondary schools in the area. The subcommittee made specific reference

20 Ibid., p. 30-31.

to the exaltation of the external examination as the supreme arbiter of the school curriculum and to the need for other criteria besides the external examinations, stating that these were among the problems of secondary education to which a Federal advisory service should give its attention. It was on the basis of the reasons advanced by the subcommittee that the Conference made a specific recommendation

that one function of the Federal Education Advisers should be to make available to Unit Governments a panel of educationists to advise and assess the secondary schools of the West Indies.21

The Conference noted in this connection that secondary schools in Jamaica were already being inspected by teams drawn from the Education Department staff of the University College of the West Indies and the Heads of Secondary Schools themselves. It observed that the whole region, and the Eastern Caribbean in particular, would benefit from such a Federally organized panel. Problems of Secondary Schools were thus one of the matters subject to possible attention by the Federal Education Adviser after his appointment in the new Federal Government in 1958.

21 Teacher Training Conference Report, p. 39.