Pembroke Hall High faces literacy crisis

More than 70 per cent of the roughly 220 grade-seven students at Pembroke Hall High School are unable to read or do so only at a grade-three level, according to the school’s principal, Reverend Claude Ellis.

Alarmingly, many of these students struggle to recognise letters of the alphabet, Ellis told The Gleaner.

Some students are suspected of having special education needs, but remain unassessed due to long wait times at the Government’s primary diagnostic centre – the Mico Care Centre – and a lack of parental cooperation, as they remain in denial.

Ellis said getting private assessments for students has proven “quite prohibitive” because of the cost, arguing at the same time that the wait time at Mico Care is unreasonably long.

Private assessment costs can range between $40,000 and $200,000, while the wait time at Mico may be a minimum of one year.

MORE SPECIAL-NEEDS TEACHERS NEEDED

Ellis said having only two experienced special-needs teachers in his 70-member staff pool at the St Andrew-based school, which has a population of 1,200 students, teachers try to accommodate those suspected of having autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or other neurodevelopmental disorders and learning challenges.

“They’re not trained for that. The teachers do try, and we have pull-outs and individual assessments. But they’re just not trained for the autism and other disorders, and then the behaviours become an issue,” Ellis said.

“You have a 40-minute class session, and by the time you get that class settled and behaviours under control, 15 minutes gone out the session. When you have 10, 15 students with learning issues and special needs [in a single class], we know how difficult that is,” he further explained.

The school averages a 1:40 teacher-student ratio.

Ellis said the school resorted to throwing several things at the wall, with the hope that something would stick to help get students on track.

“Some have worked, and we’ve tweaked them. Some have not worked, and we’ve had to shelve them,” he said.

Ellis said class sizes were lowered in some instances and pathway coaching employed. Further, he said the number of subjects students were allowed to pursue was limited and students were steered towards focusing on literacy and numeracy.

The principal said within three months of the initiative, some students showed signs of improving.

PARENT ENGAGEMENT DIFFICULT

Still, engaging parents remains difficult.

Ellis revealed that in some cases, students are sent home with instructions not to return without a parent, in an effort to force parental involvement.

“We have to threaten parents and sometimes send the children home and give them ‘do not return until the parent comes’ instructions. It is really, really difficult getting through to some of these parents because they don’t believe that there are issues,” he said.

He said the Ministry of Education is aware of the challenges facing his school and others with similar characteristics.

“We had students who did not know that’s the letter V, that’s the letter P in grade seven. I kid you not. That is what we are working with. It’s challenging, but we’re resolute that we’re not giving up on them,” said Ellis, adding that teachers often volunteer to work with students during the summer.

The Ministry of Education has acknowledged the challenge and says special-needs services are offered at 99 locations across Jamaica, including through private partnerships. As of 2021, some 184 special education teachers were employed across these institutions, serving roughly 6,800 students – nearly 6,000 of them in public schools.

Jacqueline Hendricks, chair of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Special Education Committee and Principal of Lyssons Centre of Excellence, said more specialists – especially psychologists – are urgently needed. She criticised the “one-size-fits-all” model in the education system and noted that many teachers are untrained but expected to manage complex cases.

“It can be a very uphill task. But for me, if you, as a teacher, love your children, you will understand that you don’t impose yourself on the child, but you meet the child where they are and pull the child up. That is the strategy I employ at my school. Teachers want to see their students progress, but we are limited. We lack resources,” Hendricks said.

“I believe they don’t have the confidence in these children; and because it takes more time, more love, more patience, more everything, they are failing them. This is why these children are being left behind,” she added.

HELP FROM OVERSEAS

Hendricks said the JTA, recognising the current challenges and the future impact, has sought assistance outside of Jamaica.

She said an overseas-based university has been engaged to train teachers in special education, with the aim that there will be at least two in every parish to assist with assessments and diagnoses.

“So we’re starting with that and then we can increase our number,” she said.

JTA President Dr Mark Smith said the union, which has more than 21,000 members, is concerned that not enough attention and resources have been put into this “critical” area.

“We also believe that there are a lot of children in our system who are not diagnosed and, as a result, interventions are necessary to support them being able to learn at their optimum. This is not realised and this I believe creates a great degree of frustration for teachers across the island,” he told The Gleaner.

He said while there is Mico Care and the ministry’s partnerships with other institutions to conduct assessments, there remains a “massive” wait time of three or more years between application and assessment.

Smith said teachers have reported “horror” stories of students in need of assessments, pointing to an example of a student being registered for assessment in grade three and matriculating to grade six without the assessment.

“This frames the kind of problem that exists in our schools. Being able to treat children who are experiencing special-needs challenges. It really calls into question the level of commitment that is there to treat children who are in need of special education support,” said Smith.

Opposition legislator Lisa Hanna, who has launched an unofficial public education campaign about autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, stressed that the issue has become more prevalent and is not going away.

“We are failing these children. We are failing their parents and we’re failing our future. We need policy. We need public attention. We need funding for therapy, for early diagnosis, for trained shadows and for accessible schools ...,” the former minister of youth said in a social media post last Wednesday.

She said autism, in particular, should be a “public health priority in Jamaica and not just a private family battle”.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com