In 1989, the Jamaica Computer Society, a private, non-profit, professional body, became concerned about the growing number of students graduating from the Jamaican school system who were unqualified to fill the increasing demand for computer professionals (programmers, system analysts and engineers). It concluded that intervention at the secondary level would be the most effective way to address the problem. This led to the establishment of the Jamaica Computer Society Education Foundation (JCSEF) and a specific Jamaica 2000 project launched as a public/private initiative to support secondary schools in the in-service training of teachers in computer science, the provision of adequately-equipped computer labs for the teaching of English and Maths and the integration of computer studies as a subject for certification. In terms of equipment, the Jamaica 2000 project set itself the target of providing a station lab in each of Jamaica's 143 secondary schools, seven community colleges and ten teacher-training colleges by the year 2000.
In the first two years the project stuck closely to its mandate of improving learning efficiency in English and Mathematics and providing computer knowledge to teachers. Several schools and colleges, however, wished to maximise their potential and use the equipment at their disposal to widen their application of technology to support learning needs. Accordingly, in 1995, the project's mission was expanded to allow use of computers to encompass the entire range of the secondary school curriculum. Much of this drive to adapt and innovate came from teachers themselves who were anxious to adapt their schools and pupils to the fast-growing world of information and communication technologies. They realised that technology, employed to re-engineer school education, could be the key to improved quality and could empower them in their curriculum work.
The success and proliferation of computer instruction in secondary education led on to the establishment of a similar programme in the primary schooling system using links with the business community: "Education Technology 20/20" . The aim for this last project was to target rural communities and depressed urban areas by setting up computers in nearly 800 primary schools.
The effects of introducing computers into the Jamaican schooling system, both primary and secondary, have been wide and varied. It has meant a new demand on teachers and an increase in their capacity to assimilate and spread new ideas. Specifically, it has involved the use of computing tools by teachers and students to write, publish, solve problems, and create data bases, use multimedia for research and enrichment; build network capabilities to investigate and share information. On a national scale, the introduction of computers has spearheaded a reform movement for the whole education system, providing leadership for innovation. The scope of the original reform has been considerably enlarged beyond the original vision initially set up by the Computer Society. From its beginnings as a way of seeking to enhance the development and preparation of students for the computer professions, the reform has grown into a national exercise to transform instruction and learning outcomes in the school system. Each school developed the framework to take the computers and adapt them to their schedules, student needs and teacher capacity. This movement was generally directed at students in grades 10 and 11 but teachers could also sign up for one class per week in the lab for the teaching of their subject. Teachers had the role of previewing software programmes, selecting elements that were relevant to the topics they were teaching, and then coming with their students to the lab for the use of these materials. In addition, after-school courses were offered on a cost-recovery basis for teachers and members of the community interested in developing personal mastery in computers and their applications.This mix of community and school activities was particularly valid in drawing parents' attention to the value of computing. Independent initiatives at school level have been numerous and innovative. At one school in southwestern Jamaica, computers were used to develop word processing, desktop publishing and research skills. With these elements, students were then required to devleop a creative writing portfolio comprised of five projects over the course of the year. This use of the imagination and development of literary structures facilitated learner progress and interest in classroom subjects.
One of the most striking features of the Jamaican case has been the emergence of an NGO, the JCSEF, as an actor in education policy at national level. The implementation of computers into the schooling system has managed to bring various forces into play. It has allowed an NGO and motivated teachers the chance to come together around a technology, nurturing innovative environments in schools. The reform movement has meant a collaboration between different professions - those operating within areas of pedagogy and learning in the school and those in the field of professional technical knowledge. Moreover, it was the private sector which pushed for reform, implementing computers and defining roles, rather than the Ministry, however supportive.
A symbiosis has occurred between the business community, motivated by the need for employees with a higher level of general education, and schools keen to modernise and acquire resources that will enhance their efficiency and raise their prestige in the communities. Teachers, too, have been interested in training and resources that will improve their effectiveness and respond to the considerable public pressure to perform, even with very limited resources. The loosely formed partnership has fostered both flexibility and responsiveness, based as it is on the pragmatic vision of what actually works with computers and in schools.
It is difficult to explain the impact and success of the introduction of computers as merely technical. Why the computer should have had the reform effect it did throughout schools may, in part, be due to the fact that computers are a symbol of modernity and progress in Jamaica. They were actively desired by the communities and the schools and, in the emerging global market place, advantage is seen to rest with information technology. Furthermore, the teaching corps of a small country like Jamaica, with open economies that are perennially vulnerable to outside influences, are aware that they have no choice but to modernise and keep abreast with developments in information technologies. It is the teachers' conviction that they had to adapt, and make full use of the computers, that allowed schools to create the space necessary to investigate new ways of learning.
Taken from Partnership and Computer-assisted Instruction in Primary and Secondary Schools in Jamaica, by Erol Miller. Presented at meeting on Implementation of Education Reform, Washington, September 1996.