England and Jamaica: A Comparative Study of Education Systems

England and Jamaica: A Comparative Study
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England and Jamaica: A Comparative Study
Education remains the primary avenue of building a nation through responsible citizens and professionals in the future. To achieve a proper developmental trajectory, the education system must be structured to achieve the best outcomes. Every nation structures its education system according to its needs (Saavedra, 2019). Further, Saavedra notes that every education system tries to improve itself to help ensure that these needs are met. The needs can range from social, political, and economic prospects. The UK education system is one of the most popular systems in the world bearing its diffusion through the traditional British colonies (Mart, 2011). Most nations that fell within the British colony umbrella still focus on the tenets of their education system. However, variations in the social, political, and economic needs have triggered a few differences in the systems. The scope of such variations can be assessed through the analysis of Jamaican and British education systems. This study employs a comparative study to assess the UK and Jamaican political systems through the functionalist theory. Completing a comparative analysis of the English and Jamaican education systems instills a detailed understanding of what children undergo through different educational systems to develop the citizens and professionals that will define the future of individual nations.
Background Information
Undertaking a comparative analysis on the Jamaican and English education systems is a prospect that steers an insight into the prospects of education. Britain and Jamaica share a long political history anchored on politics. Jamaica was a British colony until 1960, when Jamaica achieved its independence (Burnard, 2001). The fact that Jamaica was a British colony means that the two countries share a lot in common (Lewis, 2010). Primarily, the two countries share language, which is a vital factor in education. Jamaica is a nation dominated by English as the national language. Still, Jamaica mirrors England in the political system, including the structure of the government (Coore-Hall, 2020). Ultimately, Britain influenced the development of the primary education system in Jamaica. For a long time, the levels of education and structure of curriculum mirrored one another in the two nations. Dunkley et al. (2011) further add that the education systems were so similar that the recruitment of teachers followed similar lines, with both recruiting teachers along their religious inclinations. However, the drifting social, political, and economic factors in both countries are instilling variations, with Jamaica showing significant deviation from the inputs of Britain.
Assessing the education systems of Jamaica and England is important on various grounds. Primarily, the fact that Jamaica anchors its education system on the British system marks the extent to which the two systems are related. At the same time, both countries are faced with different political, economic, and social issues. That makes it necessary that each nation showcases mutations in its education systems through time. Jamaica, as well as England, has showcased significant changes in its education system to mark the needs of its citizens (Tillmutt, 2013). Hence, assessing both nations is important in understanding the influence of nations on one another in matter education. Still, it helps understand the extent to which social, economic, and political prospects help shape the education systems of different nations. To a professional, assessing both nations should help with understanding education in different countries. Besides, it helps explore how nations differ in implementing education systems no matter the influences they can encounter. Completing this study should trigger an advanced insight into the development of different educational systems.
Methodology
This study employs a systematic review to reach its findings. A systematic review is a formulated question that employs reproducible and systematic avenues to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research (Roofe & Ferguson, 2018). A systematic review further collects and analyses data from a range of literature that helps with understanding the study question. In a systematic review, the researcher is at liberty to explore a specific research question through a defined search of the literature. The researcher can use published and unpublished studies to mark the basis of their arguments and analyses. The data collected by different researchers in literature can be assessed to establish a standard understanding of the primary questions. In this review, emphasis is put on studies published on reputable platforms such a peer-reviewed journals and Google Scholar. The outcomes of the review can be assessed to indicate the extent of similarities and differences between the English and Jamaican educational systems.
A systematic review is characterised by a range of benefits and drawbacks that a researcher must understand before indulging in completing the study. The primary benefit that comes with the reviews is that the researcher is allowed extensive information to conduct the studies. Having a systematic review allows a researcher to employ information, both published and unpublished, to arrive at the findings. The studies conducted within a systematic review design are barely biased because the information is retrieved from different platforms that must showcase consistency. In a systematic review, readers who intend to explore more information about the topic can easily explore the details of the study (Lewis, 2010). It is also worth remarking that conclusions from systematic reviews come from studies that have been assessed for relevance and quality by other professionals. As such, systematic reviews instill both relevance and reliability in their findings. Ultimately, information retrieved from such reviews can be employed in developing professional skills. That is because the information in systematic reviews stems from highly appraised studies with an extensive professional touch.
Various drawbacks characterize the application of systematic reviews in conducting studies. There are continuous changes in the research paradigm. With such changes comes the need to update systematic reviews consistently. Occasionally, it becomes bulky for a researcher to instill all the current updates in a study. Also, a systematic review may prove inadequate in occasions that require seeking the primary data from the participants. Overreliance on secondary data can render systematic reviews irrelevant if not handled with care. Ultimately, the quality of a systematic review is dependent on published literature, and thus, it is not unlikely for systematic reviews to be questioned (Snyder, 2019). On some occasions, only a few randomised controlled studies render the studies highly skewed towards specific pieces of data. It is also remarkable that some studies can be of poor quality leading to irrelevant or low-quality study outcomes. Amidst the drawbacks that characterize systematic reviews, this study accommodates a wide array of time frames, making it relevant to inputs in the two education systems.
Presentation of Comparison
Jamaica Education System
The English and Jamaican educational systems are similar and different in various prospects. A better comparison of the two education systems should stem from an exploration of the tenets of individual systems. The education system in Jamaica is modeled around the British system with notable variations to befit specific prospects (Coates, 2012). Coates further adds that the above statement applies to the wider commonwealth Caribbean. The Jamaican education system is subdivided into four categories, with an additional category to emphasize societal needs. Data trends indicate that a total of 88% of Jamaicans has attained basic education (Tillmutt, 2013). The education system in Jamaica is also highly skewed across different demographic segments, with 93.1% forming part of the education system and 84.1% of males being part of the system (Roofe & Ferguson, 2018). Primary education is the most popular stage in the Jamaican system with an attendance rate of 80% (Roofe & Ferguson, 2018). Jamaica is striving to showcase an ideal transition from primary levels of education to more advanced levels.
The education system in Jamaica is unique for the different levels that an individual must undergo to become a professional. The first level of education in Jamaica is early childhood education that occurs in the age cohort of 1 to 6 years (Lewis, 2010). Early childhood education in Jamaica is primarily basic, infant, and privately operated. The early childhood education system began in 1942, and there are 2,595 institutions to support the systems. Daycare centres and institutions that the government does not recognise constitute some of the early childhood education centres in Jamaica. The enrolment rate in this level of education is 62% in Jamaica, which is the best in the region (Roofe & Ferguson, 2018). Jamaica is still instilling policies to ensure higher enrolment rates in its early childhood education level.
There are other advanced educational levels that learners must undergo upon completing their early childhood education. Primary among the levels is primary education, in which the learners address the basic educational needs, including reading, language, science, and mathematics. Primary education is poised to prepare learners for more advanced secondary education as indicated by Kerr (2020). Jamaica’s primary education constitutes learners aged 5 to 12 years. Since 1999, Jamaica has used its National Assessment Program (NAP) to ensure that learning at the primary level is student-centered and broad-based (Roofe & Ferguson, 2018). The system consists of different grades, with each grade emphasising different objectives. For instance, Grade 1 emphasizes readiness inventory as grade 3 explores assessment tests in language and mathematics (Tillmutt, 2013). In grade 4, Tillmutt (2013) continues to indicate that learners are subjected to literacy and numeracy tests, while the same learners should qualify for grade 6, where they are subjected to achievement tests in different disciplines, including science and communication tasks, social studies, language arts, and math.
Jamaica’s education system is also characterised by secondary and tertiary levels that mark the efficiency of its inputs. The secondary system is more advanced than the primary level and is characterised by emphasis on society’s practical needs. Secondary education in Jamaica features forms 1-3 that are popularly referred to as lower school (Lewis, 2010). The lower school emphasizes a wide array of subjects that include second languages such as Spanish and French. Integrated science is taught until the third form, where learners can specialize in physics, biology, or chemistry. In some schools, learners are grouped based on their academic performances in the previous years. The secondary education also consists of upper school consisting of forms 4 and 5 or grades 10-11 (Roofe & Ferguson, 2018). At this level, learners can choose between 6 and 11 subjects for which they eventually sit for the Caribbean Examination Council’s (CXC) school-leaving examinations. The CXC exams are equivalent to the GCSE exams that learners undergo in the UK. The last category of secondary education is the sixth form that is di...