Secondary School Teachers Gain Caribbean Vocational Qualifications

Eight Teachers and two employees in the Ministry of Agriculture have been awarded Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQs) Level 4 in Training and Assessment, to support the delivery of Montserrat’s first CVQs certification.
The completion of the training will support the Ministry of Education’s efforts to broaden the curriculum being offered by the Montserrat Secondary School (MSS) using the CVQ Framework. The CVQ is a competency based training framework which has been agreed across the region and provides regionally accepted and recognized certification through the implementation of agreed standards. It replaces the old Pre-Vocational Programme (PVP) of the 70’s and 80’s.
Having successfully completed the training, the implementation of the Crop Production Standard will be the next step to introducing recognized skills training certification in vocational subjects, which will allow students the benefit of being ‘skill certified’ and ‘academically certified’ at the end of their secondary education.
Speaking at a special assembly at the Montserrat Secondary School on Friday, February 23, the Honourable Minister of Education, Delmaude Ryan said “We thought it fitting to include you the students to share in this celebration of achievement of some of your teachers who have set the example by completing their own CVQ certification as trainers and assessors for this programme. Your teachers are the first set among a number of other individuals to obtain a CVQ certificate in Montserrat, and this is significant.”
The qualification obtained will serve to ensure that the quality of education delivered under the programme meets the standards agreed across the region. “These teachers along with persons in the Agriculture department and the Community are part of a quality assurance mechanism for any accredited competency based education and training in Montserrat,”
explained Mrs. Ryan.
The Minister of Education stated that there are plans to implement other skills based programmes which will lead to school leavers who are well-rounded. She said, “It is this Government’s intention to develop this area of education as an offer for students in skills based education, which is officially certified as National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ’s) and CVQ’s. This will allow you to be better equipped to carve your own career path as you move on into adult life. The next subject area being considered is the NVQ in Food and Beverage Services.”
Mrs. Ryan encouraged the students to take up these subject areas to enhance their own development and diversify their educational portfolio at the end of their tenure at MSS.
The individuals who have successfully completed the training are; Teachers Patricia Harris, Karlene Foreshaw, Carmen Farrell, Aminah Hannifah, Monique Mighty, Ivan Piper, Cleo Cassell and Claude Gerald, and Claude Browne and Melissa O’Garro from the Ministry of Agriculture. They received the CVQ Level 4 Certificate Award by the Sector Skills Development Agency which is part of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines qualification department approved by the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) of CARICOM.
The Crop Production Standard Project was funded under the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Basic Needs Trust Fund and cost in excess of three hundred thousand dollars, which includes the cost of the training for the trainers and assessors, the installation of two greenhouses complete with supplies, and some training in its basic operations.
National/Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (N/CVQs) are work-related, competence-based certifications which employees (fulltime or part-time) and self-employed persons can gain after their performance of a work role has been successfully assessed against Occupational Standards by trained and certified Assessors.