CXC Reports Stable Results, Announces New Curriculum Rollout

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has reported steady performance across the region in this year’s examinations while unveiling a new curriculum framework designed to give students more flexibility and better prepare them for modern challenges.

Speaking at the official release of the May – June 2025 results in the Cayman Islands, Registrar and CEO Dr Wayne Wesley said performance indicators are moving in the right direction. “Last year I reported that 41 percent of those students who wrote five subjects or more actually achieved five subjects including maths and English. I’m delighted to say this year that that number has moved forward to 44 percent,” Wesley announced.

He stressed that the shift was critical for the region. “Every time a child leaves school without maths or English they suffer underemployment and they suffer from not being able to matriculate. So the fact that that number has moved by three percent is a good sign.”

Core Subjects

Performance in English and Mathematics showed some of the most important improvements. Dr. Nicole Manning, CXC’s Director of Operations, explained: “For English A we saw an improvement to 80 percent, the highest over the last three years. For Mathematics we are seeing an improvement in the overall performance over last year.”

However, challenges remain in areas such as English B and Social Studies. Manning noted that English B dipped to 69 percent and described Social Studies as “not too happy… because this is one of our largest subjects.”

In the sciences, Manning pointed to mixed results: “Biology moved to 83 percent overall … best for the last three years. Chemistry, however, saw a reduction both overall as well as the grade ones. Physics showed stability at the grade one level, but overall a slight reduction.”

Business and Humanities

Business-related subjects showed upward trends in several areas. “Principles of Accounts increased to 74 percent overall and 17 percent on the grade ones. Principles of Business reached 84 percent overall with 17 percent at grade one. Information Technology improved by five percent in overall performance,” Manning reported.

By contrast, Caribbean History and Geography saw moderate improvements, while Literature in English showed a decline. Manning emphasised that such areas “will need deeper dives at the national level.”

New Generation Courses

CXC also highlighted the strong results in its “new generation” subjects – courses designed to align with digital innovation and regional development needs. “Animation and Game Design saw a 16 percent increase in grade ones and 99 percent receiving acceptable grades,” Manning said. “Digital Media unit two went up to 41 percent … it is double the 2023 figure.”

Other emerging subjects also showed strong results. “Green Engineering units one and two had 100 percent pass rates,” Manning reported, while Food and Nutrition recorded a leap to 98 percent overall. In business and technology, “Logistics and Supply Chain moved to 90 percent, the best we’ve seen over the last couple of years.”

Looking Ahead

Registrar Wesley announced the launch of the Caribbean Targeted Education Certificate (CTEC), which will begin its pilot phase in September with 3,000 students across the region. The new system modularises CSEC syllabuses, starting with English and Mathematics.

“We are not watering down the standard. The standards are the same,” Wesley explained. “But what we are doing is recognising preferences, recognising learning pace, recognising the amount of content one can absorb at any one time, and creating a system that will be flexible enough for every student.”

The modular approach, he added, will allow students to “mix and match” subject areas, making the curriculum more adaptable while maintaining rigour.

Dr Manning described the pilot cohort as historic: “This year’s students are the true COVID group… they started school in 2020 and did exams this year. To know exactly where they are coming from and to realise where they are, I must say that parents regardless of what you see, please to give them a hug.”

For Montserrat, while students have received their individual results, the Ministry of Education has not yet released a full report on the island’s overall performance.