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INTRODUCTION

Education in Trinidad and Tobago during the Ô
 
  has changed considerably in the
past 30 years. Students are afforded tremendous opportunities today as opposed to the old time
days. It has come a long way indeed, in terms of the inadequacy of schools , examination
methods , teaching methods, training system for teachers to name a few.
How far have we come?
To determine this we must go back into time, and take this trip down memory lane, for this I
enlisted the help of my past teacher at primary school Mrs. Johanna Douglas.

Mrs. Douglas entered into the teaching service on February 28th 1977, at that time the
qualifications to become a teacher were five ordinary level passes.

Young persons who were interested in this profession had two options which were the
denominational schools or via the government.
During that time assistant teachers received a salary of $275 a month, which although today
seems like a small paycheck , went a long way when the cost of living was at a steady rate in
which one could enjoy.
Mrs. Douglas first teaching appointment was at the Nariva Government Primary School, at
this her first school, there were limited resources to be used in the classroom, as a result of this
many teachers like herself opted for the chalk and talk method. However she found it did little to
stimulate the minds of the second years she taught, so she took from her earnings to make the
learning experience for her young students interesting, to acquire them.

She added that the use of chalk and talk and the use of resources were both good methods
however there is always a time and place for such methods.
She felt that learning should be memorable and the chalk and talk method does not always
capture that.
In those days the ministry supplied you with a syllabus however they were still in the process
of adding new modules to the curriculum and many teachers were now getting adjusted to the
formats of the new subjects added to the syllabus.

Subjects such as social studies and science were new areas to the syllabus which was previously
known to most teachers as general paper had been separated into these two subject areas.
ith the introduction of new subject areas added to the syllabus, teachers had to prepare
additional schemes of work. The planning that was used were simply pen and paper.

She said that the same practice was done for the record and evaluation in documenting the
students progress.

Students were evaluated through the administering of weekly quizzes to determine their overall
performance in the subject areas.

Mrs. Douglas went on to say that the methods of evaluation used at her time were limited there
was little or use of project work.

During the old time days the methods for disciplining students was the use of corporal
punishment. Corporal punishment was the chosen method of most teachers , however in the eyes
of some it was not the resolution .

Mrs. Douglas too holds the belief that corporal punishment was not the means at which to discipline a
child instead she used the detention method however it should only be used when necessary. In fact the
principal of the school in which she taught did not encourage the practice of corporal punishment