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Apologies

The Local Registrar apologised for the absence of CXC’s Pro – Registrar who was supposed to
join the meeting electronically. Due to the relocation of the Ministry of Education to Little Bay,
the Local Registrar had no communication means of facilitating her presence. Apologies were
also made on behalf of Miss Gracelyn Cassell, Head of UWI Open Campus, who was in London
and also wanted to join the meeting via Skype, Mr. Norman Cassell, representative for the
business community, and Miss Denise Silcott, President of the Montserrat Union of Teachers.

Adoption of the report for meeting of October 13, 2016

The National Committee adopted the report of the 2016 meeting with the following amendments:
replacing “Gregory Willock’s” with “Private Sector Employment Assistant” and the removal of
the extra ‘L’ from CCSLLC. Mrs. Claudia Skerritt moved that the report be adopted with the
amendments and this was seconded by Mrs. Cherlyn Hogan.

Matters Arising from the 2016 Report

A. CVQs: The Chairman reported that training began in the summer and was ongoing until
the end of October in skills assessment and verification. Teachers at the Montserrat
Secondary School were currently being trained; in addition, two persons from the
Ministry of Agriculture were being trained as external verification officers and assessors
to support the delivery of a skills –based programme in crop production. The content was
the same as the CVQ programme, and at the end of the training, the External Assessors
would be awarded a CVQ Level 4 in skills assessment and verification.

Mrs. Oeslyn Jemmotte, Supervisor and Chief Invigilator for CXC examinations, asked
when CVQ would be introduced. Members heard that CVQs could not be offered at this
time because we did not have CVQ status site; however, once the assessors completed the
assessment training and achieved their qualifications as skills assessors, the Chairman,
(DoE/PS Ag) would recommend to Cabinet the introduction of National Vocational
Qualifications (NVQs) at the Montserrat Secondary School. When Montserrat acquired
CVQ status, then the NVQs would be upgraded to CVQs. Implementation of CVQs
could be realized fully by September 2018. The training of the teachers and assessors was
the first huge step; once the human capacity was available to administer it, the next target
was resources; once the teachers and resources were in place, then the offer of CVQs was
inevitable.

Responding to the inquiry about the currency of the NVQs, and whether we were actually
ready to introduce that programme so students could get something that had value out of
Montserrat, the Chairman responded that all countries began with a national programme.
Overtime, when CXC or CANTA (Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies)